JButtons inside JTooltip

[Andraz Poje]

Hi. Is it possible to have cca. 6 buttons inside JToolTip?
I would really appreciate all the help and tips I can get.

Thanks.

[Rob Spoor]

I've tried it, and the answer is no. Even though JToolTip extends JComponent and therefore indirectly Container, thereby giving it all the methods to add and remove child components, these are ignored.

You'll have to do the hard work yourself. Create a JWindow with the JButtons, then use a MouseListener (mouseEntered) for the parent component to find out when to show this JWindow and a MouseListener (mouseExited) for the JWindow itself to find out when to close it. You could check the source code for JToolTip and ToolTipManager (both available in the src.zip file in your JDK folder) to see how it's implemented for those.

[Darryl Burke]

Rob Spoor wrote:I've tried it, and the answer is no. Even though JToolTip extends JComponent and therefore indirectly Container, thereby giving it all the methods to add and remove child components, these are ignored.

Actually, the JToolTip has a null layout, so any component added without specifying its bounds isn't seen. Setting a layout manager to the tooltip doesn't resize it either, so that too must be taken care of in client code. Third, a non-null tool tip text must be set to register with the tool tip manager. An empty String suffices for this.

This code can probably be improved on, but it's provided as a proof of concept.

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;

public class ToolTipWithButtons {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

      public void run() {
        new ToolTipWithButtons().makeUI();
      }
    });
  }

  public void makeUI() {
    JLabel label = new JLabel("Mouse here") {

      JToolTip toolTip;

      @Override
      public JToolTip createToolTip() {
        if (toolTip == null) {
          JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0, 1));
          for (int i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
            final int j = i;
            JButton button = new JButton("Click " + i);
            button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

              public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                System.out.println("You clicked button number " + j);
              }
            });
            panel.add(button);
          }

          toolTip = super.createToolTip();
          toolTip.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
          Insets insets = toolTip.getInsets();
          Dimension panelSize = panel.getPreferredSize();
          panelSize.width += insets.left + insets.right;
          panelSize.height += insets.top + insets.bottom;
          toolTip.setPreferredSize(panelSize);
          toolTip.add(panel);
        }
        return toolTip;
      }
    };
    label.setToolTipText("");

    JFrame frame = new JFrame();
    frame.add(label);
    frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    frame.setSize(400, 400);
    frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    frame.setVisible(true);
  }
}

I do suspect that what Andraz is really after is a JPopupMenu.

[Rob Spoor]

Darryl Burke wrote:

Rob Spoor wrote:I've tried it, and the answer is no. Even though JToolTip extends JComponent and therefore indirectly Container, thereby giving it all the methods to add and remove child components, these are ignored.

Actually, the JToolTip has a null layout, so any component added without specifying its bounds isn't seen. Setting a layout manager to the tooltip doesn't resize it either, so that too must be taken care of in client code. Third, a non-null tool tip text must be set to register with the tool tip manager. An empty String suffices for this.

This code can probably be improved on, but it's provided as a proof of concept.

I stand corrected. I didn't look deep enough to find the null layout manager.

I do suspect that what Andraz is really after is a JPopupMenu.

If he wants something that looks like your code then I agree. The only difference with usual JPopupMenu handling is that the popup should be trigged by a mouseEntered event, not a mouseClicked event.

[Darryl Burke]

Hmmm...

import java.awt.Point;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.AncestorEvent;
import javax.swing.event.AncestorListener;

public class ToolTipTriggeredPopup {

  JPopupMenu popupMenu;
  JLabel label;

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

      public void run() {
        new ToolTipTriggeredPopup().makeUI();
      }
    });
  }

  public void makeUI() {
    popupMenu = new JPopupMenu();
    for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
      final int j = i;
      JMenuItem menuItem = new JMenuItem("Menu Item " + i);
      menuItem.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
          System.out.println("You clicked Menu Item " + j);
        }
      });
      popupMenu.add(menuItem);
    }

    label = new JLabel("Mouse here") {

      @Override
      public JToolTip createToolTip() {
        System.out.println("create");
        final JToolTip toolTip = super.createToolTip();
        toolTip.addAncestorListener(new AncestorListener() {

          public void ancestorAdded(AncestorEvent event) {
            Point toolTipPoint = toolTip.getLocationOnScreen();
            Point labelPoint = label.getLocationOnScreen();
            popupMenu.show(label,
                    toolTipPoint.x - labelPoint.x,
                    toolTipPoint.y - labelPoint.y);
          }

          public void ancestorRemoved(AncestorEvent event) {
            // popupMenu.setVisible(false);
          }

          public void ancestorMoved(AncestorEvent event) {
          }
        });
        return toolTip;
      }
    };
    label.setToolTipText("");

    JFrame frame = new JFrame();
    frame.add(label);
    frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    frame.setSize(400, 400);
    frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    frame.setVisible(true);
  }
}

I'll be away from a computer for a few hours, but can anyone tell me why
1) JToolTip doesn't generate ComponentEvents? My initial attempt used a ComponentListener, but to no avail.
2) If the commented popupMenu.setVisible(false) is uncommented, the popup is shown repeatedly as long as it is shown in a heavyweight window (i.e. as long as the mouse pointer is kept near enough to the right or bottom of the JLabel/JFrame). After once being shown as a lightweight component in the same JFrame (or on its glass pane, or whatever...), the createToolTip() method isn't triggered any more, as shown by the sysout not printing to the console.

[Andraz Poje]

JPopup could work for me, but I have one more problem.
Triggering popup with left mouse button instead of right one.....
Any idea how this could be done

[Rob Spoor]

A JPopupMenu is never called automatically, you always have to do this yourself. You usually use a MouseListener and listen for the mouseClicked event. Just check which button is pressed:

// usual way:
//if (event.isPopupTrigger()
if (event.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON1)
{
    // left-click
}

[Andraz Poje]

		mytable.addMouseListener( new MouseAdapter()
		{
		    public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e)
		    {
		        if (e.isPopupTrigger())
		        {
		            JTable source = (JTable)e.getSource();
		            int row = source.rowAtPoint( e.getPoint() );
		            int column = source.columnAtPoint( e.getPoint() );

		            if (! source.isRowSelected(row))
		                source.changeSelection(row, column, false, false);
					if (e.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON1)
					{
		            	popUp.show(e.getComponent(), e.getX(), e.getY());
					}

		        }
		    }
		});

I tryed adding (event.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON1), but it doesnt work..... Only works on right mouse button.

[Paul Clapham]

Andraz Poje wrote:JPopup could work for me, but I have one more problem.
Triggering popup with left mouse button instead of right one.....

And why is that a requirement? When you decide to violate the standard user interface design, you should at least explain why it's necessary. And that's what you are doing.

[Rob Spoor]

Andraz Poje wrote:I tryed adding (event.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON1), but it doesnt work..... Only works on right mouse button.

No offence, but duh. e.isPopupTrigger() on Windows only returns true for right mouse buttons. So you check if the left mouse button is clicked inside an if-statement that already said that only the right mouse button was clicked.

Move that inner if to outside the other if and try again.

[Campbell Ritchie]

I think this thread would sit better on our GUIs forum. Moving.

[Andraz Poje]

Paul Clapham wrote:And why is that a requirement? When you decide to violate the standard user interface design, you should at least explain why it's necessary. And that's what you are doing.

Sorry. I am programming some rundown list of students which is on touchscreen monitor.

Rob Spoor wrote:Move that inner if to outside the other if and try again..

Thanks, that works.

[Darryl Burke]

Andraz Poje wrote:I am programming some rundown list of students which is on touchscreen monitor.

Does a tooltip even get displayed as a result of touching a touchscreen? This is a genuine question, the only touchscreens I've worked with are on phones, and there's no such thing as a tooltip.

For your problem, it's best to go with the popup menu.