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TOOLTIPS LIBRARY (v0.02g)

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

I initially wrote the tooltips system as a library that could be linked into my university research project. I thought that it might be useful for others, so I decided to make the source publically available so that others, if they find use in it, can incorporate it in their programs. I don't ask for any royalties or payments for the system. Just let me know if you are using the system and let me know of any bugs (that are not in the TODO list already!) that you find. I assume no responsibility for any damages that it may cause for you! But, I will try to fix any bugs anyone find. Just for the record, this software has been used successfully daily on my system and also in my university research project.

WHAT ARE TOOLTIPS?

If you do not know what tooltips are, they are the little messages that appear when you place your mouse over a button, telling you more about what pushing that button will do. They might also be known as balloon-help. Using them helps clarify user interfaces and also lessens the need for text on buttons.

REQUIREMENTS

In order to use tooltips, you must have the following:

the XForms GUI library
(available from ftp://bragg.phys.uwm.edu/xforms)

QUICK START:

First, compile the tooltips library. Check the Makefile for the XForms path to make sure it points to the place you have installed XForms. Then, just run a gmake inside the tooltips directory.

To use tooltips, you must first initialize the XForms system. Initializing the XForms system is done through fl_initialize (read the XForms documentation for more information).

After you initialize the XForms system, you must do the following:

Initialize the tooltips system:

tooltips_initialize();

2) For each object that you want to have the system recognize:

tooltips_addtip(THE_OBJECT_HERE, "Whatever tip you want!");

Afterwards, make sure to include tooltips.h in every file that calls the tooltips library. And then make sure to link against the tooltips library.

That's IT!

MISCELLANEOUS: tooltips_shutdown(): shutdown entire tooltips system. tooltips_suspend(): temporarily suspend tooltips system. tooltips_resume(): resume tooltips system after suspending it. tooltips_getstatus(): get the status of the tooltips system. tooltips_addtip(): add a tip to the tooltips system. tooltips_removetip(): remove a tip from the tooltips system. tooltips_removeformtips(): remove all tips associated with a form. tooltips_cleartips(): clear all tips from the tooltips system. tooltips_gettip(): returns the tip associated with an object. tooltips_setjustification(): set how the tooltip will be shown. tooltips_getjustification(): get how the tooltip will be shown.

If there are any bugs reports, suggestions, or comments (constructive

comments only please!):

email: mmchu@pobox.com