ToolTip for Controls having Enable=False property

Jim Rogers · May 1st, 2005, 06:48 PM

I have a form with several Button controls, and a ToolTip for each control. When a control has the Enable=True property, its ToolTip displays correctly. However, when a control has the Enable=False property, its ToolTip does not display.

How can I get the ToolTip to display when its control has the Enable=False property?

Jim.

BrianWren · May 2nd, 2005, 10:21 AM

You can't.

An alternative that you might want to explore is to leave the button enabled, but in its Click event have a line of code that wards off execution under the circumstance you now disable the button.

For instance, if you now have:

Code:

    If gDisableIt = True Then
        Me.btnPrint.Enabled = False
    End If

at the top of the Click event add:

Code:

    If gDisableIt = True Then

Code:

        Exit Sub
    End If

When a control is disabled, it is effectively removed from Windowsâ loop through which controls, etc., get serviced.

Jim Rogers · May 2nd, 2005, 12:24 PM

Brian:

Thanks for your reply.

Years ago I did something in VB6 that allowed a ToolTip to show when the control is disabled, but I have no record of exactly how I managed it. It was something like defining a transparent Label of the same size and position of the control, and including the ToolTip in the label. I tried this in VB.NET but was unable to get the Label to be transparent and show the underlying Text of the control.

Any ideas?

Jim.

BrianWren · May 2nd, 2005, 04:40 PM

It is bothersome, but something that I have done on web pages to get similar responses is to call a procedure from the from's mousemove event.

In that procedure, define the area of the form that you want to respond, and test whether the mouse is in that area. If so, show a control resembling a tooltip, such as a label with a yellow background, positioned as a tooltip would be.

If the mouse is not in that area, negate that objects visibility.

This is what Windows does anyway, it's just that you take over the control yourself.

Really makes you appreciate the workload that Windows relieves us of . . .

Jim Rogers · May 2nd, 2005, 10:42 PM

Brian:

Thanks for your latest reply.

Your suggestion works like a charm. However, because the Label (resembling a ToolTip) is a control within the Form, I cannot position it as a ToolTip would be, which is often outside a Form's boundary.

Jim.

BrianWren · May 3rd, 2005, 02:10 PM

You could if you wanted to go to the trouble to get the desktop's drawing context, and use drawing APIs to do this.
But that is a [u]lot</u> of work...

It still remains true: Ainât nothinâ like the real thing, baby . . .