# Screen Tips

**Screen Tip** is a UI feature which consists of a small window that appears when the mouse cursor is hovered over a particular element. By default each control has a **ScreenTipNeeded** event which is fired when the mouse hovers over the various elements inside the control. The screen tip extends the tooltips functionality because it can show many different elements including images.

> caption Figure 1: A ScreenTip in RadGridView.

![Telerik UI for WinForms RadGridView ScreenTip](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/assets/38fda68455a089ee82f9e6f5526e2084/tpf-screen-tip001.png)

The **RadOffice2007ScreenTipElement** is the screen tip that is currently available in the Telerik UI for WinForms suite. This screen tip contains 3 labels and a line which is used to separate the footer. Each label element can display an image as well. The following image shows the elements that are used inside this screen tip.

> caption Figure 2: RadOffice2007ScreenTipElement.

![Telerik UI for WinForms RadOffice2007ScreenTipElement layout](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/assets/5e473e7fe248553e3a68179b341ad550/tpf-screen-tip002.png)

The following example demonstrates how you can show a tooltip when a `RadListView` item is hovered. Please note that the **Item** property contains the currently hovered element.

 



```C#
RadOffice2007ScreenTipElement screenTip = new RadOffice2007ScreenTipElement();
private void RadListView1_ScreenTipNeeded(object sender, Telerik.WinControls.ScreenTipNeededEventArgs e)
{
    var dataItem = e.Item as SimpleListViewVisualItem;
    if (e.Item != null)
    {
        screenTip.CaptionLabel.Text = "Select Employee Name";
        screenTip.MainTextLabel.Text = "Current: " + dataItem.Text;
        screenTip.FooterTextLabel.Text = "Thank you!";
        screenTip.FooterVisible = true;
        dataItem.ScreenTip = screenTip;
    }
}

```

```VB.NET
Private screenTip As New RadOffice2007ScreenTipElement()
Private Sub RadListView1_ScreenTipNeeded(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As Telerik.WinControls.ScreenTipNeededEventArgs)
    Dim dataItem = TryCast(e.Item, SimpleListViewVisualItem)
    If e.Item IsNot Nothing Then
        screenTip.CaptionLabel.Text = "Select Employee Name"
        screenTip.MainTextLabel.Text = "Current: " & dataItem.Text
        screenTip.FooterTextLabel.Text = "Thank you!"
        screenTip.FooterVisible = True
        dataItem.ScreenTip = screenTip
    End If
End Sub

```

 

> caption Figure 3: Screen tip in RadListView

![Telerik UI for WinForms RadListView ScreenTip with caption, main text, and footer](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/assets/8043f6c81deefd338af5b349c3f29f8f/tpf-screen-tip003.png)

> tip To determine which are the exact elements types, just add the following statement to the `ScreenTipNeeded` event: `Console.WriteLine(e.Item)`, this way when you are hovering the elements, their types will be displayed in the console.

## Custom Tooltips

To create custom tooltips you need to create a class that inherits **RadScreenTipElement**. You can add any elements to this class. The following code shows how you can add a simple element which only shows image and text:

#### Create custom screen tip

 



```C#
class MyScreenTip : RadScreenTipElement
{
    LightVisualElement contentElement = new LightVisualElement();
    public LightVisualElement ContentElement
    {
        get
        {
            return contentElement;
        }
    }
    protected override void CreateChildElements()
    {
        base.CreateChildElements();
        contentElement.DrawFill = true;
        contentElement.DrawText = true;
        contentElement.GradientStyle = GradientStyles.Solid;
        contentElement.TextImageRelation = TextImageRelation.ImageBeforeText;
        this.Children.Add(contentElement);
    }
}

```

```VB.NET
Public Class MyScreenTip
    Inherits RadScreenTipElement
    Private _contentElement As LightVisualElement
    Public ReadOnly Property ContentElement() As LightVisualElement
        Get
            Return _contentElement
        End Get
    End Property
    Protected Overrides Sub CreateChildElements()
        MyBase.CreateChildElements()
        _contentElement = New LightVisualElement()
        _contentElement.DrawFill = True
        _contentElement.DrawText = True
        _contentElement.GradientStyle = GradientStyles.Solid
        _contentElement.TextImageRelation = TextImageRelation.ImageBeforeText
        Me.Children.Add(_contentElement)
    End Sub
End Class

```

 

You can use this element as the default screen tips.

#### Use the custom screen tip

 



```C#
MyScreenTip myScreenTip = new MyScreenTip();
private void RadGridView1_ScreenTipNeeded(object sender, ScreenTipNeededEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Item is GridDataCellElement)
    {
        var cell = e.Item as GridDataCellElement;
        myScreenTip.ContentElement.Text = cell.Text;
        myScreenTip.ContentElement.Image = img;
        myScreenTip.ContentElement.BackColor = Color.LightBlue;
        e.Item.ScreenTip = myScreenTip;
    }
}

```

```VB.NET
Private myScreenTip As New MyScreenTip()
Private Sub RadGridView1_ScreenTipNeeded(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As ScreenTipNeededEventArgs)
    If TypeOf e.Item Is GridDataCellElement Then
        Dim cell = TryCast(e.Item, GridDataCellElement)
        myScreenTip.ContentElement.Text = cell.Text
        myScreenTip.ContentElement.Image = img
        myScreenTip.ContentElement.BackColor = Color.LightBlue
        e.Item.ScreenTip = myScreenTip
    End If
End Sub

```

 

## See Also

* [RadToolTip](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/telerik-presentation-framework/tooltips-and-screentips/radtooltip)

* [ToolTips](https://www.telerik.com/products/winforms/documentation/telerik-presentation-framework/tooltips-and-screentips/tooltips)