How to Build a To-Do List App with Python and Tkinter

Welcome to our step-by-step guide to building a complete To-Do List application using Python's built-in GUI library, Tkinter. This tutorial is perfect for beginners and will cover the fundamental concepts of creating a desktop application.

Step 1: Designing the User Interface

The first step is to plan our UI. We'll need an entry box to type in new tasks, a listbox to display them, and buttons to add and remove tasks. Manually coding this layout can be tricky, so we'll use the Tkinter GUI Designer to speed things up.

Step 2: Writing the Python Code

After designing the UI, the tool generates clean Python code for the layout. Now, we just need to add the logic to handle the button clicks.

Adding a Task

Here is the function to add a task from the entry box to the listbox:

def add_task():
    task = entry_task.get()
    if task != "":
        listbox_tasks.insert(tkinter.END, task)
        entry_task.delete(0, tkinter.END)
    else:
        tkinter.messagebox.showwarning(title="Warning!", message="You must enter a task.")

Deleting a Task

And here is the function to delete a selected task:

def delete_task():
    try:
        task_index = listbox_tasks.curselection()[0]
        listbox_tasks.delete(task_index)
    except:
        tkinter.messagebox.showwarning(title="Warning!", message="You must select a task to delete.")

Conclusion

Congratulations! You've now built a complete desktop application with Python and Tkinter. This project covers the essential skills you need to create even more complex applications. For more tutorials, be sure to check out the rest of our blog.