Swing Hacks

Create Custom Tool Tips #43

Chapter 6, Transparent and Animated Windows

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227

HACK

jparent.setOpaque(false);

}

}

}

// ... the rest of the drawing code

Install the Tool Tip

To install the custom tool tip, you need to override the createToolTip( )

method of the component you wish to modify. An example using a custom

JButton

is shown in Example 6-5.

Because the tool tip is specified by the custom

JButton class, all you need to

do is create some components and set their tool tip text. The code in

Example 6-6 creates two buttons and three labels in a frame. The buttons

have custom tool tips that will display—complete with the now transparent

corners—on top of the rest of the screen, as shown in Figure 6-6.

Example 6-5. Installing a custom tool tip

class CustomJButton extends JButton {

JToolTip _tooltip;

public CustomJButton( ) {

_tooltip = new CustomToolTip( );

_tooltip.setComponent(this);

}

public JToolTip createToolTip( ) {

return _tooltip;

}

}

Figure 6-6. A tool tip with a custom border