Switching between frames in tkinter menu

Solution 1:

Here is a minimal example of one method I used recently; the key is in PythonGUI.show_frame, which moves the appropriate frame to the front for display.

import Tkinter as tk

class BaseFrame(tk.Frame):
    """An abstract base class for the frames that sit inside PythonGUI.

    Args:
      master (tk.Frame): The parent widget.
      controller (PythonGUI): The controlling Tk object.

    Attributes:
      controller (PythonGUI): The controlling Tk object.

    """

    def __init__(self, master, controller):
        tk.Frame.__init__(self, master)
        self.controller = controller
        self.grid()
        self.create_widgets()

    def create_widgets(self):
        """Create the widgets for the frame."""
        raise NotImplementedError


class ExecuteFrame(BaseFrame):
    """The application home page.

    Attributes:
      new_button (tk.Button): The button to switch to HomeFrame.

    """

    def create_widgets(self):
        """Create the base widgets for the frame."""
        self.new_button = tk.Button(self,
                                    anchor=tk.W,
                                    command=lambda: self.controller.show_frame(HomeFrame),
                                    padx=5,
                                    pady=5,
                                    text="Home")
        self.new_button.grid(padx=5, pady=5, sticky=tk.W+tk.E)


class HomeFrame(BaseFrame):
    """The application home page.

    Attributes:
      new_button (tk.Button): The button to switch to ExecuteFrame.

    """

    def create_widgets(self):
        """Create the base widgets for the frame."""
        self.new_button = tk.Button(self,
                                    anchor=tk.W,
                                    command=lambda: self.controller.show_frame(ExecuteFrame),
                                    padx=5,
                                    pady=5,
                                    text="Execute")
        self.new_button.grid(padx=5, pady=5, sticky=tk.W+tk.E)


class PythonGUI(tk.Tk):
    """The main window of the GUI.

    Attributes:
      container (tk.Frame): The frame container for the sub-frames.
      frames (dict of tk.Frame): The available sub-frames.

    """

    def __init__(self):
        tk.Tk.__init__(self)
        self.title("Python GUI")
        self.create_widgets()
        self.resizable(0, 0)

    def create_widgets(self):
        """Create the widgets for the frame."""             
        #   Frame Container
        self.container = tk.Frame(self)
        self.container.grid(row=0, column=0, sticky=tk.W+tk.E)

        #   Frames
        self.frames = {}
        for f in (HomeFrame, ExecuteFrame): # defined subclasses of BaseFrame
            frame = f(self.container, self)
            frame.grid(row=2, column=2, sticky=tk.NW+tk.SE)
            self.frames[f] = frame
        self.show_frame(HomeFrame)

    def show_frame(self, cls):
        """Show the specified frame.

        Args:
          cls (tk.Frame): The class of the frame to show. 

        """
        self.frames[cls].tkraise()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = PythonGUI()
    app.mainloop()
    exit()

Solution 2:

There are two basic ways to solve the problem:

1. stack all of the frames on top of each other (eg: put in the same grid cell, or use place with the same options) and then raise the one that should be visible to the top of the stack (using frame.lift()). An example of the technique is in this answer: Switch between two frames in tkinter

2. Whenever you show a new frame, destroy (with .destroy() or hide (with pack_forget or grid_forget) the old frame.