tkinter unicode question

[Ned Deily]

In article <20100727204532.R7GMZ.27213.root at cdptpa-web20-z02>,
 <jyoung79 at kc.rr.com> wrote:
> Just curious if anyone could shed some light on this?  I'm using 
> tkinter, but I can't seem to get certain unicode characters to 
> show in the label for Python 3.  
> 
> In my test, the label and button will contain the same 3 
> characters - a Greek Alpha, a Greek Omega with a circumflex and 
> soft breathing accent, and then a Greek Alpha with a soft 
> breathing accent.
> 
> For Python 2.6, this works great:
> 
> # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
> from Tkinter import *
> root = Tk()
> Label(root, text=u'\u03B1 \u1F66 \u1F00').pack()
> Button(root, text=u'\u03B1 \u1F66 \u1F00').pack()
> root.mainloop()
> 
> However, for Python 3.1.2, the button gets the correct characters, 
> but the label only displays the first Greek Alpha character.  
> The other 2 characters look like Chinese characters followed by 
> an empty box.  Here's the code for Python 3:
> 
> # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
> from tkinter import *
> root = Tk()
> Label(root, text='\u03B1 \u1F66 \u1F00').pack()
> Button(root, text='\u03B1 \u1F66 \u1F00').pack()
> root.mainloop()
> 
> I've done some research and am wondering if it is 
> because Python 2.6 comes with tk version 8.5, while Python 3.1.2 
> comes with tk version 8.4?  I'm running this on OS X 10.6.4.

Most likely.  Apparently you're using the Apple-supplied Python 2.6 
which, as you say, uses Tk 8.5.  If you had installed the python.org 
2.6, it would likely fail for you in the same way as 3.1, since both use 
Tk 8.4.  (They both fail for me.)

> If I need to upgrade tk to 8.5, is it best to upgrade it or just
> install 'tiles'?  From my readings it looks like upgrading to
> 8.5 can be a pain due to OS X still pointing back to 8.4.  I
> haven't tried it yet in case someone might have an easier
> solution.

OS X 10.6 comes with both Tk 8.4 and 8.5.  The problem is that the 
Python Tkinter(2.6) or tkinter(3.1) is linked at build time, not install 
time, to one or the other.   You would need to at least rebuild and 
relink tkinter for 3.1 to use Tk 8.5, which means downloading and 
building Python from source.  New releases of python.org installers are 
now coming in two varieties: the second will be only for 10.6 or later 
and will link with Tk 8.5.  The next new release of Python 3 is likely 
months away, though.  In the meantime, a simpler solution might be to 
download and install the ActiveState Python 3.1 for OS X which does use 
Tk 8.5.  And your test case works for me with it.

-- 
 Ned Deily,
 nad at acm.org