SHARE

Balloon Tooltips

and enhanced by Guy Brousseau and Greg Gagnaux. This class, CTooolTipWnd is useful if you want tooltips to look like an ellipse rather than the standard rectangle as shown in the image below. Usage is somewhat similar to MFC CToolTipCtrl. To use CTooolTipWnd in an MFC application, you have to perform the following steps 1. […]

Written By

CodeGuru Staff

Jul 4, 1999

3 minute read

CodeGuru content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More

and enhanced
by Guy Brousseau and
Greg Gagnaux.

This class, CTooolTipWnd is useful if you want tooltips to
look like an ellipse rather than the standard rectangle as shown
in the image below.

Usage is somewhat similar to MFC CToolTipCtrl.

To use CTooolTipWnd in an MFC application, you have to perform
the following steps

1. Add ToolTipWnd.cpp to your
project.

2. #include "ToolTipWnd.h"
in the header file of the class, where you want tooltips.

3. Add a variable in the class.

CToolTipWnd m_BalloonToolTip;

3. In OnInitDialog (if it is a dialog) or OnInitialUpdate (if
it is a formview) add the following code

m_BalloonToolTip.Create(this);

m_BalloonToolTip.AddTool(GetDlgItem(<id>),
<text>, [text color]);

eg.

m_BalloonToolTip.AddTool(GetDlgItem(IDC_EDIT1),"Tooltip",
RGB(255,0,0));

Third parameter is optional. If it is not given the default
text color ( RGB(0,0,0) ) is used. The default text color can
also be set using the public function SetDefTextColor.

4. Override PreTranslateMessage and add the following code

if(m_BalloonToolTip)
m_BalloonToolTip.RelayEvent(pMsg);

Here is a list of all the public methods and variables.

void AddTool(CWnd *pWnd, CString
strText, COLORREF clrTextColor=NULL);
void SetWidth(int iWidth)
This function is used for setting the width of the
tooltip window. Default is 100
void SetHeight(int iHeight)
This function is used for setting the height of
the tooltip window. Default is 60
void SetBkColor(COLORREF clrRef)
To Set the background color
of the tooltip window. Default is Light yellow (on a 256
color display this will look dithered.
void SetFrameColor(COLORREF clrRef)
To set the border color of
the window. Default is Blue
void SetDefTextColor(COLORREF
clrRef)
The default textcolor is
black, you can change it using this function.
void SetFontHeight(int iHeight) {
m_iFontHeight = iHeight; }
To set the font size.
Default is 14.
void SetFontName(CString
strFontName) { m_strFontName = strFontName; }
To the font name. Default is
Arial.

The tooltip text will be wrapped iniside the window if it
exceeds one line otherwise it will be centered horizontally and
vertically.

Enhancements

Enhancements by Guy Brousseau

Guy Brousseau has enchanced this control with the following corrections
and additions:

Here is the summary of changes (addressing two posted comments) extracted
from the code

Add TIMER support (0 if no timer wanted)
DON’T GET CLIPPED around screen corners (although incomplete).
Corrected a bug when m_stuck is not set and mouse moves over the tooltip, it moved
Corrected a bug when you jumped quickly into a control and land onto a tooltip, the mouse moves and click were not forwarded
Trap Non-client messages for mouse move and button click (cf. scrollbars in edit controls)
Replace tool in lookup table if inserted more than once
Explicitly display the tooltip by programmation request (rather than mouse move)
All revamped (simplified and commented) to be better understandable (sorry, but I must stick to local programming style…)

Guy thanks his boss, Jean Ctti, who joyfully granting him the 2 days necessary for this mission.