CToolTipCtrl can be used to attach tool tips for controls. The tool tips can be placed on any controls using AddTool(), a member function of CToolTipCtrl. This article explains how to show Tool Tips for a command button which is placed on a dialog box.

   Tool tips are shown in a round rectangle adjacent to the controls. They are shown when the Mouse cursor is placed on the control.

Tool tips on a dialog - CToolTipCtrl:

• Create a new Dialog based MFC Application. The article assumes the application name as  MFCSample.
• In the MFCSampleDlg.h file, add a member variable for CToolTipCtrl inside CMFCSampleDlg class as follows.

CToolTipCtrl *m_ToolTip;

• Add a Command Button to the dialog box. Create a member variable for the button as m_TESTBUTTON.
• In the OnInitDialog function of the CMFCSampleDlg class ( MFCSampleDlg.cpp) add the following code.

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m_ToolTip= new CToolTipCtrl();
m_ToolTip->Create(this);

m_ToolTip->AddTool(&m_TESTBUTTON,"Test Button");

m_ToolTip->Activate(TRUE);

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• The above code adds a tool tip for the command button. If the mouse cursor is placed on the button, it shows a tool tip as "Test Button".
• More controls can be added with the tool tip as above.
• The following version of PreTranslateMessage should be placed in MFCSampleDlg.cpp, to override the default one.

BOOL CMFCSampleDlg::PreTranslateMessage(MSG* pMsg)
{
    // TODO: Add your specialized code here and/or call the base class

    if(m_ToolTip != NULL)
       m_ToolTip->RelayEvent(pMsg);

    return CDialog::PreTranslateMessage(pMsg);
}

   The above pretranslatemessage version, ensures that Windows gets the notifications required for the Tool tips.