Applications typically have to request input from the user from time to time. Python and tkinter have built in dialogs that help you ask the user basic questions. These dialogs also provide validation to help make sure that the user enters valid input. This is an example program that shows off askquestion, askfloat, askinteger, and askstring.

from tkinter import *
from tkinter.messagebox import askquestion, showinfo
from tkinter.simpledialog import askfloat, askinteger, askstring


class AskDialogDemo(Frame):
    def __init__(self, master=None, cnf={}, **kw):
        super().__init__(master, cnf, **kw)
        self.pack()
        Button(self, text='Ask a Question', command=self.askquestion_demo).pack(side=LEFT, fill=BOTH, expand=YES)
        Button(self, text='Ask for a Float', command=self.askfloat_demo).pack(side=LEFT, fill=BOTH, expand=YES)
        Button(self, text='Ask for an Integer', command=self.askinteger_demo).pack(side=LEFT, fill=BOTH, expand=YES)
        Button(self, text='Ask for a String', command=self.askstring_demo).pack(side=LEFT, fill=BOTH, expand=YES)

    def askquestion_demo(self):
        answer = askquestion('Question', 'Do you like corn?')
        if answer:
            showinfo('Answer', answer)
        else:
            self.canceled()

    def askfloat_demo(self):
        num = askfloat('Float', 'Enter a decimal number')
        if num:
            showinfo('Float', 'You entered {}'.format(num))
        else:
            self.canceled()

    def askinteger_demo(self):
        num = askinteger('Integer', 'Enter a whole number')
        if num:
            showinfo('Integer', 'You entered {}'.format(num))
        else:
            self.canceled()

    def askstring_demo(self):
        str = askstring('String', 'Enter a string')
        if str:
            showinfo('String', 'You entered {}'.format(str))
        else:
            self.canceled()

    def canceled(self):
        showinfo('Canceled', 'You canceled')


if __name__ == '__main__':
    AskDialogDemo().mainloop()

Explanation

askquestion

You use askquestion to ask the user a basic yes or no question. It takes two arguments: one for the title, and the other is for the question. The returned value will be a string containing yes or no.

answer = askquestion('Question', 'Do you like corn?')

askfloat

The askfloat function returns decimal numbers. It will also perform validation that makes sure the user enters a valid float. The function will either return the float that the user entered or it will return None if they hit cancel.

num = askfloat('Float', 'Enter a decimal number')

askinteger

This function works like askfloat but it returns integers.

num = askinteger('Integer', 'Enter a whole number')

askstring

You can use askstring to get a string value from the user. It will return None if the user enters a blank string and hits Ok or Cancel.

str = askstring('String', 'Enter a string')