Tool Tips

[JRS]

Hello all

this is an example which i have modified Roland's Treeview codes and added in tooltips

That sure seems like a lot of code to get a tool tip to work. I'm spoiled using VB6 as tool tips is a control property

Yes, spoiled is the right word. If you let a visual designer to do the work for you, you never learn. If you know how it works, you can write wrappers to not have to do a lot of work each time you need it, e.g.

Code: [Select]

DIM hTooltip AS HWND = AfxAddTooltip(hButton, "This is a button with a tooltip", TRUE, TRUE)
AfxSetTooltipText(hTooltip, hButton, "This is a modified text")
AfxDeleteTooltip(hTooltip, hButton)


[JRS]

Yes, spoiled is the right word. If you let a visual designer to do the work for you, you never learn. If you know how it works, you can write wrappers to not have to do a lot of work each time you need it,

My clients assume that I'm well educated being their consultant / programmer. They are paying me for results not feeding my curiosity.

Make sure you don't let Paul know about you're distaste for UI designers. 

[Arnold]

To compare Oxygenbasic with a full featured VB6 or any other environment is a killer argument. This can be used for anything related to Oxygenbasic. And I am glad that I am still a bit curious.

The code for tooltips is not very big in size if you ignore the constants and types. If I could inspect the code of the tooltips property of VB6, certainly there would be much more code necessary. (thus of course the implementation is more versatile)

As I have access to WinFBE, (btw: a spended all-in-one suite) I looked for AfxAddTooltip. I suppose Chris could do something similar in ToolTipsO2.inc too:

% TTF_CENTERTIP=2
...

function SetToolTip(sys hwnd, string TipText, optional bool Balloon=false, bCentered=false) as sys
...

I know I am a little bit outdated, not quite up to date. Is it possible to create 64-bit apps with VB6?

[José Roca]

> Make sure you don't let Paul know about you're distaste for UI designers. 

It never has been a secret.

> I know I am a little bit outdated, not quite up to date. Is it possible to create 64-bit apps with VB6?

No, but for John this is only a terrible shortcoming if the compiler is called PowerBasic.

> And I am glad that I am still a bit curious.

This is the way to go if you want to be a truly programmer instead of a tool user. Imagine an scientist not being able to do a sum without the help of a calculator.

Millions of VB6 users have been using COM Automation under the hood and most don't know anything or very little about this technology. Most of the OCXs that they used where written by C++ programers using ATL. If you write one with VB6, you become dependent of the VB6 runtime.

[JRS]

Most BASIC users want a way to control their computer without having to be a career programmer to do it.

If your goal is to be a full time programmer, don't take short cuts.

If you're already a seasoned programmer, steal / borrow code from the net and refactor it to your needs.

I would have to say your documentation is a gold standard in my eyes. When you finish your FB includes, would you consider documenting Oxygen  Basic?

[Arnold]

Hi Charles,

Chris had a really brilliant idea: creating tooltips for Windows controls done in an Oxygenbasic include file. The routines can be used to create 32-bit and 64-bit exes. The routines can be applied for controls in a dialog or created via CreateWindoEx. I could not resist and added José's idea of balloons and centering plus four helper functions. Reading the MSDN documentation, there would be still more possible, but the provided routines are more than sufficient.

Following is tooltips.inc, a bit enhanced and a further demo. I knew about the TOOLINFO structure but Chris had the idea which could be used effectively. There should be more people like him who are thinking about a problem and how to solve it.

Roland

Tooltips.inc

Code: OxygenBasic

1. 'ToolTips.inc
2. 'https://docs.microsoft.com/de-de/windows/desktop/Controls/tooltip-control-reference
3.  
4. 'uses corewin
5.  
6. ' tooltips constants
7. % TTF_IDISHWND=1
8. % TTF_CENTERTIP=2
9. % TTF_SUBCLASS=16
10. % TTI_NONE  0
11. % TTI_INFO  1
12. % TTI_WARNING  2
13. % TTI_ERROR  3
14. % TTI_INFO_LARGE  4
15. % TTI_WARNING_LARGE  5
16. % TTI_ERROR_LARGE  6
17. % TTM_ADDTOOL=1028
18. % TTM_DELTOOL=1029
19. % TTM_SETTIPBKCOLOR=1043
20. % TTM_SETTIPTEXTCOLOR=1044
21. % TTM_SETMAXTIPWIDTH=1048
22. % TTM_SETTITLE=1056
23. % TTS_ALWAYSTIP=1
24. % TTS_BALLOON=64
25.  
26. type TOOLINFO
27.   UINT      cbSize
28.   UINT      uFlags
29.   sys       hwnd
30.   sys       uId    'UINT_PTR
31.  RECT      rect   'must be checked
32.  sys       hinst
33.   char*     lpszText
34.   sys       lParam
35.   sys      *lpReserved
36. end type
37.  
38. '============================
39. ' RGB function for O2
40. function RGB(int rcc, gcc, bcc) as int
41.    return (rcc + gcc*256 + bcc*65536)
42. end Function
43. '=======================================
44.  
45. function SetToolTip(sys hwnd, string TipText, optional bool Balloon=false, bCentered=false) as sys
46.  
47.     TOOLINFO TI
48.     sys flags=TTS_ALWAYSTIP
49.     uint uFlags=TTF_SUBCLASS or TTF_IDISHWND
50.  
51.     if Balloon then flags=flags or TTS_BALLOON
52.     if bCentered then uflags=uflags or TTF_CENTERTIP
53.  
54.     sys hToolTip = CreateWindowEx(0, "tooltips_class32", "", flags,
55.                                   0, 0, 0, 0, hwnd, null, GetModuleHandle(null), null)
56.  
57.     TI.cbSize    = sizeof(TI)
58.     TI.uFlags    = uflags
59.     TI.hWnd      = GetParent(hToolTip)
60.     TI.uId       = hwnd
61.     TI.lpszText  = strptr TipText
62.     SendMessage (hToolTip, TTM_ADDTOOL, 0, &ti)
63.  
64.      return hToolTip
65. end function
66.  
67. 'set the text color
68. sub setTooltipTextColor(sys hTool, int FGcolor)
69.     SendMessage (hTool, TTM_SETTIPTEXTCOLOR, FGcolor, 0)
70. end sub
71.  
72. 'for the background color
73. sub setTooltipBackColor(sys hTool, int BKcolor)
74.     SendMessage (hTool, TTM_SETTIPBKCOLOR, BKcolor)
75. end sub
76.  
77. 'set a title for the tooltip
78. sub setTooltipTitle(sys hTool, string Text, optional sys icon=TTI_INFO)
79.    SendMessage(hTool, TTM_SETTITLE, icon, Text)
80. end sub
81.  
82. 'limit Tooltip max width
83. sub setTooltipWidth(sys hTool, int maxwidth)
84.    SendMessage(hTool, TTM_SETMAXTIPWIDTH, 0, maxwidth)
85. end sub      
86.  

DemoTooltips.o2bas

Code: OxygenBasic

1. $ filename "DemoToolTips.exe"
2.  
3. 'uses rtl32
4. 'uses rtl64
5.  
6. uses WinUtil
7. uses ToolTips
8.  
9. sys Button_Exit, Button_Ok, Button_Cancel, Button_Apply, MleText1, MleText2
10.  
11. enum  Control_ids
12.    ID_Button_Exit=1001
13.    ID_Button_OK
14.    ID_Button_Cancel
15.    ID_Button_Apply
16.    ID_MleText1
17.    ID_MleText2  
18. end enum
19.  
20. % Btn_Style    = WS_CHILD|WS_VISIBLE|WS_TABSTOP
21. % Btn_ExtStyle = WS_EX_STATICEDGE
22. % Mle_Style    = WS_CHILD|WS_VISIBLE|WS_TABSTOP|WS_VSCROLL|WS_BORDER|ES_LEFT|ES_MULTILINE
23. % Mle_ExtStyle = WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE
24. string crlf = chr(13,10)
25.  
26. sys hInstance=inst
27. MainWindow 410,340,WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW
28.  
29. function createControl(string ctlclass, string Text, sys hwnd, int id, x,y,w,h, int Style, optional ExStyle=0) as sys
30.    sys hCtrl
31.    hCtrl=CreateWindowEx(ExStyle, ctlclass, Text, Style, x,y,w,h,  hWnd, id, hInstance, null)
32.    if hCtrl=null then mbox "Error: Cannot create " ctlclass
33.    return hCtrl
34. end function
35.  
36. function WndProc(sys hwnd, uint uMsg, sys wParam, lParam) as sys callback
37.     string hint="Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr," &
38.                  "sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore" &
39.                  "magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores"
40.  
41.     select uMsg
42.  
43.         case WM_CREATE
44.            SetWindowText(hwnd, "tooltips Demo")
45.            Button_Exit = CreateControl("Button","Exit",hwnd,ID_Button_Exit, 296, 8, 88, 24, Btn_Style, Btn_ExtStyle)
46.            Button_Ok = CreateControl("Button","OK",hwnd,ID_Button_Ok, 8, 272, 88, 24, Btn_Style, Btn_ExtStyle)
47.            Button_Cancel = CreateControl("Button","Cancel",hwnd,ID_Button_Cancel, 152, 272, 88, 24, Btn_Style, Btn_ExtStyle)
48.            Button_Apply = CreateControl("Button","Apply",hwnd,ID_Button_Apply, 296, 272, 88, 24, Btn_Style, Btn_ExtStyle)
49.            MleText1 = CreateControl("Edit","",hwnd,ID_MleText1, 8, 8, 232, 256, Mle_Style, Mle_ExtStyle)
50.            MleText2 = CreateControl("Edit","",hwnd,ID_MleText2, 248, 48, 136, 216, Mle_Style, Mle_ExtStyle)
51.  
52.            sys hTool1=SetToolTip(hwnd, "This is the Main Window", true)
53.            sys hTool2=SetToolTip(Button_Exit, "This will leave the program. Do not forget to save",true,true)
54.            setToolTipTitle(hTool2, "Exit Program")
55.            setToolTipWidth(hTool2, 20)
56.            sys hTool3=SetToolTip(Button_ok, "OK", true, true)
57.            sys hTool4=SetToolTip(Button_Cancel, "Cancel", ,true)
58.            sys hTool5=SetToolTip(Button_Apply, "Apply",true)
59.            sys hTool6=SetToolTip(MleText1, hint, true)
60.            setToolTipBackColor(hTool6, CYAN)
61.            sys hTool7=SetToolTip(MleText2,hint ,true))
62.            setToolTipTextColor(hTool7, RGB(250,150,0))
63.            setToolTipBackColor(hTool7, WHITE)
64.            setToolTipWidth(hTool7, 80)
65.                      
66.         case WM_COMMAND          
67.            select case loword(wParam)  'id
68.              case ID_Button_Exit
69.                  Sendmessage(hwnd, WM_CLOSE)
70.               case ID_Button_Ok, ID_Button_Cancel, ID_Button_Apply
71.                  mbox "Button clicked"  
72.            end select
73.            
74.         case WM_CLOSE
75.            DestroyWindow(hwnd)
76.  
77.         case WM_DESTROY
78.            PostQuitMessage(0)
79.  
80.         case else
81.            return DefWindowProc(hwnd, uMsg, wParam, lParam)
82.            
83.     end select
84.  
85.     return 0
86. end function
87.  

[Aurel]

I can something similar in awinh.inc tooltip functions but i never think that might be usefull 

[JRS]

Hubcaps aren't required to make the wheels turn but they look nice.

[José Roca]

I would have to say your documentation is a gold standard in my eyes. When you finish your FB includes, would you consider documenting Oxygen  Basic?

Please, John, how I'm going to write documentation for a language that I don't know how to use because there is no documentation for it?

[JRS]

Please, John, how I'm going to write documentation for a language that I don't know how to use because there is no documentation for it?

Sounds like the chicken / egg question?

There are basic docs along with tons of examples and if you're still confused, ask Charles or look at the O2 source.

Did you not learn the Windows API by creating PB includes? Writing professional docs for O2 will allow you to master the language just like everything else you do.

I could not have been able to write the PB include files if there was not documentation for the Windows API. When I write a new class in Free Basic, I write the documentation. I don't expect that somebody else will figure how to use it reading the code and then write the documentation for me.

[JRS]

That's the problem. This is an open source project and not PB. This type of language is built and supported by the community. If you're not a team player, this project isn't for you.

[José Roca]

Despite to your insistence, THIS IS NOT an open source project and it is not being built and supported by any community. It is Charle's personal project and it is PUBLIC DOMAIN.