Microsoft Systems Journal, April 1998 issue., had an article entitled "Tiptoe Through the ToolTips With Our All-Encompassing ToolTip Programmer's Guide" by Roger Jack. This article contained most of the information I needed. I did some experimenting and then created a wrapper class to ease future implementation
If you only need tool tips - for control objects such as buttons or toolbars - then you can probably use the Microsoft CToolTipCtrl directly and won't need this wrapper.
CHwmDataTip - is descended from CToolTipCtrl. Although it uses CToolTipCtrl for most of its processing, it also uses the CWnd functions to enable tool tips. With this combination of techniques you can easily implement tool or data tips for non-frame windows, such as CFormView or CDialog. The class is specific for each parent window; you would have different instances (usually embedded as a member variable) for each window where you want to have tips.
CHwmDataTipInfo - contains information about each tip area in the parent. CHwmDataTip contains a list of CHwmDataTipInfo elements. The actual data or tool tip text and active areas are controlled by this structure.
CHwmDataTipCollection - is an optional class that is meant to be "global". By connecting CHwmDataTip to CHwmDataTipCollection you can "globally control" each seperate view's tips from a single object.
The source code is liberally commented. CHwmDataTip.cpp contains directions and source snips for cookbook implementation.
Last updated: October 17, 1998