python - Dynamically updating Tkinter window based on serial data

Question

I'm trying to write a program that gets data from a serial port connection and automatically updates the Tkinter window in real time based on that data.

I tried to create a separate thread for the window that periodically gets the current data from the main thread and updates the window, like this:

serialdata = []
data = True

class SensorThread(threading.Thread):
    def run(self):
        serial = serial.Serial('dev/tty.usbmodem1d11', 9600)
        try:
            while True:
                serialdata.append(serial.readline())
        except KeyboardInterrupt:
            serial.close()
            exit()

class GuiThread(threading.Thread):
    def __init__(self):
        threading.Thread.__init__(self)
        self.root = Tk()
        self.lbl = Label(self.root, text="")

    def run(self):
        self.lbl(pack)
        self.lbl.after(1000, self.updateGUI)
        self.root.mainloop()

    def updateGUI(self):
        msg = "Data is True" if data else "Data is False"
        self.lbl["text"] = msg
        self.root.update()
        self.lbl.after(1000, self.updateGUI)

if __name == "__main__":
    SensorThread().start()
    GuiThread().start()

    try:
        while True:
            # A bunch of analysis that sets either data = True or data = False based on serialdata
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        exit()

Running it gives me this error:

Exception in thread Thread-2: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/threading.py", line 522, in __bootstrap_inner self.run() File "analysis.py", line 52, in run self.lbl1.pack() File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 1764, in pack_configure + self._options(cnf, kw)) RuntimeError: main thread is not in main loop

When I google this error, I mostly get posts where people are trying to interact with the window from two different threads, but I don't think I'm doing that. Any ideas? Thanks so much!

Answer 1

Don't run the TK gui from a thread - run it from the main process. I mashed your example into something that demonstrates the principle

from time import sleep
import threading
from Tkinter import *

serialdata = []
data = True

class SensorThread(threading.Thread):
    def run(self):
        try:
            i = 0
            while True:
                serialdata.append("Hello %d" % i)
                i += 1
                sleep(1)
        except KeyboardInterrupt:
            exit()

class Gui(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.root = Tk()
        self.lbl = Label(self.root, text="")
        self.updateGUI()
        self.readSensor()

    def run(self):
        self.lbl.pack()
        self.lbl.after(1000, self.updateGUI)
        self.root.mainloop()

    def updateGUI(self):
        msg = "Data is True" if data else "Data is False"
        self.lbl["text"] = msg
        self.root.update()
        self.lbl.after(1000, self.updateGUI)

    def readSensor(self):
        self.lbl["text"] = serialdata[-1]
        self.root.update()
        self.root.after(527, self.readSensor)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    SensorThread().start()
    Gui().run()