[RESOLVED] jcButton Balloon tooltips flicker when themed (manifest) applied

[Jonney]

I found a hidden bug in MS tooltips class. If the toolstip set to TTS_BALLOON, the tooltips re-position (twice) in usercontrol only when themed (manifest) applied. But if the tooltips style is standard, the flicker goes off.

Please refer to my attachment. Compiled first. Run the exe file. Mouse moving over button from top to bottom, you can see balloon tooltips flickering. Is MS wrong or jcButton wrong?



I do think the original CreateToolTips function is ok. The problem is hidden. I haven't found the root cause.

Private Sub CreateToolTip()

'****************************************************************************
'* A very nice and flexible sub to create balloon tool tips
'* Author :- Fred.CPP
'* Added as requested by many users
'* Modified by me to support unicode
'* Thanks Alfredo ;)
'****************************************************************************

   Dim lpRect           As RECT
   Dim lWinStyle        As Long
   Dim lPtr             As Long
   Dim ttip             As TOOLINFO
   Dim ttipW            As TOOLINFOW
   Const CS_DROPSHADOW     As Long = &H20000
   Const GCL_STYLE         As Long = (-26)

   ' --Dont show tooltips if disabled
   If (Not m_bEnabled) Or m_bPopupShown Or m_Buttonstate = eStateDown Then Exit Sub

   ' --Destroy any previous tooltip
   If m_lttHwnd <> 0 Then
      DestroyWindow m_lttHwnd
   End If

   lWinStyle = TTS_ALWAYSTIP Or TTS_NOPREFIX

   ''create baloon style if desired
   If m_lTooltipType = TooltipBalloon Then lWinStyle = lWinStyle Or TTS_BALLOON
    
   If m_bttRTL Then
      m_lttHwnd = CreateWindowEx(WS_EX_LAYOUTRTL, TOOLTIPS_CLASSA, vbNullString, lWinStyle, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, UserControl.hWnd, 0&, App.hInstance, 0&)
   Else
      m_lttHwnd = CreateWindowEx(0&, TOOLTIPS_CLASSA, vbNullString, lWinStyle, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, UserControl.hWnd, 0&, App.hInstance, 0&)
   End If
   
   SetClassLong m_lttHwnd, GCL_STYLE, GetClassLong(m_lttHwnd, GCL_STYLE) Or CS_DROPSHADOW

   'make our tooltip window a topmost window
   ' This is creating some problems as noted by K-Zero
   'SetWindowPos m_lttHwnd, HWND_TOPMOST, 0&, 0&, 0&, 0&, SWP_NOACTIVATE Or SWP_NOSIZE Or SWP_NOMOVE

   ''get the rect of the parent control
   GetClientRect UserControl.hWnd, lpRect

   If m_WindowsNT Then
      ' --set our tooltip info structure  for UNICODE SUPPORT >> WinNT
      With ttipW
         ' --if we want it centered, then set that flag
         If m_lttCentered Then
            .lFlags = TTF_SUBCLASS Or TTF_CENTERTIP Or TTF_IDISHWND
         Else
            .lFlags = TTF_SUBCLASS Or TTF_IDISHWND
         End If

         ' --set the hwnd prop to our parent control's hwnd
         .lHwnd = UserControl.hWnd
         .lId = hWnd
         .lSize = Len(ttipW)
         .hInstance = App.hInstance
         .lpStrW = StrPtr(m_sTooltipText)
         .lpRect = lpRect
      End With
      ' --add the tooltip structure
      SendMessage m_lttHwnd, TTM_ADDTOOLW, 0&, ttipW
   Else
      ' --set our tooltip info structure for << WinNT
      With ttip
         ''if we want it centered, then set that flag
         If m_lttCentered Then
            .lFlags = TTF_SUBCLASS Or TTF_CENTERTIP
         Else
            .lFlags = TTF_SUBCLASS
         End If

         ' --set the hwnd prop to our parent control's hwnd
         .lHwnd = UserControl.hWnd
         .lId = hWnd
         .lSize = Len(ttip)
         .hInstance = App.hInstance
         .lpStr = m_sTooltipText
         .lpRect = lpRect
      End With
      ' --add the tooltip structure
      SendMessage m_lttHwnd, TTM_ADDTOOLA, 0&, ttip
   End If

   'if we want a title or we want an icon
   If m_sTooltiptitle <> vbNullString Or m_lToolTipIcon <> TTNoIcon Then
      If m_WindowsNT Then
         lPtr = StrPtr(m_sTooltiptitle)
         If lPtr Then
            SendMessage m_lttHwnd, TTM_SETTITLEW, m_lToolTipIcon, ByVal lPtr
         End If
      Else
         SendMessage m_lttHwnd, TTM_SETTITLE, CLng(m_lToolTipIcon), ByVal m_sTooltiptitle
      End If

   End If
   SendMessage m_lttHwnd, TTM_SETMAXTIPWIDTH, 0, 240 'for Multiline capability
   If m_lttBackColor <> Empty Then
      SendMessage m_lttHwnd, TTM_SETTIPBKCOLOR, TranslateColor(m_lttBackColor), 0&
   End If

End Sub

[Bonnie West]

I get the same glitch in XP even for standard style tooltips. But it's more of a slower blink than a flicker. Don't know if it has something to do with the double subclassing of the UserControl (self-subclass + TTF_SUBCLASS). Haven't pinpointed the root cause yet...

[Jonney]

I get the same glitch in XP even for standard style tooltips. But it's more of a slower blink than a flicker. Don't know if it has something to do with the double subclassing of the UserControl (self-subclass + TTF_SUBCLASS). Haven't pinpointed the root cause yet...

The accurate say is that balloon tooltips is 'Re-positioned' when theme applied on Win7. Look like the balloon is just under mousepointer, so the balloon repositions again to leave small distance.

[Bonnie West]

In any case, it is a tooltip bug in jcButton. Not quite sure yet what it is...

[Jonney]

In any case, it is a tooltip bug in jcButton. Not quite sure yet what it is...

Not only jcButton, but also others using balloon tooltips, I suspect there's an issue in MS tooltips class when theme is applied.

Refer to : http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...=1#post4322107

[Bobbles]

Are you using Windows 7 ?
If so then try switching off all the Aero crap (etc).
If you don't wish to do a global switch off of Aero, then you can tell Win7 to just switch it off for your app.
If you right click your program's EXE and/or the shortcut to it, you can select Properties, and set the compatibility to XP, and also experiment with the 5 checkboxes in the middle of the dialog.
PLEASE NOTE You should first tick the checkbox down the bottom that says apply to all users, as that brings up another identical dialog that you should use instead.

[Jonney]

Are you using Windows 7 ?
If so then try switching off all the Aero crap (etc).
If you don't wish to do a global switch off of Aero, then you can tell Win7 to just switch it off for your app.
If you right click your program's EXE and/or the shortcut to it, you can select Properties, and set the compatibility to XP, and also experiment with the 5 checkboxes in the middle of the dialog.
PLEASE NOTE You should first tick the checkbox down the bottom that says apply to all users, as that brings up another identical dialog that you should use instead.

Don't know what are you talking about.
With theme applied, The balloon tooltips re-positioned when mouse is moving in the button.

[Bobbles]

Don't know what are you talking about.
With theme applied, The balloon tooltips re-positioned when mouse is moving in the button.

When you say "Don't know what are you talking about" what are you meaning ?
Are you saying that you do not know about using compatibility settings ?

[Jonney]

When you say "Don't know what are you talking about" what are you meaning ?
Are you saying that you do not know about using compatibility settings ?

Have you tested my attachment and duplicated the balloon tooltips flickering problem?
It's a hidden problem. Most of people didn't notice.
I have tested as you said.Seemed to be nothing about compatibility. Anyway, Thx sir.

[Bobbles]

Are you using Windows 7 ?
If so then no point in me testing in XP (which I love)
I do have Win 7 (which I hate) on one PC, but I tried cloning the drive from IDE to SATA and it ain't booting (did I mention that I hate Win 7). I have not gotten around to fixing it yet.
Which is why I ask, are you using Win7

Rob
PS Getting the correct combination of the 5 checkboxes is tricky. Try switching off all the win 7 aero crap, and get it back to Classic. Then see if your problem is gone. If it is gone, then switch all the crap back on, and experiment further with the checkboxes.

PPS I am popping out to the bank etc. So I am not being rude if I don't answer for a couple of hours.

[Jonney]

The OS is Win7. I tested on few PC of Win7. The balloon tooltips got the same problem. I don't have WinXP. But I will test it.

Edited: I tested on Win8 Consumer Preview, the balloon tooltips is perfect without any flickering.

Conclusion: It's OS problem. Just ignore this annoying issue. (If guru knows the solution, please post here.)

Thanks all!

[Bobbles]

Did you explore win7 settings and turn off all the crap, and then run your program ?

[Jonney]

Did you explore win7 settings and turn off all the crap, and then run your program ?

We want to slove the problem, not to hide problem. We can't expect users do the same thing.

Thank you for help.

[Bobbles]

I am getting annoyed.
I had to ask some questions many times, before getting answers.
You don't take time to fully read our questions/suggestions, and to action/answer them.
I am not telling you to get your users to turn of Aero etc. I am suggesting that you do it to help narrow down if Win7's aero etc is clashing with your user control.
And after you have done that, you turn it on again. Then you experiment further with the checkboxes etc in compatibility . (you gave no details as to how what you did when you tried compatibility )
Your short ill thought out responses are extremely annoying.
We are trying to help, and you are glossing over things.

[Jonney]

I have tested as you said.Seemed to be nothing about compatibility. Anyway, Thx sir.

I also disable on Aero on desktop and also check on "disable visual theme' for the exe file and blablah, The problem is the same. (Win7)
But on win8, balloon tooltips is OK.

You mentioned you got XP, please help to test.

I have tested other commercial ActiveX controls with tooltips, the balloon is also flickering on Win7.

The flickering has more chance if you fast move in a series controls (few controls lay vertically) as my above screenshot

[jj2007]

Hi folks,

I know that this thread is 7 years old, but I just wanted to tell you that I found a solution: in the WndProc of the subclassed control, return -1 to the WM_ERASEBKGND message. That works fine for me.

(needless to say that I found this thread looking for a solution to my flickering tooltips...)