Here's a fun one...ToolTips, ListBoxes, DataSets..Oh MY! [RESOLVED,THIS BOARD ROCKS!]

One ListBox (customer) contains data from a database, another ListBox (part number) gets filled when an item in the customer ListBox is clicked (SelectedIndexChanged).

What I want to do, is display a ToolTip containing the Part Description (another field in the partdefinition table, which is already in the dataset) when hovering over the partnumber in the second ListBox.

Here's the event that puts the part numbers in the second ListBox based on the selected customer from the first:

VB Code:

Private Sub lbxRecCust_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles lbxRecCust.SelectedIndexChanged
 
        'Dim srch As String
        Dim sqlsrch As String
        Dim dssrch As New DataSet
        Dim dasrch As New Odbc.OdbcDataAdapter
 
        Try
            sqlsrch = "SELECT * FROM partdefinition WHERE LOWER(customername) LIKE '%" & CType(lbxRecCust.SelectedItem, DataRowView).Item("customername").ToString.ToLower & "%' ORDER BY partnumber ASC;"
            dasrch = New Odbc.OdbcDataAdapter(sqlsrch, con)
            dasrch.Fill(dssrch, "partdefinition")
        Catch ox As Odbc.OdbcException
            MsgBox(ox.Message)
            Exit Sub
        End Try
 
        With lbxRecPart
            .DataSource = dssrch.Tables("partdefinition")
            .DisplayMember = "partnumber"
        End With
 
        'MessageBox.Show("There are no parts associated with this customer", "No Parts", MessageBoxButtons.OK)
 
    End Sub

I didn't think I could stump you guys, but . . . hmmm . . . maybe I did.

Anybody? This can't be THAT difficult.

not sure of a way to show the toolTip on MouseHover() but you can SET the toolTip when the selected index changes like this:

VB Code:

dim toolTip as String = dataset.fieldOfTheTextYouWantDisplayed
ToolTip1.SetToolTip(Me.ListBox1, toolTip)

then, when you did a mouseHover, the toolTip would then show but that wouldnt really be efficient.

Hi,

You can use the Item.rectangle to figure out which item you have, and then stick in the tooltip as Andy suggests.

HTH

zaza

I tried the first option, and can't convert dataset to string no matter how much I try and call just that one field (description). Could you expound on the rectangle option?

This should work for you. Andy was close with the MouseHover option. I would use Mouse move, as follows. I'm assuming the name ToolTip1 for the tool tip control,

VB Code:

Private Sub lbxRecPart_MouseMove(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles lbxRecPart.MouseMove
Try
        ToolTip1.SetToolTip(lbxRecPart, dssrch.Tables("partdefinition").Rows(lbxRecPart.IndexFromPoint(lbxRecPart.PointToClient(lbxRecPart.MousePosition))).Item("PartDescription"))
 
Catch ex as Exception
End Try

The empty Catch is neccessary because if you move your mouse over an empty area of the Listbox, the lbxRecPart.IndexFromPoint will return a -1, which is not a valid datatable row index and will throw an exception, which I wanted to ignore.

I believe this will work for you. I have does similar tooltips from a dataset except mine was in a tree view.

Wow, that's much closer. Now the problem is, the dssrch dataset is private in another routine (the one above). If I put it up in the public class before form load, it messes a bunch of things up. How do I use that same dataset in this routine? I can pull another dataset of the same data for this routine, but efficiency would start to be lost.

Not knowing why you can't make it a global dataset makes my answer a little "iffy" (Most likely you are have several procedural delcarations using the same dssrch name). If I were you, I would declare a global datatable, for instance

VB Code:

Dim dtSrch as New DataTable

Then after you pull the dataset you throw a table copy into the mix, like so...

VB Code:

dasrch.Fill(dssrch, "partdefinition") 'old code
     dtSrch = dssrch.Tables("partdefinition").Copy

That way the information from that table is always available if you every need it, then the tool tip deal becomes like this

VB Code:

ToolTip1.SetToolTip(lbxRecPart, dtSrch.Rows(lbxRecPart.IndexFromPoint(lbxRecPart.PointToClient(lbxRecPart.MousePosition))).Item("PartDescription"))

True that saving the entire datatable in memory is perhaps resource wasting. You could polulate an array with the PartDescription information and grab the tool tip text from there, or you could create another invisible ListBox with datasource and datamember information pointing to PartDescription information or you could . . . you get the picture. I think the table copy is just easier and allows you to access the table any time you want.

Genius, pure genius...works like a charm.

does using the mouseMove event cause the tooltip to move along with the cursor? I've been trying to get that action to work for a while now :sick:

Yes, it does. Works even better than a plain old tooltip.

yes, this board DOES rock!!