From SQLite to SQLAlchemy: How I Upgraded My Tkinter Product Manager App

As part of my Python learning journey, I developed a product manager desktop application using Tkinter. Initially, I used SQLite with raw SQL queries, but later decided to refactor the app using SQLAlchemy, a powerful Object-Relational Mapper (ORM), to write cleaner and more maintainable code. In this post, I walk you through what I built, why I improved it, and how I did it.

Features Implemented

• 🖋️ Add products via input form

• 🧮 Calculate and display total price in table

• 🎨 Use ttkbootstrap for modern UI styling

• 🧩 Combobox to select and edit product category

• 🖼️ Icons on buttons (save, edit, delete)

• 💬 Tooltip explanations on hover

• 🔧 Editable modal form for product updates

• ✅ Validation on input fields (name, price, quantity)

What I Learned

• How to use SQLAlchemy for database abstraction

• How to create better UIs with ttkbootstrap

• How to work with Combobox, Spinbox, and tooltips in Tkinter

• How to use Git branches effectively

• How to write maintainable and professional Python code

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Repository

👉 View on GitHub