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Using ToolTips (Windows Embedded CE 6.0)

  • Article

1/6/2010

A ToolTip control is a small pop-up window that displays a single line of text that describes the purpose of a tool in an application. A tool is either a window, such as a child window or a control, or an application-defined rectangular area within the client area of a window. The Windows Embedded CE ToolTip control operates similarly to the ToolTip controls in Windows-based desktop applications.

The following screen shot shows a ToolTip.

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A ToolTip control is hidden most of the time; it appears only when a user puts the cursor on a tool and leaves the cursor in place for approximately one-half second. The ToolTip control appears near the cursor, and the ToolTip control disappears when the user clicks a mouse button or moves the cursor away. Windows Embedded CE ToolTips also support the press-and-hold method for activating ToolTips, which is more suitable for touch screens. To enable the press-and-hold method for activating ToolTips, remove the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\GWE\Commctrl\ToolTipsHold registry key or set the value of the key to zero. To enable the hover mode for activating ToolTips, in which leaving the cursor in place over a tool causes the ToolTip to appear, set the ToolTipsHold registry key to one.

A single ToolTip control can support any number of tools. Additionally, ToolTips can have a multiline style that contains multiple lines of text.

Note

Windows Embedded CE still supports the previous version of the ToolTip API, but Windows Embedded CE and later reimplements the API to use the new ToolTip infrastructure. Because of this reimplementation, you no longer need to hold the memory for the array of strings if you initialize ToolTips for a toolbar using the old method; that array is now copied into the control. More specifically, if your application dynamically changes ToolTip text by changing this array, your ToolTips no longer change.

Windows Embedded CE does not support the following options:

  • Balloon ToolTips
  • In-place ToolTips
  • Sliding ToolTip animation
  • Fading ToolTip animation

See Also

Concepts

Working with Common Controls
Creating Controls

Other Resources