How to Check If a TextBox Is Empty in Python

In this tutorial, we will explore how to check if a TextBox is empty in Python. A TextBox is widely used in various Python graphical interfaces, such as PyQt, Tkinter, wxPython, etc., for user input or to display information.

Sometimes, it is necessary to verify whether a TextBox is vacant or not to ensure data integrity and avoid potential errors. Here, we will guide you through the process in simple steps.

Win32gui Dynamics: TextBox

The win32gui module plays a crucial role in manipulating user interface features in Windows. This module can handle checks on form elements such as Textboxes. First, we need to install the pywin32 library using pip

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pip install pywin32

Accessing TextBox

In the win32gui application, accessing a TextBox involves getting the handle to the TextBox window. The TextBox ID or class name is essentially required. These can be obtained through Spy++ Tool packaged with Visual Studio or other third-party tools like WinLister.

Check If the TextBox Is Empty

The value inside a TextBox can be read using a GetWindowText() method. By passing the handle to the TextBox, it returns the content of the TextBox as a string.

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textBoxContent = win32gui.GetWindowText(textBoxHandle)

If the TextBox is empty, the GetWindowText() method will return an empty string.

Complete Code

Finally, let’s check the TextBox emptiness through the combination of the above steps:

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import win32gui
 
def check_textbox(textBoxHandle):
    textBoxContent = win32gui.GetWindowText(textBoxHandle)
    if textBoxContent == "":
        print("TextBox is empty")
    else:
        print("TextBox contains: ", textBoxContent)
 
#Get the handle to the TextBox
textBoxHandle = win32gui.FindWindow(None, "TextBox Name")
 
check_textbox(textBoxHandle)

Conclusion

Validating the content of a TextBox is a crucial step to ensure the robustness of your code especially when creating GUI in Python. In this tutorial, we have used the win32gui library to obtain the value of a TextBox and check if it is empty. Remember to replace “TextBox Name” with the actual TextBox id or class name obtained from a tool like Spy++ or WinLister.