AttributeError: Event instance has no attribute 'delete'

Question

I am trying to make a program that will return the user's input and also clear the Entry when Return/Enter is pressed. When ran, the second method (def e_delete(e):) always gives the error, AttributeError: Event instance has no attribute 'delete' and if the e is changed to self no string is returned and no error happens.

from Tkinter import *
import os.path
import PIL.Image, PIL.ImageTk
import Tkinter as tk

def on_change(e):
    inp = e.widget.get()
    print inp

root = tk.Tk()

#Makes a canvas for objects
canvas = Canvas(root, height=100, width=400)
#Displays the canvas
canvas.grid(row=3, column=2)

root.grid_columnconfigure(0, weight=1)
root.grid_columnconfigure(1, weight=1)

label = Label(root, text="Enter an element or the atomic number from 1 to 118.").grid(row=0, column=2)

e = tk.Entry(root)
e.pack()
e.bind("<Return>", on_change)
e.grid(row=2, column=2)
e.focus()

def e_delete(e):
    e.delete(0, 'end')

e.bind("<Return>", e_delete)

#img = create_image(0, 300, 'ptable.png')

root.mainloop()

Can we get a piece of code that doesn't throw 2 errors and a tkinter warning, please? In other words, an actual minimal reproducible example? — Aran-Fey
– Aran-Fey, Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 22:43
Also, what's the question? And what does "return the user's input" mean? Return it where? — Aran-Fey
– Aran-Fey, Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 22:45

abarnert · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-28 22:44:47Z

2

You're doing this:

def entry_delete(e):
    e.delete(0, 'end')

The value that gets passed to a callback for an event binding is an Event object. And they don't have a delete method.

The fact that you also have a global variable with the same name doesn't make any difference (except to confuse you and other readers); the parameter e hides the global e.

So, if you want to call a method on your Entry object, don't hide it:

def e_delete(evt):
    e.delete(0, 'end')

Or, if you want to call a method on whatever widget triggered the event (which, in this case, will always be the same thing, so it's just a matter of which one makes more sense to you), you can do that instead:

def e_delete(evt):
    evt.widget.delete(0, 'end')

However, it's usually even better to give everything clear and distinct names to avoid this kind of confusion:

entry = tk.Entry(root)
ent.pack()
entry.bind("<Return>", on_change)
entry.grid(row=2, column=2)
entry.focus()0

def entry_delete(evt):
    entry.delete(0, 'end')

entry.bind("<Return>", entry_delete)

answered Mar 28, 2018 at 22:44

abarnert

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1 Comment

ScienceLuke7 Over a year ago

Thank you is much! Now is it possible to get the result from the user as well as delete the entry?

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