GPIO, Input & Output GUI panel using Tkinter

In this tutorial we will be Designing a Graphical panel through which we will be able to control all the 21 GPIO’s of Raspberry Pi as an Input or Output Pin.

Credits for the program – scotty3785, Original code link – click here

Step 1 – Programming the Raspberry Pi

• Open the python IDLE in Raspberry Pi and create a new Python file and enter the following code.

#This code has been published by Robu.in 
#visit https://robu.in for more information

import sys

if(sys.version_info[0]<3):
  from Tkinter import *
else:
  from tkinter import *

import RPi.GPIO as pi
import math
#import tkSimpleDialog

class LED(Frame):
"""A Tkinter LED Widget.
a = LED(root,10)
a.set(True)
current_state = a.get()"""
OFF_STATE = 0
ON_STATE = 1

   def __init__(self,master,size=10,**kw):
      self.size = size
      Frame.__init__(self,master,width=size,height=size)
      self.configure(**kw)
      self.state = LED.OFF_STATE
      self.c = Canvas(self,width=self['width'],height=self['height'])
      self.c.grid()
      self.led = self._drawcircle((self.size/2)+1,(self.size/2)+1,(self.size-1)/2)
   def _drawcircle(self,x,y,rad):
       """Draws the circle initially"""
       color="red"
       return self.c.create_oval(x-rad,y-rad,x+rad,y+rad,width=rad/5,fill=color,outline='black')
   def _change_color(self):
       """Updates the LED colour"""
       if self.state == LED.ON_STATE:
          color="green"
       else:
          color="red"
       self.c.itemconfig(self.led, fill=color)
   def set(self,state):
       """Set the state of the LED to be True or False"""
       self.state = state
       self._change_color()
   def get(self):
       """Returns the current state of the LED"""
       return self.state

## Future Functionality
##class gpioEdit(tkSimpleDialog.Dialog):
## """Dialog to be expanded to support advanced gpio features like
## - Pull Up / Pull Down Resistor Config
## - Debounce"""
## def __init__(self, master,gpio):
## top = self.top = Toplevel(master)
## if gpio.isInput():
## title = "Edit Input: %s" %(str(gpio.name))
## else:
## title = "Edit Output: %s" %(str(gpio.name))
## l = Label(top,text=title)
## b = Button(top, text="Submit", command=self.submit)
##
## l.grid(row=0)
## b.grid(row=1)
##
## def submit(self):
## print("Submitted")
## self.top.destroy()

class GPIO(Frame):
   """Each GPIO class draws a Tkinter frame containing:
   - A Label to show the GPIO Port Name
   - A data direction spin box to select pin as input or output
   - A checkbox to set an output pin on or off
   - An LED widget to show the pin's current state
   - A Label to indicate the GPIOs current function"""
   gpio_modes = ("Passive","Input","Output")

   def __init__(self,parent,pin=0,name=None,**kw):
      self.pin = pin
      if name == None:
         self.name = "GPIO %02d" % (self.pin)
         Frame.__init__(self,parent,width=150,height=20,relief=SUNKEN,bd=1,padx=5,pady=5)
         ##Future capability
         ##self.bind('<Double-Button-1>', lambda e, s=self: self._configurePin(e.y))
         self.parent = parent
         self.configure(**kw)
         self.state = False
         self.cmdState = IntVar()
         self.Label = Label(self,text=self.name)
         self.mode_sel = Spinbox(self,values=self.gpio_modes,wrap=True,command=self.setMode)
         self.set_state = Checkbutton(self,text="High/Low",variable=self.cmdState,command=self.toggleCmdState)
         self.led = LED(self,20)
         self.Label.grid(column=0,row=0)
         self.mode_sel.grid(column=1,row=0)
         self.set_state.grid(column=2,row=0)
         self.current_mode = StringVar()
         self.led.grid(column=3,row=0)

         self.set_state.config(state=DISABLED)
         function = self.getPinFunctionName()
         if function not in ['Input','Output']:
            self.mode_sel.delete(0,'end')
            self.mode_sel.insert(0,function)
            self.mode_sel['state'] = DISABLED

## def _configurePin(self, y):
## """Future capability to setup pull up/down"""
## new = gpioEdit(self.parent,self)

    def isInput(self):
       """Returns True if the current pin is an input"""
       return (self.mode_sel.get() == "Input")

    def setMode(self):
        """Sets the GPIO port to be either an input or output
       Depending on the value in the spinbox"""
       if (self.mode_sel.get() == "Input"):
          self.set_state.config(state=DISABLED)
          pi.setup(self.pin,pi.IN)
       elif (self.mode_sel.get() == "Passive"):
          self.set_state.config(state=DISABLED)
          pi.cleanup(self.pin)
       else:
          self.set_state.config(state=NORMAL)
          pi.setup(self.pin,pi.OUT)
          self.updateInput()

    def getPinFunctionName(self):
        pin = self.pin
        functions = {pi.IN:'Input',
                     pi.OUT:'Output',
                     pi.I2C:'I2C',
                     pi.SPI:'SPI',
                     pi.HARD_PWM:'HARD_PWM',
                     pi.SERIAL:'Serial',
                     pi.UNKNOWN:'Unknown'} 
        return functions[pi.gpio_function(pin)]

## Future Functionality
## def setPullUp(self,pullup):
## """Defines the GPIO as having a pull up resistor so the input
## state is inverted when read
## setPullUp(True) - Pin is pulled up
## setPullUP(False) - Pin is not pulled up"""
## self.pullup = pullup

   def toggleCmdState(self):
      """Reads the current state of the checkbox, updates LED widget
      and sets the gpio port state."""
      self.state = self.cmdState.get()
      self.updateLED()
      self.updatePin()

   def updatePin(self):
      """Sets the GPIO port state to the current state"""
      pi.output(self.pin,self.state)

   def updateLED(self):
      """Refreshes the LED widget depending on the current state"""
      self.led.set(self.state)

   def updateInput(self):
      """Updates the current state if the pin is an input and sets the LED"""
      if self.isInput():
         state = pi.input(self.pin)
         self.state = state
         self.updateLED()

class App(Frame):
   def __init__(self,parent=None, **kw):
      Frame.__init__(self,parent,**kw)
      self.parent = parent
      pi.setmode(pi.BCM)
      self.ports = []
     ## Get the RPI Hardware dependant list of GPIO
     gpio = self.getRPIVersionGPIO()
     for num,(p,r,c) in enumerate(gpio):
         self.ports.append(GPIO(self,pin=p))
         self.ports[-1].grid(row=r,column=c)
         self.update()

   def onClose(self):
       """This is used to run the Rpi.GPIO cleanup() method to return pins to be an input
       and then destory the app and its parent."""
       try:
           pi.cleanup()
       except RuntimeWarning as e:
           print(e)
           self.destroy()
           self.parent.destroy()

    def readStates(self):
        """Cycles through the assigned ports and updates them based on the GPIO input"""
        for port in self.ports:
            port.updateInput()

    def update(self):
        """Runs every 100ms to update the state of the GPIO inputs"""
        self.readStates()
        self._timer = self.after(100,self.update)
   def getRPIVersionGPIO(self):
       """Returns the GPIO hardware config for different Pi versions
       Currently supports layout 1 and 3"""
       gpio1 = ((0,0,0),
                (1,1,0),
                (4,2,0),
                (17,3,0),
                (21,4,0),
                (22,5,0),
                (10,6,0),
                (9,7,0),
                (11,8,0),
                (14,0,1),
                (15,1,1),
                (18,2,1),
                (23,3,1),
                (24,4,1),
                (25,5,1),
                (8,6,1),
                (7,7,1))
       gpio2 = ((2,0,0),
                (3,1,0),
                (4,2,0),
                (17,3,0),
                (27,4,0),
                (22,5,0),
                (10,6,0),
                (9,7,0),
                (11,8,0),
                (14,0,1),
                (15,1,1),
                (18,2,1),
                (23,3,1),
                (24,4,1),
                (25,5,1),
                (8,6,1),
                (7,7,1))
       gpio3 = ((2,0,0),
                (3,1,0),
                (4,2,0),
                (17,3,0),
                (27,4,0),
                (22,5,0),
                (10,6,0),
                (9,7,0),
                (11,8,0),
                (5,9,0),
                (6,10,0),
                (13,11,0),
                (19,12,0),
                (26,13,0),
                (14,0,1), 
                (15,1,1),
                (18,2,1),
                (23,3,1),
                (24,4,1),
                (25,5,1),
                (8,6,1),
                (7,7,1),
                (12,8,1),
                (16,9,1),
                (20,10,1),
                (21,11,1))
   if pi.RPI_REVISION == 3:
      gpio = gpio3
      self.parent.title('Raspberry Pi GPIO - A+/B+/2B+')
   elif pi.RPI_REVISION == 2:
        #Change this when I know the pins on RPi GPIO Version 2
        gpio = gpio2
        self.parent.title('Raspberry Pi GPIO - A/B Rev2')
   elif pi.RPI_REVISION == 1:
        self.parent.title('Raspberry Pi GPIO - A/B')
        gpio = gpio1
   else:
        self.parent.title('Raspberry Pi GPIO - Unknown Version')
        ##Assume same config as A+/B+/2B+
        gpio = gpio3
        return gpio

def main():
    root = Tk()
    root.title("Raspberry Pi GPIO")
    a = App(root)
    a.grid()
    """When the window is closed, run the onClose function."""
    root.protocol("WM_DELETE_WINDOW",a.onClose)
    root.resizable(False,False)
   root.mainloop()

if __name__ == '__main__':
   main()

• Now save the program. We are saving it as gpio.py python file.

Step 2 – Running the program and Understanding the GUI panel

• Now open terminal and type command sudo python gpio.py to run the program.
• A panel window will open up like this –

• From here you can set the status of any GPIO pin from the Corresponding drop down menu as Passive, Input or Output.
• If you have selected Output, then you will have to mark or unmark the corresponding High/Low box to make the Pin Low or High
• If you have selected Input, then the low Input will show the the Red colour and if input is high, it will show  Green Colour.

Now you can Explore the more of a GUI with Tkinter.

For more on tkinter you can visit – https://wiki.python.org/moin/TkInter