When I talked to my friend, a professional Python developer, about different ways of coding apps with a GUI and mentioned tkinter, he laughed at me, saying that this framework is too primitive. Sure, for specialists building Django, Flask, and APIs, apps made with tkinter might seem like a school project. However, this is a great solution if you are not a full-stack snob but need a quick yet scalable way to code any GUI app in minutes.
As a Python lover, I enjoy experimenting with coding different things, from statistical analytics to OCR programs that capture text from images.
Recently, I encountered the concept of time tracking in my work and decided to build my own Python timer.
The prototype employee time tracker I drew inspiration from is a powerful solution with servers, databases, multi-layer security, and, of course, a strong development team. So, let’s see what tkinter can do about it.
How to make a timer in Python
First, let's take a look at what the original app timeline looks like:
Now, see what Python timer I created:
There's no advanced functionality, but literally three options:
- Launching time tracking
- Pausing
- Stop timer with log
import time
import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import messagebox
class SimpleTimeTracker:
def __init__(self, root):
self.start_time = None
self.paused_time = 0
self.running = False
self.paused = False
self.update_interval = 1000 # Update every 1000 ms (1 second)
self.root = root
# Create GUI components
self.root.title("Simple Time Tracker")
self.start_button = tk.Button(self.root, text="Start", command=self.start)
self.start_button.pack(pady=10)
self.pause_button = tk.Button(self.root, text="Pause", command=self.pause)
self.pause_button.pack(pady=10)
self.stop_button = tk.Button(self.root, text="Stop", command=self.stop)
self.stop_button.pack(pady=10)
self.time_label = tk.Label(self.root, text="Elapsed Time: 0.00 seconds")
self.time_label.pack(pady=10)
self.timeline_label = tk.Label(self.root, text="Tracked Times:")
self.timeline_label.pack(pady=10)
self.timeline_listbox = tk.Listbox(self.root)
self.timeline_listbox.pack(pady=10, fill=tk.BOTH, expand=True)
def start(self):
if not self.running:
self.start_time = time.time() - self.paused_time
self.running = True
self.paused = False
self.update_timer()
self.time_label.config(text="Elapsed Time: 0.00 seconds")
def pause(self):
if not self.running:
return
if self.paused:
self.start_time = time.time() - self.paused_time
self.paused = False
self.update_timer()
else:
self.paused_time = time.time() - self.start_time
self.paused = True
def stop(self):
if not self.running:
messagebox.showerror("Error", "Time tracking has not been started.")
return
if self.paused:
elapsed_time = self.paused_time
else:
self.end_time = time.time()
elapsed_time = self.end_time - self.start_time
formatted_time = f"Start: {time.ctime(self.start_time)}, End: {time.ctime(time.time())}, Elapsed: {elapsed_time:.2f} seconds"
self.timeline_listbox.insert(tk.END, formatted_time)
self.running = False
self.paused = False
self.time_label.config(text=f"Elapsed Time: {elapsed_time:.2f} seconds")
self.paused_time = 0
self.reset()
def update_timer(self):
if self.running and not self.paused:
elapsed_time = time.time() - self.start_time
self.time_label.config(text=f"Elapsed Time: {elapsed_time:.2f} seconds")
self.root.after(self.update_interval, self.update_timer)
def reset(self):
self.start_time = None
self.paused_time = 0
if __name__ == "__main__":
root = tk.Tk()
root.geometry("400x400")
tracker = SimpleTimeTracker(root)
root.mainloop()
Try this out for yourself. I launched the tracker only in my Jupyter Lab to experiment with it. And yes, the timer I coded was built with the help of ChatGPT. It took me just four prompts to refine it to its current state.
When I started coding about five years ago, I used to spend hours creating anything in tkinter. I have built dozens of simple apps, and now I know how to interact with ChatGPT to get the results I want.
Keep it easy, and never be afraid of experimenting - because Python has no limits!
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