PysimpleGUI: How to remove cursor from input box when window is clicked elsewhere?

Question

I am using PySimpleGui to create an interface with a few input boxes, buttons, text, and some images that get displayed. I am trying to bind number keys to other actions for button presses. However, the default focus is in the input box so anytime the number keys I set bindings to are pressed the numbers will be input in the input box. I would like to remove the focus from the input box and not enter the keyboard input unless I have specifically selected the input box. This is the behavior of nearly every other application I can think of. For example, if I click outside of this text entry box I'm currently typing in, the cursor will no longer be present and nothing I type will get entered).

I have tried setting the focus to another text box which is not visible every time the mouse button is clicked, but that then immediately moves focus away from the input box if I do want to type in it.

Is there a way to do this?

window.bind('<Button-1>', "-OUTFOCUS-")
if event =="-OUTFOCUS-":
     window['-FOCUSOUT-'].set_focus()

I have tried numerous iterations of finding where the focus is and setting it elsewhere, but nothing has worked.

Edit: I also found another solution which involves knowing the mouse position and comparing it to the element positions, but it's for tkinter. Is there an equivalent method for getting element positions in PySimpleGUI? I found a way to get the mouse position.

def click_event(event):
    x,y = root.winfo_pointerxy()                   # get the mouse position on screen
    widget = root.winfo_containing(x,y)            # identify the widget at this location
    if (widget == ".text_widget") == False:        # if the mouse is not over the text widget
        root.focus()                               # focus on root

text_widget = tk.Text(root, name="text_widget")
text_widget.pack()

root.bind("<Button-1>", click_event)

Answer 1

You can call window.Tkroot.focus_set() to remove focus from other elements.

import PySimpleGUI as sg

sg.theme("DarkGrey3")
sg.set_options(font=("Courier New", 16, "bold"))

layout = [
    [sg.VPush()],
    [sg.Input(key='-IN-')],
    [sg.Text(key='-OUT-', expand_x=True)],
    [sg.VPush()],
]
window = sg.Window('Title', layout, size=(240, 180), finalize=True)
window.bind("<Button-1>", "Click")
window.bind("<Key>", "Key")

while True:

    event, values = window.read()

    if event == sg.WIN_CLOSED:
        break
    elif event in ("Click", "Key"):
        e = window.user_bind_event
        if e.widget != window['-IN-'].widget:
            if event == "Click":
                window.TKroot.focus_set()
            else:
                window['-OUT-'].update(repr(e.char) if e.char else e.keysym)

window.close()

Answer 2

The PySimpleGUI Demo Browser does something like this. The 3 Input Elements can be reached by pressing F1, F2, F3.

The problem with the solution you tried is that Text Elements can't get focus, so setting focus on one fails.

Setting use_default_focus=False when creating the window will solve the initial focus problem. Another option is to set focus to an invisible element.

tkinter is a bit different in how focus is handled, as you've seen. Clicking outside of an Input isn't enough to cause that element to lose focus. You can press Tab to move to the next element that can get focus.

I don't recommend using number keys as a way to navigate since they may be input as text. Maybe Function keys would work for you?

Here's a sample program that uses Function keys to navigate:

import PySimpleGUI as sg

layout = [  [sg.Text('Use Function Keys to Navigate to Input Elements')],
            [sg.Text('F1'), sg.Input(key='-IN1-')],
            [sg.Text('F2'), sg.Input(key='-IN2-')],
            # [sg.Input(key='-INVISIBLE-', visible=False)],         # Optional if you use use_default_focus=False
            [sg.Button('Does Nothing'), sg.Button('Exit')]  ]

window = sg.Window('Function Keys to Navigate', layout, finalize=True, use_default_focus=False)

# window['-INVISIBLE-'].set_focus()
window.bind('<F1>', '-F1-')
window.bind('<F2>', '-F2-')

while True:
    event, values = window.read()
    print(event, values)
    if event == sg.WIN_CLOSED or event == 'Exit':
        break
    elif event == '-F1-':
        window['-IN1-'].set_focus()
    elif event == '-F2-':
        window['-IN2-'].set_focus()

window.close()

There is also an entry in the eCookbook that shows navigating between input elements using arrow keys.

There are a lot of things you can do to change the behavior, each adding complexity. If the goal is to get a specific behavior in a generalized way, across the entire window, that involves every input element's cursor, then you can eventually likely get there, but at a price.