How to embed Matplotlib charts in Tkinter GUI?

Last Updated : 10 Jul, 2020

Prerequisite: Introduction to Tkinter | Introduction to Matplotlib

When Matplotlib is used from Python shell, the plots are displayed in a default window. The plots can be embedded in many graphical user interfaces like wxpython, pygtk, or Tkinter. These various options available as a target for the output plot are referred to as 'backends'. There are various modules available in matplotlib.backend for choosing the backend. One such module is backend_tkagg which is useful for embedding plots in Tkinter.

Creating the Tkinter Application :

First, let us create a basic Tkinter application with the main window and one button which can be used to display the plot.

Python3

# import all classes/methods
# from the tkinter module
from tkinter import *

# The main tkinter window
window = Tk()

# setting the title and 
window.title('Plotting in Tkinter')

# setting the dimensions of 
# the main window
window.geometry("500x500")

# button that would displays the plot
plot_button = Button(master = window,
                     height = 2,
                     width = 10,
                    text = "Plot")
# place the button
# into the window
plot_button.pack()

# run the gui
window.mainloop()

Output :

Embedding the Plot:

First, we need to create the figure object using the Figure() class. Then, a Tkinter canvas(containing the figure) is created using FigureCanvasTkAgg() class. Matplotlib charts by default have a toolbar at the bottom. When working with Tkinter, however, this toolbar needs to be embedded in the canvas separately using the NavigationToolbar2Tk() class.
In the implementation below, a simple graph for:

y = x^2

is plotted. The plot function is bound to a button that displays the figure when pressed.

Python3

from tkinter import * 
from matplotlib.figure import Figure
from matplotlib.backends.backend_tkagg import (FigureCanvasTkAgg, 
NavigationToolbar2Tk)

# plot function is created for 
# plotting the graph in 
# tkinter window
def plot():

    # the figure that will contain the plot
    fig = Figure(figsize = (5, 5),
                 dpi = 100)

    # list of squares
    y = [i**2 for i in range(101)]

    # adding the subplot
    plot1 = fig.add_subplot(111)

    # plotting the graph
    plot1.plot(y)

    # creating the Tkinter canvas
    # containing the Matplotlib figure
    canvas = FigureCanvasTkAgg(fig,
                               master = window)  
    canvas.draw()

    # placing the canvas on the Tkinter window
    canvas.get_tk_widget().pack()

    # creating the Matplotlib toolbar
    toolbar = NavigationToolbar2Tk(canvas,
                                   window)
    toolbar.update()

    # placing the toolbar on the Tkinter window
    canvas.get_tk_widget().pack()

# the main Tkinter window
window = Tk()

# setting the title 
window.title('Plotting in Tkinter')

# dimensions of the main window
window.geometry("500x500")

# button that displays the plot
plot_button = Button(master = window, 
                     command = plot,
                     height = 2, 
                     width = 10,
                     text = "Plot")

# place the button 
# in main window
plot_button.pack()

# run the gui
window.mainloop()