Jazz Up Your Olympics Board with PySimpleGUI! 🎉

Customize Your Olympics Leaderboard: Reading and Writing to CSV Files with PySimpleGUI! 🎉

Hey CodeCrafters! 🎨

Are you ready to take your interactive leaderboard to the next level?

Today, we're going to learn how to read and write data to a CSV file.

This way, you can easily load your leaderboard from a file and save updates, making your app even more dynamic and practical.

Let's dive in!

What is a CSV File?

A CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file is a simple text file used to store tabular data. Each line in the file represents a row, and each value is separated by a comma. It's a common format for data exchange between applications. Think of it like a spreadsheet, but in plain text!

Step-by-Step Tutorial

1. Create Your CSV File

Create a CSV file using the sample data below:

How to create the CSV file:

Creating a CSV file using Google Sheets is quick and easy!

Here’s a step-by-step guide with sample data to get you started:

Step 1: Open Google Sheets

• Go to Google Sheets and create a new blank spreadsheet.

Step 2: Enter Your Data

In the first row, enter your headers. For example:

• A1: Country

• B1: Gold

• C1: Silver

• D1: Bronze

Below the headers, enter your data. For example:

• A2: USA

• B2: 33

• C2: 39

• D2: 39

• A3: China

• B3: 33

• C3: 27

• D3: 23

• A4: Australia

• B4: 18

• C4: 16

• D4: 14

Step 3: Download as CSV

• Once your data is entered, go to the File menu.

• Click on Download and then choose Comma-separated values (.csv, current sheet).

• Your CSV file will be downloaded to your computer.

Step 4: Use Your CSV File

• Now you can use this CSV file in your Python programs or any other application that supports CSV files!

Sample Data in CSV Format:

If you opened your CSV file in a text editor, it would look like this:

Country,Gold,Silver,Bronze

USA,33,39,39

China,33,27,23

Australia,18,16,14

Japan,16,8,13

UK,14,20,23

That’s it! You’ve created a CSV file using Google Sheets in just a few simple steps. 🎉

2. Reading and Writing to the CSV File Using a Dictionary

Let's break down the code step by step:

Step 1: Reading the CSV File into a Dictionary

First, we'll create a function to read the CSV file and load the data into a dictionary. This makes it super easy to access and update our leaderboard.

import csv

def read_leaderboard(file_path):

    leaderboard = {}

    with open(file_path, mode='r') as file:

        reader = csv.DictReader(file)

        for row in reader:

            country = row['Country']

            leaderboard[country] = {

                'Gold': int(row['Gold']),

                'Silver': int(row['Silver']),

                'Bronze': int(row['Bronze'])

            }

    return leaderboard

This function opens the CSV file, reads each row, and stores the data in a dictionary. The DictReader from the csv module makes this easy by treating each row as a dictionary.

Step 2: Writing the Dictionary Back to the CSV File

Next, we'll create a function to save our dictionary back to the CSV file. This ensures any updates we make are stored.

def write_leaderboard(file_path, data):

    with open(file_path, mode='w', newline='') as file:

        fieldnames = ['Country', 'Gold', 'Silver', 'Bronze']

        writer = csv.DictWriter(file, fieldnames=fieldnames)

        writer.writeheader()

        for country, medals in data.items():

            row = {'Country': country, 'Gold': medals['Gold'], 'Silver': medals['Silver'], 'Bronze': medals['Bronze']}

            writer.writerow(row)

This function opens the file in write mode and uses DictWriter to write each dictionary entry as a row in the CSV file.

Step 3: Converting Dictionary to List for Display

We'll need a helper function to convert our dictionary to a list for displaying in the PySimpleGUI table.

def dict_to_list(leaderboard_dict):

    leaderboard_list = []

    for country, medals in leaderboard_dict.items():

        leaderboard_list.append([country, medals['Gold'], medals['Silver'], medals['Bronze']])

    return leaderboard_list

This function loops through the dictionary and creates a list of lists, each sublist representing a country and its medal counts.

Step 4: Building the GUI

Now let's set up our GUI layout and event loop using PySimpleGUI.

import PySimpleGUI as sg

# Read the initial leaderboard data

file_path = 'leaderboard.csv'

leaderboard = read_leaderboard(file_path)

# GUI Layout

layout = [

    [sg.Text('Olympics Leaderboard')],

    [sg.Table(values=dict_to_list(leaderboard), headings=['Country', 'Gold', 'Silver', 'Bronze'], key='-TABLE-')],

    [sg.Text('Country'), sg.InputText(key='-COUNTRY-')],

    [sg.Text('Gold'), sg.InputText(key='-GOLD-')],

    [sg.Text('Silver'), sg.InputText(key='-SILVER-')],

    [sg.Text('Bronze'), sg.InputText(key='-BRONZE-')],

    [sg.Button('Update Leaderboard'), sg.Button('Save to File'), sg.Button('Exit')]

]

# Create the window

window = sg.Window('Olympics Leaderboard', layout)

# Event loop

while True:

    event, values = window.read()

    if event sg.WIN_CLOSED or event 'Exit':

        write_leaderboard(file_path, leaderboard)

        break

    elif event == 'Update Leaderboard':

        # Update the leaderboard dictionary with the new entry

        country = values['-COUNTRY-']

        gold = int(values['-GOLD-'])

        silver = int(values['-SILVER-'])

        bronze = int(values['-BRONZE-'])

        leaderboard[country] = {'Gold': gold, 'Silver': silver, 'Bronze': bronze}

        # Update the table with the new leaderboard

        window['-TABLE-'].update(values=dict_to_list(leaderboard))

    elif event == 'Save to File':

        # Save the updated leaderboard to the CSV file

        write_leaderboard(file_path, leaderboard)

window.close()

Let’s Sum it Up!

1. Reading the CSV File: The read_leaderboard function reads the data from the CSV file into a dictionary, with the country as the key and a dictionary of medal counts as the value.

2. Writing to the CSV File: The write_leaderboard function writes the updated leaderboard data back to the CSV file from the dictionary.

3. Converting Dictionary to List: The dict_to_list function converts the dictionary to a list format for displaying in the PySimpleGUI table.

4. GUI Layout: The layout includes a table to display the leaderboard and input fields to add or update entries.

5. Event Loop: The event loop handles user interactions. When the 'Update Leaderboard' button is clicked, it updates the dictionary with the new entry. When the 'Save to File' button is clicked, it writes the updated leaderboard back to the CSV file. Before exiting, it ensures the dictionary data is saved to the CSV file.

Output

The completed code can be downloaded below:

Coding with a Smile 🤣 😂

Commentary King/Queen:

Becoming adept at writing comments in your code is like being a sports commentator. You’re providing play-by-play action so that anyone (including future you) can understand what’s happening without watching the entire game (reading the entire code).

Recommended Resources 📚

Big Desk Energy is by Tyler Denk who is currently the cofounder/ceo at beehiiv. Prior to that, he was the second employee at Morning Brew, where he spent his days up until the acquisition by Business Insider. 

I gladly recommend his weekly newsletter where he shared his experiences, processes, and philosophies as a startup founder with a lot of strong opinions and absolutely no filter.

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