Python Tkinter trigger keyevent when umlaut key pressed

Question

I encounter a problem when trying to bind an umlaut-key (äöü) to a Tkinter window in Python 3.

The error message Tkinter prints out is basically:

Traceback (most recent call last):
    self.tk.bind("Ä", self.take_white_ippon)
_tkinter.TclError: bad ASCII character 0x84

You can try this MCVE:

from tkinter import *
tk = Tk()
def doSomething(e=None):
    print("doSomething()")
# The next line is basically ignored
tk.bind("ä", doSomething)
# This line will throw the error message
tk.bind("<ä>", doSomething)
tk.mainloop()

You can try Alt+0228 to enter an ä (using the number pad).

I have not found any other SO/Google pages about this topic. I have only found some questions about general problems with Tkinter and non-ascii characters.

Novel · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-18 17:30:05Z

2

Here is a program that can help you:

import tkinter as tk

root = tk.Tk()
tk.Label(text="you pushed:").pack()
var = tk.StringVar()
tk.Entry(textvariable=var).pack()
root.bind('<Key>', lambda e: var.set(repr(e.keysym)))
root.mainloop()

If you run that and type ä, you will see 'adiaeresis', which is what you need to bind:

tk.bind('<adiaeresis>', doSomething)

edited Dec 18, 2017 at 17:30

answered Dec 18, 2017 at 17:21

Novel

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2 Comments

User that hates AI Over a year ago

Hello, thanks for your answer. But you need to add < and > around adiaeresis to make it work: <adiaeresis>.

Bryan Oakley Over a year ago

I don't think that's the right format for binding. It should be <Key-adiaeresis>.

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