Is there a way to centre a canvas widget in the window?

Question

I am building a chess program using Tkinker/Python. I am trying to align the board in the centre of the window so that I can have the taken pieces placed alongside the board. Any ideas?

from tkinter import *
root=Tk()

class Board():  
    def drawboard():


        dark="#643c22"
        light="#faeac6"

        canvas=Canvas(root, width=920, height=720,)
        canvas.pack( fill=BOTH)
        colour=light
        for row in range(8):
            if colour==dark:
                colour=light
            else:
               colour=dark 
            for column in range(8):
                x1 = (column * 90)
                y1 = ((7-row)* 90)
                x2 = x1 + 90
                y2 = y1 + 90
                canvas.create_rectangle(x1, y1, x2, y2, fill=colour)

                if colour==dark:
                    colour=light
                else:
                    colour=dark


Board.drawboard()


root.mainloop()

I expect it to lined up in the centre but it is aligned to the left.

Answer 1

The class you created is simply a container for some functions... You probably need to read a little bit about object oriented python, and get acquainted with its specifics. I rewrote your class Board as an example; it inherits from tk.Tk and therefore is a tkinter root .

As far as the placement of the various widgets, I added a right and left frame in order to center the canvas representing the checkers board.

it comes like this:

import tkinter as tk


class Board(tk.Tk):

    colours = ["#643c22", "#faeac6"]

    def __init__(self, n=8):
        super().__init__()
        self.n = n
        self.left_frame = tk.Frame(self)
        self.left_frame.grid(row=0, column=0, rowspan=8, padx=100)
        self.right_frame = tk.Frame(self)
        self.right_frame.grid(row=0, column=10, rowspan=8)
        self.canvas = tk.Canvas(self, width=920, height=720, )
        self.canvas.grid(row=0, column=1, columnspan=8, rowspan=8)
        self.board = [[None for row in range(n)] for col in range(n)]
        self.current_colour_ndx = 0

    def _swap_colours(self):
        self.current_colour_ndx = (self.current_colour_ndx + 1) % 2

    def drawboard(self):

        for col in range(self.n):
            self._swap_colours()
            for row in range(self.n):
                x1 = col * 90
                y1 = (7-row) * 90
                x2 = x1 + 90
                y2 = y1 + 90
                colour = self.colours[self.current_colour_ndx]
                self.board[row][col] = self.canvas.create_rectangle(x1, y1, x2, y2, fill=colour)
                self._swap_colours()


if __name__ == '__main__':

    board = Board()
    board.drawboard()
    board.mainloop()