Simple Customer Queue System In Python Tkinter (Free Download)

Welcome to a quick tutorial on how to create a simple customer queue system with Python Flask. Want to create your own simple queue management system? Well, the basics are actually pretty simple – Read on for an example!

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

EXAMPLE CODE DOWNLOAD

Source code on GitHub Gist

Just click on “download zip” or do a git clone. I have released it under the MIT license, so feel free to build on top of it or use it in your own project.

 

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QUICK SETUP

• Create a virtual environment virtualenv venv and activate it – venv\Scripts\activate (Windows) venv/bin/activate (Linux/Mac)
• Install required libraries – pip install tk

 

 

STEP 1) QUEUE MECHANICS

# (B) QUEUE MECHANICS
# (B1) COUNTERS
qAll = 0 # total number of people in queue
qNow = 0 # current queue number
 
# (B2) ISSUE QUEUE NUMBER
def issue():
  global qAll
  qAll += 1
  issL1["text"] = qAll
 
# (B3) NEXT CUSTOMER
def next():
  global qAll, qNow
  if qNow < qAll:
    qNow += 1
    issL2["text"] = qNow
    nowL1["text"] = qNow

• (B1) For the queue system, we have 2 simple variables to keep track of the queue number.
  • qAll The total number of customers.
  • qNow “Now serving” number.
• (B2) issue() is “step 1” of the process, where a staff hits the “issue queue number” button.
• (B3) next() is “step 2” to advance the “now serving” number.

Yep, that’s all to the basic mechanics.

 

 

STEP 2) USER INTERFACE

# (A) LOAD MODULES
from tkinter import *
 
# (C) BUILD INTERFACE
# (C1) ISSUE QUEUE NUMBER
issFONTA = ("Arial", 20)
issFONTB = ("Arial", 16)
issTK = Tk()
issF1 = Frame(issTK)
issB1 = Button(issF1, width=6, bg="red", fg="white", text="Issue", font=issFONTB, command=issue)
issB2 = Button(issF1, width=6, bg="blue", fg="white", text="Next", font=issFONTB, command=next)
issL1 = Label(issF1, text="0", fg="red", font=issFONTA)
issL2 = Label(issF1, text="0", fg="blue", font=issFONTA)
#issTK.geometry("640x480")
issF1.place(relx=.5, rely=.5, anchor=CENTER)
issB1.grid(row=0, column=0, pady=2)
issB2.grid(row=1, column=0, pady=2)
issL1.grid(row=0, column=1, pady=2, padx=10)
issL2.grid(row=1, column=1, pady=2, padx=10)
 
# (C2) NOW SERVING
issFONTA = ("Arial", 180)
issFONTB = ("Arial", 20)
nowTK = Tk()
nowF1 = Frame(nowTK)
nowL1 = Label(nowF1, text="0", font=issFONTA)
nowL2 = Label(nowF1, text="NOW SERVING", font=issFONTB)
nowTK.geometry("350x450")
nowF1.place(relx=.5, rely=.5, anchor=CENTER)
nowL1.pack()
nowL2.pack()
 
# (C3) START!
issTK.mainloop()
nowTK.mainloop()

Not the prettiest interface design in the world, but it works…

• (A) Yes, we are using tkinter to build the interface here. For you guys who are new – This is basically the de facto module to build GUI apps in Python.
• (C) There are 2 windows.
  • (C1) issTK For admin to issue a queue number, and to advance the queue.
  • (C2) nowTK Pretty much a big “now serving” display board.
• (C3) Start the app. Captain Obvious at your service.

Yep. This simple app can pretty much run on a single device but requires 2 display monitors.

 

 

 

IMPROVEMENT IDEAS

Of course, this is only a tutorial and covers the bare basics. A lot of improvements can be made:

• A better interface. Big numbers, funky fonts, and stuff.
• Play a sound on “next customer”, and flash the screen.
• Find ways to better manage the queue number… Or it will run to very big numbers eventually.
• Maybe even save the current queue numbers in a file, so that it is not lost when the system crashes.
• Attach a thermal printer, print, and issue a “hard copy” to the customer.
• If there is an Internet connection, maybe even send out a reminder to the customer.

The possibilities are endless, so it’s up to you to create your own “perfect system”.

 

LINKS & REFERENCES

• tkinter