Creating a widget is not enough. You also have to make it appear on the screen. In order to do this use the %show()% or %show_all()% methods. There is a difference between these methods if the widget is a container. This will display the window, but not any of its contained children: show(); ?>]]> This will display the window and all of its contained children: show_all(); ?>]]> If a widget is inside a container and you call %show()% on it, it will not appear on screen until the container itself has been shown. This is useful for visibility display of the main window, for example. Corresponding functions for hiding a widget are %hide()% and %hide_all()%.