Access the Actual Tab Widget of ttk.Notebook in Python Tkinter

Last Updated : 17 Jul, 2024

Tab widgets of ttk.Notebook are essential components in a Tkinter GUI for organizing content into multiple tabs. Accessing these tab widgets allows for customization and manipulation of their properties. In this article, we will explore two different approaches to accessing the actual tab widget of ttk.Notebook.

Access the actual tab widget of ttk.Notebook

Using the tab Method to Access Tab Options
Using winfo_children to Access All Widgets

Access the actual tab widget of ttk.Notebook Using the tab Method to Access Tab Options

In this example, we are using the tab method of ttk.Notebook to access the properties of the selected tab. The tab_selected function is bound to the <<NotebookTabChanged>> event, which triggers whenever a tab is selected. Within this function, we retrieve the currently selected tab's ID and then use notebook.tab(tab_id, 'text') to get and print the text of the selected tab. This demonstrates how to dynamically access and handle tab properties in a ttk.Notebook.

Python

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk

def tab_selected(event):
    notebook = event.widget
    tab_id = notebook.select()
    tab_text = notebook.tab(tab_id, 'text')
    print(f"Selected Tab Text: {tab_text}")

root = tk.Tk()
root.title("TTK Notebook")

notebook = ttk.Notebook(root)
notebook.pack(expand=True, fill='both')

tab1 = ttk.Frame(notebook)
tab2 = ttk.Frame(notebook)

notebook.add(tab1, text='Tab 1')
notebook.add(tab2, text='Tab 2')

notebook.bind("<<NotebookTabChanged>>", tab_selected)

root.mainloop()

Output

Access the actual tab widget of ttk.Notebook Using winfo_children to Access All Widgets

In this example, we are using the winfo_children method of ttk.Notebook to access all its child widgets, which include the tabs. The approach2 function iterates over each child widget, retrieves its text using the notebook.tab(i, 'text') method, and prints it. This demonstrates how to enumerate through all the tabs in a ttk.Notebook and access their properties.

Python

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk

def approach2():
    for i, tab in enumerate(notebook.winfo_children()):
        tab_text = notebook.tab(i, 'text')
        print(f"Tab {i} Text: {tab_text}")

root = tk.Tk()
root.title("TTK Notebook Example")

notebook = ttk.Notebook(root)
notebook.pack(expand=True, fill='both')

tab1 = ttk.Frame(notebook)
tab2 = ttk.Frame(notebook)

notebook.add(tab1, text='Tab 1')
notebook.add(tab2, text='Tab 2')

approach2()

root.mainloop()

Output:

Conclusion

In conclusion, accessing the actual tab widgets of ttk.Notebook allows for enhanced customization and control over your Tkinter application's user interface. By using methods like tab and winfo_children, you can efficiently retrieve and manipulate tab properties to suit your application's needs.