CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#wpfxamltooltip
TimothyP
TimothyP

Reputation: 21765

Forcing a WPF tooltip to stay on the screen

I have a tooltip for a Label and I want it to stay open until the user moves the mouse to a different control.

I have tried the following properties on the tooltip:

StaysOpen="True"

and

ToolTipService.ShowDuration = "60000"

But in both cases the tooltip is only displayed for exactly 5 seconds.

Why are these values being ignored?

Upvotes: 138

Views: 93313

Answers (11)

Daniel Möller
Daniel Möller

Reputation: 86630

(almost) Simple XAML version for ALL tooltips:

Put this style in your window resources (and add the missing types you commonly use)

<Style x:Key="LongToolTipStyle" TargetType="FrameworkElement">
    <Setter Property="ToolTipService.ShowDuration" Value="20000"/>
</Style>
<Style TargetType="TextBlock" BasedOn="{StaticResource LongToolTipStyle}"/>
<Style TargetType="Button" BasedOn="{StaticResource LongToolTipStyle}"/>
<Style TargetType="TextBox" BasedOn="{StaticResource LongToolTipStyle}"/>
<Style TargetType="RadioButton" BasedOn="{StaticResource LongToolTipStyle}"/>
<Style TargetType="CheckBox" BasedOn="{StaticResource LongToolTipStyle}"/>
<Style TargetType="ComboBox" BasedOn="{StaticResource LongToolTipStyle}"/>
<Style TargetType="Grid" BasedOn="{StaticResource LongToolTipStyle}"/>
<Style TargetType="StackPanel" BasedOn="{StaticResource LongToolTipStyle}"/>
<Style TargetType="DockPanel" BasedOn="{StaticResource LongToolTipStyle}"/>
<Style TargetType="Image" BasedOn="{StaticResource LongToolTipStyle}"/>

Might be a bit boring, but you can keep it in a resource dictionary. It's sad that we can't apply these styles to subclasses.

Downside

Whenever you create another style, you must remember to make that style BasedOn="{StaticResource LongToolTipStyle}"

Upvotes: 0

Martin Konicek
Martin Konicek

Reputation: 40954

If you want to set this for just one tooltip, set the duration on the object having the Tooltip, like this:

<Label ToolTipService.ShowDuration="12000" Name="lblShowTooltip" Content="Shows tooltip">
    <Label.ToolTip>
        <ToolTip>
            <TextBlock>Hello world!</TextBlock>
        </ToolTip>
    </Label.ToolTip>
</Label>

I'd say that this design was chosen because it allows same tooltip with different timeouts on different controls.

If you want this globally for your whole app, see the accepted answer.

Upvotes: 226

Aravind S
Aravind S

Reputation: 59

Got my issue fixed with the same code.

ToolTipService.ShowDurationProperty.OverrideMetadata( typeof(DependencyObject), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(Int32.MaxValue));

Upvotes: 0

Jonathan Allan
Jonathan Allan

Reputation: 437

If you want to specify that only certain elements in your Window have effectively indefinite ToolTip duration you can define a Style in your Window.Resources for those elements. Here is a Style for Button that has such a ToolTip :

<Window
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:sys="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib"
    ...>
    ...
    <Window.Resources>
        <Style x:Key="ButtonToolTipIndefinate" TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
            <Setter Property="ToolTipService.ShowDuration"
                    Value="{x:Static Member=sys:Int32.MaxValue}"/>
        </Style>
        ...
    </Window.Resources>
    ...
    <Button Style="{DynamicResource ButtonToolTipIndefinate}"
            ToolTip="This should stay open"/>
    <Button ToolTip="This Should disappear after the default time.">
    ...

One can also add Style.Resources to the Style to change the appearance of the ToolTip it shows, for example:

<Style x:Key="ButtonToolTipTransparentIndefinate" TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
    <Style.Resources>
        <Style x:Key="{x:Type ToolTip}" TargetType="{x:Type ToolTip}">
            <Setter Property="Background" Value="Transparent"/>
            <Setter Property="BorderBrush" Value="Transparent"/>
            <Setter Property="HasDropShadow" Value="False"/>
        </Style>
    </Style.Resources>
    <Setter Property="ToolTipService.ShowDuration"
            Value="{x:Static Member=sys:Int32.MaxValue}"/>
</Style>

Note: When I did this I also used BasedOn in the Style so everything else defined for the version of my custom control with a normal ToolTip would be applied.

Upvotes: 8

Ulrich Beckert
Ulrich Beckert

Reputation: 59

Just for the sake of completeness: In code it looks like this:

ToolTipService.SetShowDuration(element, 60000);

Upvotes: 3

kevinarpe
kevinarpe

Reputation: 21319

This was also driving me crazy tonight. I created a ToolTip subclass to handle the issue. For me, on .NET 4.0, the ToolTip.StaysOpen property is not "really" stays open.

In the class below, use the new property ToolTipEx.IsReallyOpen, instead of property ToolTip.IsOpen. You will get the control you want. Via the Debug.Print() call, you can watch in the debugger Output window just how many times this.IsOpen = false is called! So much for StaysOpen, or should I say "StaysOpen"? Enjoy.

public class ToolTipEx : ToolTip
{
    static ToolTipEx()
    {
        IsReallyOpenProperty =
            DependencyProperty.Register(
                "IsReallyOpen",
                typeof(bool),
                typeof(ToolTipEx),
                new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(
                    defaultValue: false,
                    flags: FrameworkPropertyMetadataOptions.None,
                    propertyChangedCallback: StaticOnIsReallyOpenedChanged));
    }

    public static readonly DependencyProperty IsReallyOpenProperty;

    protected static void StaticOnIsReallyOpenedChanged(
        DependencyObject o, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        ToolTipEx self = (ToolTipEx)o;
        self.OnIsReallyOpenedChanged((bool)e.OldValue, (bool)e.NewValue);
    }

    protected void OnIsReallyOpenedChanged(bool oldValue, bool newValue)
    {
        this.IsOpen = newValue;
    }

    public bool IsReallyOpen
    {
        get
        {
            bool b = (bool)this.GetValue(IsReallyOpenProperty);
            return b;
        }
        set { this.SetValue(IsReallyOpenProperty, value); }
    }

    protected override void OnClosed(RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        System.Diagnostics.Debug.Print(String.Format(
            "OnClosed: IsReallyOpen: {0}, StaysOpen: {1}", this.IsReallyOpen, this.StaysOpen));
        if (this.IsReallyOpen && this.StaysOpen)
        {
            e.Handled = true;
            // We cannot set this.IsOpen directly here.  Instead, send an event asynchronously.
            // DispatcherPriority.Send is the highest priority possible.
            Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.BeginInvoke(
                (Action)(() => this.IsOpen = true),
                DispatcherPriority.Send);
        }
        else
        {
            base.OnClosed(e);
        }
    }
}

Small rant: Why didn't Microsoft make DependencyProperty properties (getters/setters) virtual so we can accept/reject/adjust changes in subclasses? Or make a virtual OnXYZPropertyChanged for each and every DependencyProperty? Ugh.

---Edit---

My solution above looks weird in the XAML editor -- the tooltip is always showing, blocking some text in Visual Studio!

Here is a better way to solve this problem:

Some XAML:

<!-- Need to add this at top of your XAML file:
     xmlns:System="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib"
-->
<ToolTip StaysOpen="True" Placement="Bottom" HorizontalOffset="10"
        ToolTipService.InitialShowDelay="0" ToolTipService.BetweenShowDelay="0"
        ToolTipService.ShowDuration="{x:Static Member=System:Int32.MaxValue}"
>This is my tooltip text.</ToolTip>

Some code:

// Alternatively, you can attach an event listener to FrameworkElement.Loaded
public override void OnApplyTemplate()
{
    base.OnApplyTemplate();

    // Be gentle here: If someone creates a (future) subclass or changes your control template,
    // you might not have tooltip anymore.
    ToolTip toolTip = this.ToolTip as ToolTip;
    if (null != toolTip)
    {
        // If I don't set this explicitly, placement is strange.
        toolTip.PlacementTarget = this;
        toolTip.Closed += new RoutedEventHandler(OnToolTipClosed);
    }
}

protected void OnToolTipClosed(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    // You may want to add additional focus-related tests here.
    if (this.IsKeyboardFocusWithin)
    {
        // We cannot set this.IsOpen directly here.  Instead, send an event asynchronously.
        // DispatcherPriority.Send is the highest priority possible.
        Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.BeginInvoke(
            (Action)delegate
                {
                    // Again: Be gentle when using this.ToolTip.
                    ToolTip toolTip = this.ToolTip as ToolTip;
                    if (null != toolTip)
                    {
                        toolTip.IsOpen = true;
                    }
                },
            DispatcherPriority.Send);
    }
}

Conclusion: Something is different about classes ToolTip and ContextMenu. Both have "service" classes, like ToolTipService and ContextMenuService, that manage certain properties, and both use Popup as a "secret" parent control during display. Finally, I noticed ALL the XAML ToolTip examples on the Web do not use class ToolTip directly. Instead, they embed a StackPanel with TextBlocks. Things that make you say: "hmmm..."

Upvotes: 18

Vibhuti Sharma
Vibhuti Sharma

Reputation: 93

ToolTipService.ShowDurationProperty.OverrideMetadata(
    typeof(DependencyObject), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(Int32.MaxValue));

It is working for me. Copy this line into your class constructor.

Upvotes: -4

John Whiter
John Whiter

Reputation: 1502

Just put this code in initialization section. 

ToolTipService.ShowDurationProperty.OverrideMetadata(
    typeof(DependencyObject), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(Int32.MaxValue));

Upvotes: 132

Carlo
Carlo

Reputation: 25969

Also if you ever want to put any other control in your ToolTip, it won't be focusable since a ToolTip itself can get focus. So Like micahtan said, your best shot is a Popup.

Upvotes: 0

micahtan
micahtan

Reputation: 19190

You probably want to use Popup instead of Tooltip, since Tooltip assumes that you're using it in the pre-defined UI-standards way.

I'm not sure why StaysOpen doesn't work, but ShowDuration works as documented in MSDN -- it's the amount of time the Tooltip is displayed WHEN it's displayed. Set it to a small amount (e.g. 500 msec) to see the difference.

The trick in your case is maintaining the "last hovered control" state, but once you have that it should be fairly trivial to change the placement target and the content dynamically (either manually, or via binding) if you're using one Popup, or hiding the last visible Popup if you're using multiple.

There are some gotchas with Popups as far as Window resizing and moving (Popups don't move w/the containers), so you may want to also have that in mind while you're tweaking the behavior. See this link for more details.

HTH.

Upvotes: 8

Daniel Earwicker
Daniel Earwicker

Reputation: 116724

I was wrestling with the WPF Tooltip only the other day. It doesn't seem to be possible to stop it from appearing and disappearing by itself, so in the end I resorted to handling the Opened event. For example, I wanted to stop it from opening unless it had some content, so I handled the Opened event and then did this:

tooltip.IsOpen = (tooltip.Content != null);

It's a hack, but it worked.

Presumably you could similarly handle the Closed event and tell it to open again, thus keeping it visible.

Upvotes: 6

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