Control Tip Text with Greg Regan

Why Built-in Access Tooltips Fall Short (and How to Fix Them) (an Access User Group talk with Greg Regan)

Control Tip Text with Greg Regan

Ever wondered why the built-in tooltips in Access forms feel sluggish and often go unnoticed by users?

In this Access Express Australia user group presentation, Greg Regan demonstrates a practical solution for creating responsive, eye-catching tooltips that enhance the user interface of Access applications. His approach addresses the limitations of Access's native Control Tip Text feature by implementing a custom solution using standard Access controls, making it easy for developers to create more intuitive and professional-looking user interfaces.

Whether you're building icon-based interfaces or trying to make your Access applications look more modern, this presentation offers practical techniques for implementing tooltips that actually work the way users expect them to.

The Case for Better Tooltips

Why Custom Tooltips Matter

  • Modern web applications have raised user expectations
  • Standard Access tooltips are laggy and easy to miss
  • Users often don't know tooltips exist without being told
  • Professional-looking interfaces help solutions compete with web apps

Current Limitations

  • Built-in Control Tip Text is slow to appear
  • Users can easily miss native tooltips
  • Standard tooltips lack visual appeal
  • Poor discoverability for new users

Technical Implementation

Core Components

  • Image control for the icon
  • Command button for the tooltip display
  • Rectangle control for the backdrop
  • Tag property stores tooltip text
  • Mouse move events handle display logic

Key Design Elements

  • Command button provides clean, rounded corners
  • Backdrop matches form background color
  • Tooltip automatically sizes to text content
  • Hidden backdrop enables smooth tooltip dismissal
  • Positioning logic prevents tooltip from going off-screen

Implementation Details

Control Properties

  • Image control: Contains tooltip text in Tag property
  • Rectangle control: Default visibility set to No
  • Command button: No tab stop, bring to front
  • Backdrop: Center back arrangement

Event Handling

  • MouseMove on icon displays tooltip
  • MouseMove on backdrop hides tooltip
  • MouseMove on tooltip itself ensures proper dismissal
  • Single event handler manages visibility

Enhanced Features

Advanced Version

  • Callout-style tooltips available
  • Multiple component parts for sophisticated look
  • Custom images for different pointing directions
  • More complex but visually appealing

Accessibility Considerations

  • Potential for keyboard navigation support
  • Hybrid solutions using transparent command buttons
  • Focus indicators for better usability
  • Multiple ways to trigger tooltips

Conclusion

Greg's presentation demonstrates that with some creative thinking and basic Access controls, developers can create sophisticated tooltip solutions that rival modern web applications. While the basic implementation uses just a command button and rectangle control, the technique can be extended to create more elaborate tooltip designs, making Access applications both more professional and more user-friendly.

Recording

The full recording is available on YouTube:

Join Live!

Want to get even more out of these presentations? Join the live Access User Group events! The next upcoming events are listed on the AUG Event Calendar.

Attending live gives you the opportunity to:

  • Interact directly with presenters during Q&A sessions
  • Network with other Access developers
  • Share your own experiences and challenges
  • Get immediate answers to your specific questions
  • Participate in group discussions

With multiple user groups across different time zones (and languages!), you're sure to find a meeting time that works for your schedule.

Acknowledgements

  • Base cover image generated by FLUX-schnell
  • Initial draft generated by Claude-3.5-Sonnet

All original code samples by Mike Wolfe are licensed under CC BY 4.0