Question

I am wondering if it is possible to show a “hint text” on mouseover in Java Graphics2d. something like:

Graphics2D      g; 
g.fillRect(0, 0, w, h); 
g.showhint("Show this hint if mouse is over the area:",0,0,10,20); ?????

Thanks.

Answer 1

If you’re referring to some arbitrary painted text, then sure:

• Add a mouse-listener that records when the curser enters or leaves the desired area.
• Let the listener set a boolean variable according to the events
• Whenever the boolean changes, call repaint()
• Let the paint-method paint the hint if the boolean is set.

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If you’re referring to tooltips: Yes, it is possible too.

Here is an excerpt from the official tutorial:

Even in components that have no API for setting part-specific tool tip text, you can generally do the job yourself. If the component supports renderers, then you can set the tool tip text on a custom renderer. The table and tree sections provide examples of tool tip text determined by a custom renderer. An alternative that works for all JComponents is creating a subclass of the component and overriding its getToolTipText(MouseEvent) method.

The latter approach seems even trivial to implement.