Understanding root and tk.Frame in tkinter

Question

The example below has previously been used to describe the functionality of classes and switching pages in Tkinter. Although I don't understand:

1. Why classes PageOne and PageTwo need to inherit from tk.Frame?
2. Where the equivilant of root = Tk() is (since in other beginner tutorials I watched, this step is essential).

Code:

import tkinter as tk                # python 3
from tkinter import font  as tkfont # python 3
#import Tkinter as tk     # python 2
#import tkFont as tkfont  # python 2

class SampleApp(tk.Tk):

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        tk.Tk.__init__(self, *args, **kwargs)

        self.title_font = tkfont.Font(family='Helvetica', size=18, weight="bold", slant="italic")

        # the container is where we'll stack a bunch of frames
        # on top of each other, then the one we want visible
        # will be raised above the others
        container = tk.Frame(self)
        container.pack(side="top", fill="both", expand=True)
        container.grid_rowconfigure(0, weight=1)
        container.grid_columnconfigure(0, weight=1)

        self.frames = {}
        for F in (StartPage, PageOne, PageTwo):
            page_name = F.__name__
            frame = F(parent=container, controller=self)
            self.frames[page_name] = frame

            # put all of the pages in the same location;
            # the one on the top of the stacking order
            # will be the one that is visible.
            frame.grid(row=0, column=0, sticky="nsew")

        self.show_frame("StartPage")

    def show_frame(self, page_name):
        '''Show a frame for the given page name'''
        frame = self.frames[page_name]
        frame.tkraise()


class StartPage(tk.Frame):

    def __init__(self, parent, controller):
        tk.Frame.__init__(self, parent)
        self.controller = controller
        label = tk.Label(self, text="This is the start page", font=controller.title_font)
        label.pack(side="top", fill="x", pady=10)

        button1 = tk.Button(self, text="Go to Page One",
                            command=lambda: controller.show_frame("PageOne"))
        button2 = tk.Button(self, text="Go to Page Two",
                            command=lambda: controller.show_frame("PageTwo"))
        button1.pack()
        button2.pack()


class PageOne(tk.Frame):

    def __init__(self, parent, controller):
        tk.Frame.__init__(self, parent)
        self.controller = controller
        label = tk.Label(self, text="This is page 1", font=controller.title_font)
        label.pack(side="top", fill="x", pady=10)
        button = tk.Button(self, text="Go to the start page",
                           command=lambda: controller.show_frame("StartPage"))
        button.pack()


class PageTwo(tk.Frame):

    def __init__(self, parent, controller):
        tk.Frame.__init__(self, parent)
        self.controller = controller
        label = tk.Label(self, text="This is page 2", font=controller.title_font)
        label.pack(side="top", fill="x", pady=10)
        button = tk.Button(self, text="Go to the start page",
                           command=lambda: controller.show_frame("StartPage"))
        button.pack()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = SampleApp()
    app.mainloop()

Answer 1

Why classes PageOne and PageTwo need to inherit from tk.Frame?

They don't have to inherit from tk.Frame . Because they contain other widgets, tk.Frame is the natural choice. You could use tk.Canvas or literally any other widget (though, using widgets like tk.Button or tk.Scrollbar make no sense)

Where the equivilant of root = Tk()

It is this line of code:

app = SampleApp()

SampleApp inherits from tk.Tk , so it behaves exactly the same. You're free to rename app to root if you wish.