Kivy - Configuration Object

When Kivy software is installed, it creates a configuration file that contains various parameter with their default values. The file, named as "config.ini", is stored in a directory identified by KIVY_HOME environment variable.

  • On Windows: The file is stored at C:\Users\user\.kivy\config.ini.

  • On Linux: /home/user/.kivy/config.ini.

  • On macOS: /Users/user/.kivy/config.ini.

  • On Android: /data/data/org.kivy.launcher/files/.kivy/config.ini.

  • On iOS: <HOME_DIRECTORY>/Documents/.kivy/config.ini.

In order to change the default settings, you can alter this file manually or use the Config object. The Config object's read(), set() and write() methods are provided to read the value of a setting, assign a new value and write the changes to the configuration file.

from kivy.config import Config

Config.read(<file>)

Config.write() # set config

You can also assign a value to any configuration parameter (called token) in effect only for the current session, by setting environment variable - either programmatically or from the OS terminal.

To set an environment variable from Python −

import os
os.environ['KIVY_LOG_MODE'] = MIXED'

You can also set an environment variable from OS terminal. In Windows command prompt terminal −

set KIVY_LOG_MODE = MIXED'

On Linux/MacOS −

export KIVY_LOG_MODE = MIXED'

The configuration file config.ini consists of one or more sections, and each section consists of parameters called tokens. A typical "config.ini" file for KIvy installation consists of secions such as Kivy, Graphics, widgets, etc.

kivy configuration object

To change a certain configuration setting with the environment variable, use the following instruction format −

KCFG_<section>_<key> = <value>

For example, to set the log level −

KCFG_KIVY_LOG_LEVEL= "warning"

The same can be done programmatically with following syntax −

os.environ["KCFG_KIVY_LOG_LEVEL"] = " warning"

Configuration Tokens

The configuration file is divided in several sections, and each section consists of tokens or parameters. Here are some important tokens given in section-wise order −

Section - [Kivy]

  • default_font − Default fonts used for widgets displaying any text.

  • desktop − int, 0 or 1. This option controls features, such as enabling or disabling drag-able scroll-bar in scroll views, disabling of bubbles in TextInput, etc.

  • log_dir − Path of log directory.

  • log_level − string, one of 'trace', 'debug', 'info', 'warning', 'error' or 'critical'. Set the minimum log level to use.

Section - [postproc]

  • double_tap_distance − Maximum distance allowed for a double tap, normalized inside the range 0 - 1000.

  • double_tap_time − Time allowed for the detection of double tap, in milliseconds.

  • triple_tap_distance − fMaximum distance allowed for a triple tap, normalized inside the range 0 - 1000.

  • triple_tap_time − Time allowed for the detection of triple tap, in milliseconds.

Section [graphics]

  • fullscreen − one of 0, 1, 'fake' or 'auto'.

  • height − Height of the Window, not used if fullscreen is set to auto.

  • left − Left position of the Window.

  • top − Top position of the Window.

  • resizable − one of 0 or 1 - 0 for fixed size and 1 for resizable.

  • width − Width of the Window, not used if fullscreen is set to auto.

Section [widgets]

  • scroll_distance − Default value of the scroll_distance property used by the ScrollView widget.

  • scroll_timeout − Default value of the scroll_timeout property used by the ScrollView widget.

Methods of Config Object

add_section() − Add a section to the configuration if the section is missing. For example −

Config.add_section('newsection')

get() − Get an option value for a given section. For example −

Config.get('graphics', 'width')

set() − assign value to a configuration token. Example −

Config.set('graphics', 'width', 720)

write() − Write the configuration to the last file opened using the read() method. It returns True if the write finished successfully, False otherwise.

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