How to line left justify label and entry boxes in Tkinter grid

Question

I'm still pretty new to Tkinter and Classes, but I am trying to left justify labels and entry boxes each within their own column of a Tkinter grid. I am using Justify=LEFT, but it seems to have no impact as the labels look centered and the entry boxes start where the label ends.

from Tkinter import *

class LabeledEntry(Frame):
    def __init__(self, parent, *args, **kargs):
        text = kargs.pop("text")
        Frame.__init__(self, parent)
        Label(self, text=text, justify=LEFT).grid(column=0,row=0)
        Entry(self, justify=LEFT, *args, **kargs).grid(column=1, row=0)

class User_Input:
    def __init__(self, parent):
        fields = ['Text Label 1', 'This is the text Label 2']
        GUIFrame =Frame(parent)
        GUIFrame.pack(expand=True, anchor=NW)
        parent.minsize(width=350, height=325)
        field_index = 1
        for field in fields:
            self.field = LabeledEntry(GUIFrame, text=field)
            self.field.grid(column=0, row=field_index)
            field_index += 1
        self.Button2 = Button(parent, text='exit', command= parent.quit)
        self.Button2.place(x=25, y=300)

root = Tk()

MainFrame =User_Input(root)
root.mainloop()

Answer 1

I have had success using both justify and anchor:

Label(self, text=text, justify=LEFT, anchor="w").grid(sticky = W, column=0,row=0)

Answer 2

I think your problem lies in the fact that each time you create a new instance of LabeledFrame, you are placing both the Entry & Label within the same Frame.

The grid settings for this Frame are separate from any other Frame, so it is impossible for LabeledFrames to align columns as they do not have the same values for column widths.

Normally to accomplish what you are after you would simply put sticky = W in the grid options for the Entry widget to left-justify the contents of the cell. However, this will only work for each individual Frame, leaving the contents of each separate LabeledFrame out of alignment.

Easiest way to fix this without changing much code:

You'll want to add a line to your for loop. If you specify a large minimum-width of the column that self.field's Frame is inserted into, you can be sure that things will align how you want them to. I've also added config options to the grid calls within the LabeledEntry class: sticky = W for the Label & sticky = E for the Entry.

Try this out and see if it solves your problem. If you would like the column to take less space simply reduce minsize.

from Tkinter import *

class LabeledEntry(Frame):
    def __init__(self, parent, *args, **kargs):
        text = kargs.pop("text")
        Frame.__init__(self, parent)
        Label(self, text=text, justify=LEFT).grid(sticky = W, column=0,row=0)
        Entry(self, *args, **kargs).grid(sticky = E, column=1, row=0)

class User_Input:
    def __init__(self, parent):
        fields = ['Text Label 1', 'This is the text Label 2']
        GUIFrame =Frame(parent)
        GUIFrame.pack(expand=True, anchor=NW)
        parent.minsize(width=350, height=325)
        field_index = 1
        for field in fields:
            self.field = LabeledEntry(GUIFrame, text=field)
            self.field.grid(column=0, row=field_index)
            self.field.grid_columnconfigure(index = 0, minsize = 150)
            field_index += 1
        self.Button2 = Button(parent, text='exit', command= parent.quit)
        self.Button2.place(x=25, y=300)

root = Tk()

MainFrame =User_Input(root)
root.mainloop()