Let’s draw on a canvas!#

Note

Toga is a work in progress, and may not be consistent across all platforms.

Please check the Tutorial Issues label on Github to see what’s currently broken.

One of the main capabilities needed to create many types of GUI applications is the ability to draw and manipulate lines, shapes, text, and other graphics. To do this in Toga, we use the Canvas Widget.

Utilizing the Canvas is as easy as determining the drawing operations you want to perform and then creating a new Canvas. All drawing objects that are created with one of the drawing operations are returned so that they can be modified or removed.

  1. We first define the drawing operations we want to perform in a new function:

    def draw_eyes(self):
        with self.canvas.fill(color=WHITE) as eye_whites:
            eye_whites.arc(58, 92, 15)
            eye_whites.arc(88, 92, 15, math.pi, 3 * math.pi)
    

Notice that we also created and used a new fill context called eye_whites. The “with” keyword that is used for the fill operation causes everything draw using the context to be filled with a color. In this example we filled two circular eyes with the color white.

  1. Next we create a new Canvas:

    self.canvas = toga.Canvas(style=Pack(flex=1))
    

That’s all there is to! In this example we also add our canvas to the MainWindow through use of the Box Widget:

box = toga.Box(children=[self.canvas])
self.main_window.content = box

You’ll also notice in the full example below that the drawing operations utilize contexts in addition to fill including context, closed_path, and stroke. This reduces the repetition of commands as well as groups drawing operations so that they can be modified together.

../_images/tutorial-4.png

Here’s the source code

import math

import toga
from toga.colors import WHITE, rgb
from toga.fonts import SANS_SERIF
from toga.style import Pack


class StartApp(toga.App):
    def startup(self):
        # Main window of the application with title and size
        self.main_window = toga.MainWindow(title=self.name, size=(148, 250))

        # Create canvas and draw tiberius on it
        self.canvas = toga.Canvas(style=Pack(flex=1))
        box = toga.Box(children=[self.canvas])

        # Add the content on the main window
        self.main_window.content = box

        self.draw_tiberius()

        # Show the main window
        self.main_window.show()

    def fill_head(self):
        with self.canvas.fill(color=rgb(149, 119, 73)) as head_filler:
            head_filler.move_to(112, 103)
            head_filler.line_to(112, 113)
            head_filler.ellipse(73, 114, 39, 47, 0, 0, math.pi)
            head_filler.line_to(35, 84)
            head_filler.arc(65, 84, 30, math.pi, 3 * math.pi / 2)
            head_filler.arc(82, 84, 30, 3 * math.pi / 2, 2 * math.pi)

    def stroke_head(self):
        with self.canvas.stroke(line_width=4.0) as head_stroker:
            with head_stroker.closed_path(112, 103) as closed_head:
                closed_head.line_to(112, 113)
                closed_head.ellipse(73, 114, 39, 47, 0, 0, math.pi)
                closed_head.line_to(35, 84)
                closed_head.arc(65, 84, 30, math.pi, 3 * math.pi / 2)
                closed_head.arc(82, 84, 30, 3 * math.pi / 2, 2 * math.pi)

    def draw_eyes(self):
        with self.canvas.fill(color=WHITE) as eye_whites:
            eye_whites.arc(58, 92, 15)
            eye_whites.arc(88, 92, 15, math.pi, 3 * math.pi)
        with self.canvas.stroke(line_width=4.0) as eye_outline:
            eye_outline.arc(58, 92, 15)
            eye_outline.arc(88, 92, 15, math.pi, 3 * math.pi)
        with self.canvas.fill() as eye_pupils:
            eye_pupils.arc(58, 97, 3)
            eye_pupils.arc(88, 97, 3)

    def draw_horns(self):
        with self.canvas.context() as r_horn:
            with r_horn.fill(color=rgb(212, 212, 212)) as r_horn_filler:
                r_horn_filler.move_to(112, 99)
                r_horn_filler.quadratic_curve_to(145, 65, 139, 36)
                r_horn_filler.quadratic_curve_to(130, 60, 109, 75)
            with r_horn.stroke(line_width=4.0) as r_horn_stroker:
                r_horn_stroker.move_to(112, 99)
                r_horn_stroker.quadratic_curve_to(145, 65, 139, 36)
                r_horn_stroker.quadratic_curve_to(130, 60, 109, 75)
        with self.canvas.context() as l_horn:
            with l_horn.fill(color=rgb(212, 212, 212)) as l_horn_filler:
                l_horn_filler.move_to(35, 99)
                l_horn_filler.quadratic_curve_to(2, 65, 6, 36)
                l_horn_filler.quadratic_curve_to(17, 60, 37, 75)
            with l_horn.stroke(line_width=4.0) as l_horn_stroker:
                l_horn_stroker.move_to(35, 99)
                l_horn_stroker.quadratic_curve_to(2, 65, 6, 36)
                l_horn_stroker.quadratic_curve_to(17, 60, 37, 75)

    def draw_nostrils(self):
        with self.canvas.fill(color=rgb(212, 212, 212)) as nose_filler:
            nose_filler.move_to(45, 145)
            nose_filler.bezier_curve_to(51, 123, 96, 123, 102, 145)
            nose_filler.ellipse(73, 114, 39, 47, 0, math.pi / 4, 3 * math.pi / 4)
        with self.canvas.fill() as nostril_filler:
            nostril_filler.arc(63, 140, 3)
            nostril_filler.arc(83, 140, 3)
        with self.canvas.stroke(line_width=4.0) as nose_stroker:
            nose_stroker.move_to(45, 145)
            nose_stroker.bezier_curve_to(51, 123, 96, 123, 102, 145)

    def draw_text(self):
        x = 32
        y = 185
        font = toga.Font(family=SANS_SERIF, size=20)
        width, height = self.canvas.measure_text("Tiberius", font, tight=True)
        with self.canvas.stroke(line_width=4.0) as rect_stroker:
            rect_stroker.rect(x - 2, y - height + 2, width, height + 2)
        with self.canvas.fill(color=rgb(149, 119, 73)) as text_filler:
            text_filler.write_text("Tiberius", x, y, font)

    def draw_tiberius(self):
        self.fill_head()
        self.draw_eyes()
        self.draw_horns()
        self.draw_nostrils()
        self.stroke_head()
        self.draw_text()


def main():
    return StartApp("Tutorial 4", "org.beeware.helloworld")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main().main_loop()

In this example, we see a new Toga widget - Canvas.