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Tooltip Functions

Tooltips are windows following the mouse. They do not take focus away. A tooltip window can contain items of any types.

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BeginTooltip

bool ImGui::BeginTooltip()
Begin/append a tooltip window.
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return
bool
Always returns true
// Example
if (ImGui::IsItemHovered()) {
    ImGui::BeginTooltip();
    ImGui::Text("This is a tooltip");
    ImGui::EndTooltip();
}

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EndTooltip

void ImGui::EndTooltip()
Close tooltip. Only call EndTooltip() if BeginTooltip() or BeginItemTooltip() returns true.

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SetTooltip

void ImGui::SetTooltip(const char* fmt, ...)
Set a text-only tooltip. Often used after an ImGui::IsItemHovered() check. Override any previous call to SetTooltip().
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fmt
const char*
Format string (printf-style)
// Example
ImGui::Button("Hover me");
if (ImGui::IsItemHovered()) {
    ImGui::SetTooltip("This is a button\nClick to activate");
}

// With formatted text
static int clicks = 0;
if (ImGui::Button("Click me")) {
    clicks++;
}
if (ImGui::IsItemHovered()) {
    ImGui::SetTooltip("Clicked %d times", clicks);
}

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Item Tooltips

Helpers for showing a tooltip when hovering an item.

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BeginItemTooltip

bool ImGui::BeginItemTooltip()
Begin/append a tooltip window if preceding item was hovered. This is a shortcut for the if (IsItemHovered(ImGuiHoveredFlags_ForTooltip) && BeginTooltip()) idiom.
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return
bool
True if tooltip should be displayed
// Example
ImGui::Button("Hover me");
if (ImGui::BeginItemTooltip()) {
    ImGui::Text("Button tooltip");
    ImGui::BulletText("Feature 1");
    ImGui::BulletText("Feature 2");
    ImGui::EndTooltip();
}

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SetItemTooltip

void ImGui::SetItemTooltip(const char* fmt, ...)
Set a text-only tooltip if preceding item was hovered. Override any previous call to SetTooltip(). This is a shortcut for the if (IsItemHovered(ImGuiHoveredFlags_ForTooltip)) { SetTooltip(...); } idiom.
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fmt
const char*
Format string (printf-style)
// Example
ImGui::Button("Simple Tooltip");
ImGui::SetItemTooltip("This is a simple tooltip");

ImGui::SliderFloat("Value", &value, 0.0f, 1.0f);
ImGui::SetItemTooltip("Drag to change value\nCurrent: %.2f", value);

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Advanced Tooltip Examples

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Rich Content Tooltip

// Tooltip with multiple types of content
ImGui::Button("Rich Tooltip");
if (ImGui::BeginItemTooltip()) {
    ImGui::Text("This is a rich tooltip");
    ImGui::Separator();
    ImGui::BulletText("Feature 1");
    ImGui::BulletText("Feature 2");
    ImGui::BulletText("Feature 3");
    ImGui::Separator();
    ImGui::TextDisabled("(?) Hover for more info");
    ImGui::EndTooltip();
}

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Tooltip with Image

// Tooltip with image preview
ImGui::Button("Image Preview");
if (ImGui::BeginItemTooltip()) {
    ImGui::Text("Image Preview:");
    ImGui::Image(my_tex_id, ImVec2(256, 256));
    ImGui::Text("Size: 256x256");
    ImGui::EndTooltip();
}

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Conditional Tooltip

// Only show tooltip when conditions are met
static bool enabled = true;
ImGui::Checkbox("Enabled", &enabled);
if (ImGui::IsItemHovered() && !enabled) {
    ImGui::SetTooltip("This feature is currently disabled");
}

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Delayed Tooltip

// Tooltip with delay (using ImGuiHoveredFlags_DelayNormal)
ImGui::Button("Delayed Tooltip");
if (ImGui::IsItemHovered(ImGuiHoveredFlags_DelayNormal)) {
    ImGui::SetTooltip("This tooltip appears after a short delay");
}

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Stationary Tooltip

// Tooltip that requires mouse to be stationary
ImGui::Button("Stationary Tooltip");
if (ImGui::IsItemHovered(ImGuiHoveredFlags_Stationary)) {
    ImGui::SetTooltip("Mouse must be stationary to see this");
}

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Multi-line Tooltip

// Tooltip with multiple lines of text
ImGui::Button("Multi-line");
if (ImGui::IsItemHovered()) {
    ImGui::BeginTooltip();
    ImGui::Text("Line 1: Introduction");
    ImGui::Text("Line 2: Description");
    ImGui::Text("Line 3: Additional info");
    ImGui::Separator();
    ImGui::TextDisabled("Hint: This is a multi-line tooltip");
    ImGui::EndTooltip();
}

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Tooltip with Color

// Colored tooltip text
ImGui::Button("Colored Text");
if (ImGui::BeginItemTooltip()) {
    ImGui::TextColored(ImVec4(1, 0, 0, 1), "Error:");
    ImGui::SameLine();
    ImGui::Text("Something went wrong");
    ImGui::EndTooltip();
}

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Table in Tooltip

// Tooltip containing a table
ImGui::Button("Table Tooltip");
if (ImGui::BeginItemTooltip()) {
    if (ImGui::BeginTable("tooltip_table", 2)) {
        ImGui::TableNextRow();
        ImGui::TableNextColumn(); ImGui::Text("Property");
        ImGui::TableNextColumn(); ImGui::Text("Value");
        
        ImGui::TableNextRow();
        ImGui::TableNextColumn(); ImGui::Text("Name:");
        ImGui::TableNextColumn(); ImGui::Text("MyObject");
        
        ImGui::TableNextRow();
        ImGui::TableNextColumn(); ImGui::Text("Size:");
        ImGui::TableNextColumn(); ImGui::Text("1024 bytes");
        
        ImGui::EndTable();
    }
    ImGui::EndTooltip();
}

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Help Marker

// Reusable help marker function
void HelpMarker(const char* desc) {
    ImGui::TextDisabled("(?)");
    if (ImGui::BeginItemTooltip()) {
        ImGui::PushTextWrapPos(ImGui::GetFontSize() * 35.0f);
        ImGui::TextUnformatted(desc);
        ImGui::PopTextWrapPos();
        ImGui::EndTooltip();
    }
}

// Usage
ImGui::Text("Some setting");
ImGui::SameLine();
HelpMarker("This is a detailed explanation of what this setting does and how to use it properly.");

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Tooltip Behavior

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Default Behavior

  • By default, tooltips use style.HoverFlagsForTooltipMouse flags when using mouse input
  • For keyboard/gamepad navigation, style.HoverFlagsForTooltipNav flags are used
  • The default for mouse is ImGuiHoveredFlags_Stationary | ImGuiHoveredFlags_DelayShort

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Customizing Tooltip Timing

You can customize when tooltips appear by using different ImGuiHoveredFlags: 
// Immediate tooltip (no delay)
if (ImGui::IsItemHovered(ImGuiHoveredFlags_DelayNone)) {
    ImGui::SetTooltip("Appears immediately");
}

// Short delay (default for tooltips)
if (ImGui::IsItemHovered(ImGuiHoveredFlags_DelayShort)) {
    ImGui::SetTooltip("Appears after ~0.15 sec");
}

// Normal delay
if (ImGui::IsItemHovered(ImGuiHoveredFlags_DelayNormal)) {
    ImGui::SetTooltip("Appears after ~0.40 sec");
}

// Requires stationary mouse
if (ImGui::IsItemHovered(ImGuiHoveredFlags_Stationary | ImGuiHoveredFlags_DelayNormal)) {
    ImGui::SetTooltip("Requires mouse to be still");
}

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Tooltip on Disabled Items

// Show tooltip even when item is disabled
ImGui::BeginDisabled();
ImGui::Button("Disabled Button");
ImGui::EndDisabled();

if (ImGui::IsItemHovered(ImGuiHoveredFlags_AllowWhenDisabled)) {
    ImGui::SetTooltip("This button is currently disabled");
}

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Best Practices

  1. Use SetItemTooltip() for simple text-only tooltips after a widget
  2. Use BeginItemTooltip() / EndTooltip() for rich content tooltips
  3. Keep tooltip text concise and informative
  4. Use ImGuiHoveredFlags_ForTooltip for consistent tooltip behavior
  5. Consider using delays for frequently hovered items to reduce visual noise
  6. Wrap long text in tooltips using PushTextWrapPos()
  7. Use help markers (?) for additional documentation that doesn’t fit in labels

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