Python3 Tkinter fonts not working

Question

I am using python 3.3 with tkinter, and the package python3-tk is installed. In most docs the old "import tkFont" is used, which is not working any more.

This is supposed to work:

from tkinter import font
appHighlightFont = font.Font(family='Helvetica', size=12, weight='bold')
font.families()

However, I get this exception on the second line:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/lib/python3.3/tkinter/font.py", line 92, in __init__
    root.tk.call("font", "create", self.name, *font)
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'tk'

I checked http://infohost.nmt.edu/tcc/help/pubs/tkinter/web/fonts.html and http://www.tkdocs.com/tutorial/fonts.html which were the most useful tkinter docs so far.

Unfortunately I still can't figure out what I am doing wrong.

Solution

You should import font not fonts. Also, if the code you posted is actual code, you are neglecting to create a root window before working with fonts. You must create a root window first.

from tkinter import font
import tkinter as tk
...
root = tk.Tk()
...
appHighlightFont = font.Font(family='Helvetica', size=12, weight='bold')
font.families()