[Tkinter-discuss] non-GUI event detection in Tkinter mainloop()

[Cam Farnell]

The only way I know of to do this is to use "after" to invoke a function which does the file checking and whatever else is required. That function sets another "after" - with perhaps a one second delay or whatever seems appropriate - to invoke itself. Thus the function is invoked repeatedly to keep track of the file. It isn't pretty but it works.

Cam Farnell

O'Gorman, Lawrence (Larry) wrote:
> I’m trying to figure out if Python and Tkinter can offer a solution to 
> my following problem. I want to monitor a file and when that file is 
> changed, I want to detect that event and have my window change its text 
> from “File Unchanged” to “File has Changed.”
> 
>  
> 
> That is, I can produce a function to periodically sample the 
> modification time of a file and if it is different than my last sample 
> time, then this function will return an indication that the file is 
> changed. I want this file-change event to be captured by the tkinit 
> mainloop(), which I will then use to change the appearance of my window.
> 
>  
> 
> I understand that any GUI event (mouse, keyboard, etc.) can be detected 
> in the mainloop(), but I have seen no indication in the documentation 
> and discussions that a file-change can produce an event that can be 
> detected in the mainloop(). Does anyone know if I can do this? If so, 
> how? Or, if there is an alternative way than mainloop() to get a window 
> to change upon a file-change, that would be helpful, too.