python addin - ArcGIS crashing with Tkinter?

When I run certain scripts (contains tkinter or similar python packages) ArcGIS crashes. When I load or copy/paste the same code and run it in a Python window it runs without error.

Is there a problem in ArcGIS? I am using 10.4.1.

Answer

I think the trick to using tkinter in Python is to run it from an external module, that way it isn't competing with the GUI components from the pythonaddins module. I do not take any credit for the tkinter GUI portion, as it was my colleague who figured it out, but here is a sample.

The GUI is dynamically created based on a list of text elements, and allows you to quickly update them all. In our templates, all of our header elements are prefixed with header_*. So to make this work, he saved out an external module called element_gui and I just imported it into my test add in and it works pretty smoothly. Here's the GUI code:

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Name:        module1
# Purpose:
#

# Author:      tylerjo
#
# Created:     08/04/2016
# Copyright:   (c) tylerjo 2016
# Licence:     
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
import sys
import os
import Tkinter as tk
import tkFileDialog, tkMessageBox

import ttk
import csv

N,S,E,W = tk.N,tk.S,tk.E,tk.W


def main(in_els=[]):
    """Main function. Calls GUI.

    Required:

        in_els -- List of element objects

    """

    gui = GUI(els=in_els)
    gui.master.title("Update Elements")
    gui.master.minsize(width=500, height=150)
    gui.mainloop()

    return gui.outDict


class GUI(tk.Frame):

    def __init__(self, master=None, els=[]):
        tk.Frame.__init__(self,master)
        self.grid(sticky=N+S+E+W)
        tk.Grid.rowconfigure(self, 0, weight=1)
        tk.Grid.columnconfigure(self, 0, weight=1)

        self.elementList = els

        self.elDict = {}
        self.outDict = {}

        self.__createWidgets()

    def __createWidgets(self):

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

        self.top = top

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

        self.f1 = tk.Frame(self, height=500, width=500, bg='gray')
        self.f1.grid(row=0, sticky=N+E+W+S, columnspan=2)
        tk.Grid.rowconfigure(self.f1, 0, weight=1)

        r1 = ['Element Name', 'Updated Value']

        for ci,cLabel in enumerate(r1):
            tk.Grid.columnconfigure(self.f1, ci, weight=1)
            tk.Label(self.f1, text=cLabel, borderwidth=1, width=20, relief=tk.GROOVE).grid(column=ci, row=0, sticky=N+E+W)

        for i, el in enumerate(self.elementList,1):
            tk.Label(self.f1, text=el.name, borderwidth=2).grid(column=0, row=i, sticky=E+W)
            self.elDict[el] = tk.StringVar()
            tk.Entry(self.f1, textvariable=self.elDict[el], justify=tk.CENTER).grid(column=1,row=i, sticky=E+W)

        self.saveButton = tk.Button(self, text="Send Updated Text Back To ArcMap", command=self.both_functions, width=30)

        self.saveButton.grid(row=4, column=0)

    def btnClick(self):
        """Get values from StringVar() objects and put into outDict
        """

        for el, newval in self.elDict.items():
            print newval.get()
            self.outDict[el] = newval.get()


        print self.outDict
        return self.outDict

    def _close(self):
        """Destroy GUI"""
        self.top.destroy()

    def both_functions(self):
        """For some reason I can't call _close within btnClick function.
        So both are called here

        """

        self.btnClick()
        self._close()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

And here is how I consume it in my simple Add-In (just a toolbar with a button):

import arcpy
import pythonaddins
import os
import sys
sys.path.append(os.path.dirname(__file__))
import element_gui

class ButtonClass3(object):
    """Implementation for UpdateMapElmsTest_addin.button (Button)"""
    def __init__(self):

        self.enabled = True
        self.checked = False
        self.mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument('current')
        print os.path.dirname(__file__)

    def onClick(self):
        elms = arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements(self.mxd, 'TEXT_ELEMENT', 'Header*')
        new_heads = element_gui.main(elms)
        for elm,new_text in new_heads.iteritems():
            elm.text = new_text

        arcpy.RefreshActiveView()

And here is what it looks like:

I am not sure how stable this will be. It did crash a couple times when I had the Python window open, so it may still be trying to compete with pythonaddins for UI resources.