Tool tip for Win forms?

[Steve Gray]

Sirs:
I'm working on a complicated WinForms application where I'd like to provide some sort of tool tips to the users as to what some of the fields do. Can you suggest an approach?

I've just purchased the Rad Suite, and I'm excited about the possibilities but I don't see any WinForm tool tip functionality.

I was thinking about putting a small 'help' icon on the form next to a control (text box, drop down, etc) and letting them click on that to get a popup tip, like a message box (but not as obtrusive?)

[Stefan]

Hello steve,

Thank you for writing.

All our controls derive from RadControl which is part of our Telerik Presentation Foundation. RadControl itself has an implementation for tool tips, which means that all our controls have this functionality as well. You can take advantage of this functionality by subscribing to the ToolTipTextNeeded event of any of our controls. Here is an example:

void radButton1_ToolTipTextNeeded(object sender, Telerik.WinControls.ToolTipTextNeededEventArgs e)
{
    e.ToolTipText = "I am a RadButton";
}

I hope the provided information addresses your question. Should you have any other questions, do not hesitate to contact us.
 
All the best,
Stefan
the Telerik team

[Peter Stanford]

I understand that this is an old post but I'm trying to add this functionality to a complex WinForms project and would like to change the way the tooltip is displayed. For example I want to be able to set the Background and Foreground colors of the tooltip at runtime and would also like to display something a little classier than the standard rectangular box.

I'm using VB.NET 2012, Telerik WinForms controls 2012.3.1016.0

As a separate exercise I'd also like to load my tooltip text from either an XML file of my SQL Database to make the information editable outside the application. I know how to recursively loop through the controls on a form but am not sure how to assign the tooltip. Do I use an AddHandler command for each control that I want to assign a tooltip to, given that this appears to be a method rather than a property?

Thanks and best regards

Peter

[Stefan]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for writing.

The tooltips used in the controls are the standard tooltips and their appearance cannot be changed. The way to use them is shown in my previous post - the ToolTipTextNeededEvent.

As an alternative, I can suggest using Screen Tips: http://www.telerik.com/help/winforms/ribbonbar-adding-screen-tips.html.

In regards to the way of reading their content, none of the above provides such a functionality, so you will need to read the desired text and set it to the tip you use.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Stefan
the Telerik team

[Peter Stanford]

Hi Stefan,

Thanks for the information. I'll review it and see what works best for my particular situation.

Thanks and best regards

Peter

[Nino]