Func for temporary text in many tkinter Entry widget?

I want to put a temporary text in more than 1 entry with tkinter, but my func is not working. I have this situation:

def temp_text_entry_delete(e):
    self.id_entry.delete(0, 'end')


self.id_entry = tk.Entry(borderwidth=2, width=10)
self.id_entry.insert(0, "ex:001")
self.id_entry.pack()
self.id_entry.bind("<FocusIn>", temp_text_entry_delete)

Its working, but…

I wan’t to use the same func for other entrys, like this one:

self.type_entry = tk.Entry(borderwidth=2, width=10)
self.type_entry.insert(0, "metal")
self.type_entry.pack()
self.type_entry.bind("<FocusIn>", temp_text_entry_delete)

Any ideas on how to make it universal?

Answer

Here’s a PlaceholderEntry widget that should to what you want

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk


class PlaceholderEntry(ttk.Entry):
    """Entry widget with placeholder text"""
    def __init__(
        self, parent, placeholder='', color='#888', *args, **kwargs
    ) -> None:
        super().__init__(parent, *args, **kwargs)
        self.placeholder = placeholder
        self._ph_color = color
        self._default_fg = self._get_fg_string()
        # focus bindings
        self.bind('<FocusIn>', self.clear_placeholder)
        self.bind('<FocusOut>', self.set_placeholder)
        # initialize the placeholder
        self.set_placeholder()

    def clear_placeholder(self, *args) -> None:  # on focus in
        if self._get_fg_string() == self._ph_color:
            self.delete(0, tk.END)  # clear the placeholder text
            self.configure(foreground=self._default_fg)  # set 'normal' text color

    def set_placeholder(self, *args) -> None:  # on focus out
        if not self.get():  # if Entry has no text...
            self.insert(0, self.placeholder)  # insert placeholder text
            self.configure(foreground=self._ph_color)  # set placeholder text color

    def _get_fg_string(self) -> str:
        return str(self.cget('foreground')

You can use this class like any other widget, for example:

root = tk.Tk()
self.id_entry = PlaceholderEntry(
    parent=root,
    placeholder='Type Here',
    borderwidth=2, 
    width=10
)
self.id_entry.pack()