Java Swing | ToolTip

Last Updated : 05 Aug, 2021

We can add tooltip text to almost all the components of Java Swing by using the following method setToolTipText(String s). This method sets the tooltip of the component to the specified string s. When the cursor enters the boundary of that component a popup appears and text is displayed.

Methods used:

getToolTipText() : returns the tooltip text for that component .
setToolTipText(String s) : sets the tooltip text for the component .
getToolTipText(MouseEvent e): returns the same value returned by getToolTipText(). Multi-part components such as JTabbedPane, JTable, and JTree override this method to return a string associated with the mouse event location.
getToolTipLocation(MouseEvent e) : Returns the location (in the receiving component’s coordinate system) where the upper left corner of the component’s tool tip appears.

The following programs will illustrate the use of tooltiptext

1. Program to create a textarea and single line tool tip text to it

Java

// java Program to create a textarea and
// single line tool tip text to it
import javax.swing.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
class solve extends JFrame {
 
    // frame
    static JFrame f;
 
    // text areas
    static JTextArea t1;
 
    // main class
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        // create a new frame
        f = new JFrame("frame");
 
        // create a object
        solve s = new solve();
 
        // create a panel
        JPanel p = new JPanel();
 
        // create a text area
        t1 = new JTextArea(20, 20);
 
        // set tooltip text
        t1.setToolTipText("this is a text Area");
 
        // add text area
        p.add(t1);
 
        // add panel
        f.add(p);
 
        // set the size of frame
        f.setSize(300, 300);
 
        f.show();
    }
}

2. Program to create a text area and add multiple line tooltip text to it.

Java

// java Program to create a text area and add
// multiple line tooltip text to it.
import javax.swing.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
class solve extends JFrame {
 
    // frame
    static JFrame f;
 
    // text areas
    static JTextArea t1;
 
    // main class
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        // create a new frame
        f = new JFrame("frame");
 
        // create a object
        solve s = new solve();
 
        // create a panel
        JPanel p = new JPanel();
 
        // create a text area
        t1 = new JTextArea(20, 20);
 
        // create a multi line string using html using break tags
        String s1 = "<html> this is a text area <br> please add text to it <br> it has 20 rows <br> it has 20 columns </html> ";
 
        // set tooltip text
        t1.setToolTipText(s1);
 
        // add text area
        p.add(t1);
 
        // add panel
        f.add(p);
 
        // set the size of frame
        f.setSize(300, 300);
 
        f.show();
    }
}

Output:

3. program to submit name using JTextField and the tooltip text shows the previous entries.(using getToolTipText function)

Java

// java Program to submit name using JTextField and the tooltip
// text shows the previous entries.(using
// getToolTipText function)
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
class solve extends JFrame implements ActionListener {
 
    // frame
    static JFrame f;
 
    // text areas
    static JTextField t1;
 
    // buttons
    static JButton b;
 
    // main class
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        // create a new frame
        f = new JFrame("frame");
 
        // create a object
        solve s = new solve();
 
        // create a panel
        JPanel p = new JPanel();
 
        // create a text area
        t1 = new JTextField(20);
 
        // create a button
        b = new JButton("submit");
 
        // add actionlistener
        b.addActionListener(s);
 
        // create a multi line string using html using break tags
        String s1 = "<html> please enter your name <br> previous entries are <br>     </html>";
 
        // set tooltip text
        t1.setToolTipText(s1);
 
        // add text area and button
        p.add(t1);
        p.add(b);
 
        // add panel
        f.add(p);
 
        // set the size of frame
        f.setSize(300, 300);
 
        f.show();
    }
 
    // if a button is performed
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
    {
        // if submit button is pressed add the name to the list of entries
        // exclude the closing html tag by taking its substring
        // add the name to the list of entries
        // and add the html tag to the end of it
 
        // get the tooltip text
        String s = t1.getToolTipText();
 
        t1.setToolTipText(s.substring(0, s.length() - 8) + t1.getText() + "<br>      <html");
    }
}