So there were two basic issues with your code.
As @windfinder pointed out, you need to run
gobject.threads_init()
for threading to work properly with your gtk-application if you want the threads to update your gui. Actually it can cause many weird problems if you don't rungobject.threads_init()
The callback of the button doesn't finnish until all threads have finnished since you ask the threads to join before you return control to the main-loop. You can fix this by adding a timeout via
gobject
.
I did a couple of changes to your code (I also asked the threads to sleep so I could see that the gui was updated while the threads are still running).
#!/usr/bin/env python
import gobject
import time # This is just used for slowing down the threads
import os
import threading
import gtk
class FileBrowser:
def __init__(self):
self.window = gtk.Window()
self.window.show_all()
self.window.connect("destroy", self._destroy)
box = gtk.VBox()
box.show()
self.scrolled_w = gtk.ScrolledWindow()
self.scrolled_w.show()
self.window.add(box)
self.status = gtk.Label("...") # I added a status label to see when scan is done
self.status.show()
box.pack_start(self.status, False, False, 2)
self.button = gtk.Button("start")
self.button.show()
self.button.connect("clicked",self.start_scanning)
self.button.set_size_request(30,50)
box.pack_start(self.button,False,False,4)
self.model=gtk.TreeStore(str)
self.treeview = gtk.TreeView(self.model)
self.treeview.show()
col = gtk.TreeViewColumn("FileName")
cell = gtk.CellRendererText()
self.treeview.append_column(col)
col.pack_start(cell,0)
col.set_attributes(cell,text=0)
box.pack_start(self.scrolled_w,10)
self.scrolled_w.add(self.treeview)
self.window.set_size_request(600,300)
self.threads = list() # I made this be part of the full application
""" That allows us to wait for all threads on close-down, don't know how
necessary it is."""
def start_scanning(self,w):
self.button.set_sensitive(False) # To disallow stacking scan-stats
self.status.set_text("Scanning...") # Let user know it is started
self.model.clear()
main_dir= os.path.expanduser("~") # I just wanted my home-dir instead
list_dir = os.listdir(main_dir)
no_of_threads = len(list_dir)
for i in range(no_of_threads):
t = threading.Thread(target=self._thread_scanning,args=(main_dir,list_dir[i],))
self.threads.append(t)
t.start()
gobject.timeout_add(200, self._callback) # This will cause the main app to
#check every 200 ms if the threads are done.
def _callback(self):
if threading.active_count() == 1: # If only one left, scanning is done
self.status.set_text("Done!")
self.button.set_sensitive(True) # Allow button being pressed again
return False # False make callback stop
print threading.active_count()
return True
def _thread_scanning(self,main_d,list_d):
path = os.sep.join((main_d, list_d)) # Made use of os's sep instead...
if os.path.isdir(path):
list_subd = os.listdir(path)
par = self.model.append(None,[list_d])
for sub in list_subd:
self.model.append(par,[sub])
time.sleep(3) # Useless other than to delay finish of thread.
def main(self):
gtk.main()
def _destroy(self, *args, **kwargs):
#Own destroy that waits for all threads...
for t in self.threads:
t.join()
gtk.main_quit(*args, **kwargs)
if __name__=="__main__":
gobject.threads_init()
fb=FileBrowser()
fb.main()