How to make button in Python Tkinter stay pressed until another one is pressed

Question

I am trying to find a way Tkinter to make the Start button stay pressed until I press the Stop button.

from Tkinter import *
import tkMessageBox


class MainWindow(Frame):
    def __init__(self):
        Frame.__init__(self)
        self.master.title("input")
        self.master.minsize(250, 150)
        self.grid(sticky=E+W+N+S)

        top=self.winfo_toplevel()
        top.rowconfigure(0, weight=1)
        top.columnconfigure(0, weight=1)

        for i in range(2):self.rowconfigure(i, weight=1)
        self.columnconfigure(1, weight=1)

        self.button0 = Button(self, text="Start", command=self.save, activeforeground="red")
        self.button0.grid(row=0, column=0, columnspan=2, pady=2, padx=2, sticky=E+W+N+S)

        self.button1 = Button(self, text="Stop", command=self.stop, activeforeground="red")
        self.button1.grid(row=1, column=0, columnspan=2, pady=2, padx=2, sticky=E+W+N+S)

    def save(self):
        pass

    def stop(self):
        pass


if __name__=="__main__":
   d=MainWindow()
   d.mainloop()

Answer 1

So you can set the relief of the button using its config, this makes it look like it is pressed.

def save(self):
    self.button0.config(relief=SUNKEN)
    # if you also want to disable it do:
    # self.button0.config(state=tk.DISABLED)
    #...

def stop(self):
    self.button0.config(relief=RAISED)
    # if it was disabled above, then here do:
    # self.button0.config(state=tk.ACTIVE)
    #...

EDIT

This doesn't work on Mac OSx apparently. This link shows how in should look: http://www.tutorialspoint.com/python/tk_relief.htm

Answer 2

If Tkinter.Button doesn't allow to configure its relief property on your system then you could try ttk.Button-based code instead:

try:
    import Tkinter as tk
    import ttk
except ImportError: # Python 3
    import tkinter as tk
    import tkinter.ttk as ttk

SUNKABLE_BUTTON = 'SunkableButton.TButton'

root = tk.Tk()
root.geometry("400x300")
style = ttk.Style()

def start():
    button.state(['pressed', 'disabled'])
    style.configure(SUNKABLE_BUTTON, relief=tk.SUNKEN, foreground='green')

def stop():
    button.state(['!pressed', '!disabled'])
    style.configure(SUNKABLE_BUTTON, relief=tk.RAISED, foreground='red')

button = ttk.Button(root, text ="Start", command=start, style=SUNKABLE_BUTTON)
button.pack(fill=tk.BOTH, expand=True)
ttk.Button(root, text="Stop", command=stop).pack(fill=tk.BOTH, expand=True)
root.mainloop()

Answer 3

I know its too late and you probably have got an solution, but this this answer might be helpful for others.

The solution is to use Radio Button.The main motive for creation of Radio Button is same as your question.

Here's an example from GeeksforGeeks website:

# Importing Tkinter module
from tkinter import *
# from tkinter.ttk import *

# Creating master Tkinter window
master = Tk()
master.geometry("175x175")

# Tkinter string variable
# able to store any string value
v = StringVar(master, "1")

# Dictionary to create multiple buttons
values = {"RadioButton 1" : "1",
        "RadioButton 2" : "2",
        "RadioButton 3" : "3",
        "RadioButton 4" : "4",
        "RadioButton 5" : "5"}

# Loop is used to create multiple Radiobuttons
# rather than creating each button separately
for (text, value) in values.items():
    Radiobutton(master, text = text, variable = v,
                value = value, indicator = 0,
                background = "light blue").pack(fill = X, ipady = 5)

# Infinite loop can be terminated by
# keyboard or mouse interrupt
# or by any predefined function (destroy())
mainloop()

Further, You can create Button Functions and achieve your desired output.