Tkinter scrollbar for frame

Question

My objective is to add a vertical scroll bar to a frame which has several labels in it. The scroll bar should automatically enabled as soon as the labels inside the frame exceed the height of the frame. After searching through, I found this useful post. Based on that post I understand that in order to achieve what i want, (correct me if I am wrong, I am a beginner) I have to create a Frame first, then create a Canvas inside that frame and stick the scroll bar to that frame as well. After that, create another frame and put it inside the canvas as a window object. So, I finally come up with this:

from Tkinter import *

def data():
    for i in range(50):
       Label(frame,text=i).grid(row=i,column=0)
       Label(frame,text="my text"+str(i)).grid(row=i,column=1)
       Label(frame,text="..........").grid(row=i,column=2)

def myfunction(event):
    canvas.configure(scrollregion=canvas.bbox("all"),width=200,height=200)

root=Tk()
sizex = 800
sizey = 600
posx  = 100
posy  = 100
root.wm_geometry("%dx%d+%d+%d" % (sizex, sizey, posx, posy))

myframe=Frame(root,relief=GROOVE,width=50,height=100,bd=1)
myframe.place(x=10,y=10)

canvas=Canvas(myframe)
frame=Frame(canvas)
myscrollbar=Scrollbar(myframe,orient="vertical",command=canvas.yview)
canvas.configure(yscrollcommand=myscrollbar.set)

myscrollbar.pack(side="right",fill="y")
canvas.pack(side="left")
canvas.create_window((0,0),window=frame,anchor='nw')
frame.bind("<Configure>",myfunction)
data()
root.mainloop()

1. Am I doing it right? Is there better/smarter way to achieve the output this code gave me?
2. Why must I use grid method? (I tried place method, but none of the labels appear on the canvas.)
3. What so special about using anchor='nw' when creating window on canvas?

Please keep your answer simple, as I am a beginner.

Answer 1

Please note that the proposed code is only valid with Python 2

Here is an example:

from Tkinter import *   # from x import * is bad practice
from ttk import *

# http://tkinter.unpythonic.net/wiki/VerticalScrolledFrame

class VerticalScrolledFrame(Frame):
    """A pure Tkinter scrollable frame that actually works!
    * Use the 'interior' attribute to place widgets inside the scrollable frame
    * Construct and pack/place/grid normally
    * This frame only allows vertical scrolling

    """
    def __init__(self, parent, *args, **kw):
        Frame.__init__(self, parent, *args, **kw)            

        # create a canvas object and a vertical scrollbar for scrolling it
        vscrollbar = Scrollbar(self, orient=VERTICAL)
        vscrollbar.pack(fill=Y, side=RIGHT, expand=FALSE)
        canvas = Canvas(self, bd=0, highlightthickness=0,
                        yscrollcommand=vscrollbar.set)
        canvas.pack(side=LEFT, fill=BOTH, expand=TRUE)
        vscrollbar.config(command=canvas.yview)

        # reset the view
        canvas.xview_moveto(0)
        canvas.yview_moveto(0)

        # create a frame inside the canvas which will be scrolled with it
        self.interior = interior = Frame(canvas)
        interior_id = canvas.create_window(0, 0, window=interior,
                                           anchor=NW)

        # track changes to the canvas and frame width and sync them,
        # also updating the scrollbar
        def _configure_interior(event):
            # update the scrollbars to match the size of the inner frame
            size = (interior.winfo_reqwidth(), interior.winfo_reqheight())
            canvas.config(scrollregion="0 0 %s %s" % size)
            if interior.winfo_reqwidth() != canvas.winfo_width():
                # update the canvas's width to fit the inner frame
                canvas.config(width=interior.winfo_reqwidth())
        interior.bind('<Configure>', _configure_interior)

        def _configure_canvas(event):
            if interior.winfo_reqwidth() != canvas.winfo_width():
                # update the inner frame's width to fill the canvas
                canvas.itemconfigure(interior_id, width=canvas.winfo_width())
        canvas.bind('<Configure>', _configure_canvas)


if __name__ == "__main__":

    class SampleApp(Tk):
        def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
            root = Tk.__init__(self, *args, **kwargs)


            self.frame = VerticalScrolledFrame(root)
            self.frame.pack()
            self.label = Label(text="Shrink the window to activate the scrollbar.")
            self.label.pack()
            buttons = []
            for i in range(10):
                buttons.append(Button(self.frame.interior, text="Button " + str(i)))
                buttons[-1].pack()

    app = SampleApp()
    app.mainloop()

It does not yet have the mouse wheel bound to the scrollbar but it is possible. Scrolling with the wheel can get a bit bumpy, though.

edit:

to 1)
IMHO scrolling frames is somewhat tricky in Tkinter and does not seem to be done a lot. It seems there is no elegant way to do it.
One problem with your code is that you have to set the canvas size manually - that's what the example code I posted solves.

to 2)
You are talking about the data function? Place works for me, too. (In general I prefer grid).

to 3)
Well, it positions the window on the canvas.

One thing I noticed is that your example handles mouse wheel scrolling by default while the one I posted does not. Will have to look at that some time.