wxPython - Widgets With Same Name?

Question

Why does the following code create 2 widgets, and not overwrite each other? How would someone reference the first instance vs second instance?

import wx

app = wx.App(False)
frame = wx.Frame(None, -1, "Test", (250,250), (250,250))
panel = wx.Panel(frame, -1)

textbox = wx.TextCtrl(panel, -1, "", (10,10), (135,20))
textbox = wx.TextCtrl(panel, -1, "", (10,40), (135,20))

frame.Show()
app.MainLoop()

wxPython has another mechanism in place to hold reference to the object. Basically by having both have panel as parent, the first object is not deleted, but not accessible by textbox name anymore. You have to call Destroy() method on the object first. — Fenikso
– Fenikso, Commented Dec 24, 2013 at 21:01

jonrsharpe · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-24 16:59:27Z

2

The widgets are created, then assigned to the name. The first one still exists, but it is difficult for you to access it as you have assigned a different object to the name. If you want to still access both of them, try:

textboxes = []
textboxes.append(wx.TextCtrl(panel, -1, "", (10,10), (135,20)))
textboxes.append(wx.TextCtrl(panel, -1, "", (10,40), (135,20)))

Now you can access each by index:

textboxes[0]

Or loop through all of them:

for textbox in textboxes:

answered Dec 24, 2013 at 16:59

jonrsharpe

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4 Comments

User Over a year ago

Oh, that's how you'd do it. However, why do they overwrite? What if I wanted to overwrite one another and not create a new one?

jonrsharpe Over a year ago

Why would you need to overwrite it? You can just change the relevant attributes if you want to alter it.

User Over a year ago

Well I'm doing recursion so the same statement gets called multiple times over. Rather not have 5 instances of the textbox.

jonrsharpe Over a year ago

Then, unless you can rearrange your code to create the widget once, you will have to explicitly destroy as Fenikso says

Fenikso · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-24 21:30:40Z

1

There is another reference to your TextCtrl objects so it is no deleted as you would expect. Your panel holds a list of all its children. To delete wxPython widget, you have to explicitly call its Destroy() method. So in your case it would be:

textbox = wx.TextCtrl(panel, -1, "", (10,10), (135,20))
textbox.Destroy()
textbox = wx.TextCtrl(panel, -1, "", (10,40), (135,20))

To be able to access both objects, you either have to do as @jonrsharpe suggests or you can use GetChildren() method. However holding references to all your widgets in your application yourself is preferred method.

answered Dec 24, 2013 at 21:30

Fenikso

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