How to Make a Screen Rotation Controller using Python

In the digital world, we navigate daily the ability to customize our user experience is not just a luxury it’s a necessity. Whether it’s for ease of reading, accessibility, or simply personal preference, adjusting how we view content can significantly enhance our interaction with software applications. This is where the power of Python’s tkinter library shines through.

Today, this tutorial covers the step-by-step guide to creating a screen rotation function using the tkinter library. So let’s get started!

Necessary Libraries
Imports
Screen Rotation Functions
Creating the Main Window
Creating Graphical User Interface Elements
Run the Main Window
Example
Full Code

Necessary Libraries

$ pip install tk
$ pip install rotate-screen

For the code to function properly, make sure to install the tkinter and rotate-screen libraries via the terminal or your command prompt.

Imports

from tkinter import *
import rotatescreen as rs

We start by importing the tkinter library that allows us to create a graphical user interface together with the rotatescreen module, which allows us to control the screen orientation.

Screen Rotation Functions

def rotate_screen(orientation):
    screen = rs.get_primary_display()
    if orientation == "up":
        screen.set_landscape()
    elif orientation == "right":
        screen.set_portrait_flipped()
    elif orientation == "left":
        screen.set_portrait()
    elif orientation == "down":
        screen.set_landscape_flipped()

def reset_screen():
    screen = rs.get_primary_display()
    screen.set_landscape()

This code creates two functions the first one rotate_screen, as the name suggests, this function changes the screen position depending on the specified orientation, The second one reset_screen resets the screen orientation to its initial position.

Creating The Main Window

root = Tk()
root.geometry("500x250")
root.title("Screen Rotation Controller - The Pycodes")
root.configure(bg="lightblue")

What we did here is simply create the main window, give it a name, define its geometry as well as give it a background color.

Creating Graphical User Interface Elements

frame = Frame(root, bg="lightblue")
frame.pack(pady=30)

Button(frame, text="UP", command=lambda: rotate_screen("up"), bg="white", font="arial 14", width=20).grid(row=0, column=0, padx=10)
Button(frame, text="Right", command=lambda: rotate_screen("right"), bg="white", font="arial 14", width=20).grid(row=0, column=1, padx=10)
Button(frame, text="Left", command=lambda: rotate_screen("left"), bg="white", font="arial 14", width=20).grid(row=1, column=0, padx=10)
Button(frame, text="Down", command=lambda: rotate_screen("down"), bg="white", font="arial 14", width=20).grid(row=1, column=1, padx=10)
Button(root, text="Reset the Screen", command=reset_screen, bg="white", font="arial 14", width=30).pack()

Here, we created a frame within the main window that will contain our buttons, four of which (up, right, left, down) will call the rotate_screen function, and the “Reset the Screen” button which will call the reset_screen function therefore resetting the orientation of the screen.

Run The Main Window

root.mainloop()

Lastly, this part is the one responsible for keeping the main window running and interacting with the user until he decides to exit.

Example

Full Code

View on Github

from tkinter import *
import rotatescreen as rs


def rotate_screen(orientation):
    screen = rs.get_primary_display()
    if orientation == "up":
        screen.set_landscape()
    elif orientation == "right":
        screen.set_portrait_flipped()
    elif orientation == "left":
        screen.set_portrait()
    elif orientation == "down":
        screen.set_landscape_flipped()


def reset_screen():
    screen = rs.get_primary_display()
    screen.set_landscape()


root = Tk()
root.geometry("500x250")
root.title("Screen Rotation Controller - The Pycodes")
root.configure(bg="lightblue")

frame = Frame(root, bg="lightblue")
frame.pack(pady=30)

Button(frame, text="UP", command=lambda: rotate_screen("up"), bg="white", font="arial 14", width=20).grid(row=0, column=0, padx=10)
Button(frame, text="Right", command=lambda: rotate_screen("right"), bg="white", font="arial 14", width=20).grid(row=0, column=1, padx=10)
Button(frame, text="Left", command=lambda: rotate_screen("left"), bg="white", font="arial 14", width=20).grid(row=1, column=0, padx=10)
Button(frame, text="Down", command=lambda: rotate_screen("down"), bg="white", font="arial 14", width=20).grid(row=1, column=1, padx=10)
Button(root, text="Reset the Screen", command=reset_screen, bg="white", font="arial 14", width=30).pack()

root.mainloop()

Happy Coding!