An abuse of python globals() method to dynamically generate sequentially named functions; this was used to automatically populate buttons in a passive, same-thread GUI using tkinter

dynamic_function_generation_for_tkinter_buttons.py

#credit to StackOverflow user yann-vernier for means of abuse of globals()
#https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49631178/using-for-loop-to-define-multiple-functions-python

import time
import tkinter as tk
from types import FunctionType
from copy import copy

#The GUI will print filenames and some filename feature when button presses are passively detected 

flag = False  # Global flag to detect button presses
running_variable = "file_0"

button_names = ["file_1", "file_2", "file_3", "file_4"]

#function that returns specially named function with specified arguments
def create_button_function(fn, name):
    return FunctionType(copy(fn.__code__), 
                        copy(fn.__globals__), name=name, argdefs=copy(fn.__defaults__),
                        closure=copy(fn.__closure__))

button_funcs = [] #keep track of button target function handles
button_names = [] #keep track of button names to make populating the GUI easier 

for i in range(len(button_names)):
    n = "print_" + button_names[i]
    def _printfilename():
        global flag  #reset global flag variable
        flag = True  #indicate that this button has been pressed for when GUI is next updated
        #do some things that you want a button to do
        global running_variable
        running_variable = button_names[i] #update some value used by the main loop
        return(print(n), "| length of filename: ", len(n))
    globals()[n] = create_button_function(_printfilname, n)
    button_funcs.append(globals()[n])
    button_names.append(n)

#initialize GUI app
root = tk.Tk()
root.title("GUI")
app = tk.Frame(root)
app.grid()

#populate the buttons in the app
for j in range(len(button_funcs)):
    tk.Button(app, text=button_names[j], command=button_funcs[j]).grid()

loop_idx = 0

while True:
    #passively check if button has been pressed to avoid needing additional thread for GUI
    if loop_idx % 3 == 0
      root.update()
      if flag:
          print("Button pressed")
        flag = False
        
    #do other things that depend on the update from the GUI
    print("Current value of running variable is: " + running_variable)
    loop_idx += 1
    time.sleep(1)