LiteralInput#

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import panel as pn
import panel_material_ui as pmui

pn.extension()

The LiteralInput widget allows entering any valid Python literal (such as a number, string, list, dict, or tuple) using a text input box. This is useful for quickly entering and editing Python objects in dashboards and notebooks.

You can optionally set a type to validate the literal before updating the parameter. The serializer parameter lets you choose between Python’s ast.literal_eval (default) and JSON serialization for parsing and formatting values.

Parameters:#

Core#

disabled (boolean): Whether the widget is editable
enter_pressed (event): An event that triggers when the <enter> key is pressed.

serializer: The serialization method to use ('ast' or 'json').
type: The expected Python type (e.g., dict, list, tuple, int, float, bool, str).
value: The current value, parsed as a Python literal.
value_input (str): The current value as a string, updated on every key press.

Display#

color (str): The color variant of the input, which must be one of 'default' (white), 'primary' (blue), 'success' (green), 'info' (yellow), 'light' (light), or 'danger' (red).

error_state: Indicates if the input could not be parsed as a valid literal.

max_length (int): The maximum number of allowed characters.
label (str): The title of the widget
placeholder (str): A placeholder string displayed when no value is entered.
size (Literal["small", "medium"]): The size variant of the widget.
variant (Literal["filled", "outlined", "standard"]): The variant of the input field.

Styling#

sx (dict): Component level styling API.
theme_config (dict): Theming API.

Aliases#

For compatibility with Panel certain parameters are allowed as aliases:

name: Alias for label

For more details on customization, see the customization guides, layout, and styling how-to guides.

Basic Usage#

The LiteralInput widget can be used to enter any valid Python literal. For example, you can enter a number, a string, a list, a dictionary, or a tuple

literal_input = pmui.LiteralInput(label='Enter a literal', value={"a", 1})
literal_input

LiteralInput.value returns a literal type that can be read out and set like other widgets:

literal_input.value

{1, 'a'}

Placeholder#

The LiteralInput widget supports a placeholder which is displayed when the value is None:

pmui.LiteralInput(label='Enter a literal', value=None, placeholder='e.g. 42, [1,2,3], {"a": 1}')

Value Input#

The LiteralInput.value is updated after an enter_pressed event or when switching focus, i.e. when clicking or tabbing away from the widget. To get the current str value after every keystroke you can inspect the value_input instead:

literal_input = pmui.LiteralInput(label='Value', value={"a": 1})

pmui.Column(
    literal_input,
    pmui.Row(pn.pane.Str(literal_input.param.value), pn.pane.Str(literal_input.param.value_input))
)

Enter Pressed#

The enter_pressed parameter is triggered when the ENTER key is pressed

literal_input_enter = pmui.LiteralInput(label="Press ENTER", value="abc")

enter_count = pn.rx(0)
def update_enter_count(event):
    enter_count.rx.value += 1
pn.bind(update_enter_count, literal_input_enter.param.enter_pressed, watch=True)

pmui.Column(literal_input_enter, enter_count)

Maximum Length#

The max_length controls the maximum number of characters that can be entered:

pmui.LiteralInput(label='Enter a literal', value={"a", 1}, max_length=12)

Error State#

If the input cannot be parsed as a valid Python literal, the widget will indicate an error state, e.g. try entering [] and hit enter:

pmui.LiteralInput(label='Invalid input', type=dict, value={})

By changing the value to [} you will change the error_state.

Type and Serializer#

Optionally, you can specify the expected type and the serializer method (either 'ast' for Python literals or 'json' for JSON data).

ast_input = pmui.LiteralInput(label='Enter a literal', type=dict, serializer="ast", value={'a': 1}, placeholder='e.g. 42, [1,2,3], {"a": 1}')
json_input = pmui.LiteralInput(label='Enter a literal', type=dict, serializer="json", value={'a': 1}, placeholder='e.g. 42, [1,2,3], {"a": 1}')

def to_type(value):
    return str(type(value))

pmui.Row(
    pmui.Column(ast_input, pn.pane.Str(ast_input.param.value)),
    pmui.Column(json_input, pn.pane.Str(json_input.param.value)),
)

DictInput, ListInput, and TupleInput#

Specialized versions of LiteralInput are available for entering dictionaries, lists, and tuples. These widgets ensure the value is always of the expected type.

pmui.DictInput(label='Enter a dictionary', placeholder="e.g. {'a': 1, 'b': 2}")

pmui.ListInput(label='Enter a list', placeholder='e.g. [1, 2, 3]')

pmui.TupleInput(label='Enter a tuple', placeholder='e.g. (1, 2, 3)')

Disabled and Loading#

pmui.LiteralInput(label='Enter a literal', value=42, placeholder='e.g. 42, [1,2,3], {"a": 1}', disabled=True, loading=True)

Color Options#

You can set the color parameter to visually distinguish the LiteralInput when active. Available options include “default”, “primary”, “secondary”, “error”, “info”, “success”, “warning”, “light”, “dark”, and “danger”:

pmui.FlexBox(
    *[pmui.LiteralInput(label=color, color=color) for color in pmui.TextInput.param.color.objects]
)

Size#

The size parameter allows toggling between “small”, “medium” (default) and “large” sized input fields:

pmui.FlexBox(
    pmui.LiteralInput(label='Small', size="small"),
    pmui.LiteralInput(label='Medium', size="medium"),
)

Variant#

The variant parameter controls the visual style of the input. Choose from “filled”, “outlined” (default), or “standard”:

pmui.FlexBox(
    pmui.LiteralInput(label='Filled', variant="filled"),
    pmui.LiteralInput(label='Outlined', variant="outlined"),
    pmui.LiteralInput(label='Standard', variant="standard"),
)

Description Tooltip#

pmui.LiteralInput(label='Enter a literal', value=42, description="A tooltip shown when hovering")

API Reference#

Parameters#

The LiteralInput exposes a number of options which can be changed from both Python and Javascript. Try out the effect of these parameters interactively:

pmui.LiteralInput(label='LiteralInput').api(jslink=True)

References#

Panel Documentation:

Material UI TextField:

Download this notebook from GitHub (right-click to download).