How do I display tooltips in Tkinter?

Question

Tooltips are those little bits of text that popup when the mouse hovers over a widget for a certain duration of time.

How can I add a tooltip message to my tkinter Python application?

Answer 1

I tried the code in the blog post mentioned by ars, and also tried the code from the IDLE lib.

While both worked, I didn't like how the tooltip from IDLE was limited in size (had to manually enter new lines as separate lists) , and how the tips appeared immediately in the code form the blog post.

So I made a hybrid between the two. It lets you specify a wrap length and hover time, with no restriction on each:

""" tk_ToolTip_class101.py
gives a Tkinter widget a tooltip as the mouse is above the widget
tested with Python27 and Python34  by  vegaseat  09sep2014
www.daniweb.com/programming/software-development/code/484591/a-tooltip-class-for-tkinter

Modified to include a delay time by Victor Zaccardo, 25mar16
"""

try:
    # for Python2
    import Tkinter as tk
except ImportError:
    # for Python3
    import tkinter as tk

class CreateToolTip(object):
    """
    create a tooltip for a given widget
    """
    def __init__(self, widget, text='widget info'):
        self.waittime = 500     #miliseconds
        self.wraplength = 180   #pixels
        self.widget = widget
        self.text = text
        self.widget.bind("<Enter>", self.enter)
        self.widget.bind("<Leave>", self.leave)
        self.widget.bind("<ButtonPress>", self.leave)
        self.id = None
        self.tw = None

    def enter(self, event=None):
        self.schedule()

    def leave(self, event=None):
        self.unschedule()
        self.hidetip()

    def schedule(self):
        self.unschedule()
        self.id = self.widget.after(self.waittime, self.showtip)

    def unschedule(self):
        id = self.id
        self.id = None
        if id:
            self.widget.after_cancel(id)

    def showtip(self, event=None):
        x = y = 0
        x, y, cx, cy = self.widget.bbox("insert")
        x += self.widget.winfo_rootx() + 25
        y += self.widget.winfo_rooty() + 20
        # creates a toplevel window
        self.tw = tk.Toplevel(self.widget)
        # Leaves only the label and removes the app window
        self.tw.wm_overrideredirect(True)
        self.tw.wm_geometry("+%d+%d" % (x, y))
        label = tk.Label(self.tw, text=self.text, justify='left',
                       background="#ffffff", relief='solid', borderwidth=1,
                       wraplength = self.wraplength)
        label.pack(ipadx=1)

    def hidetip(self):
        tw = self.tw
        self.tw= None
        if tw:
            tw.destroy()

# testing ...
if __name__ == '__main__':
    root = tk.Tk()
    btn1 = tk.Button(root, text="button 1")
    btn1.pack(padx=10, pady=5)
    button1_ttp = CreateToolTip(btn1, \
   'Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, '
   'consectetur, adipisci velit. Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum '
   'quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit. Neque porro quisquam '
   'est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit.')

    btn2 = tk.Button(root, text="button 2")
    btn2.pack(padx=10, pady=5)
    button2_ttp = CreateToolTip(btn2, \
    "First thing's first, I'm the realest. Drop this and let the whole world "
    "feel it. And I'm still in the Murda Bizness. I could hold you down, like "
    "I'm givin' lessons in  physics. You should want a bad Vic like this.")
    root.mainloop()

Screenshot: