Here’s a basic example of creating a text tool tip using the Flex ToolTipManager class and making the tool tip follow the mouse cursor.
Full code after the jump.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2007/08/15/creating-tool-tips-manually-using-the-tooltipmanager-class/ -->
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
layout="vertical"
verticalAlign="middle"
backgroundColor="white"
creationComplete="init()">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import mx.core.IToolTip;
import mx.managers.ToolTipManager;
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
private var tt:IToolTip;
private function init():void {
systemManager.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_MOVE, onMouseMove);
}
private function onMouseMove(evt:MouseEvent):void {
if (tt) {
tt.move(evt.stageX + 10, evt.stageY + 10);
evt.updateAfterEvent();
}
}
private function toolTipCreate():void {
if (tt) {
toolTipDestroy();
}
tt = ToolTipManager.createToolTip(textInput.text, textInput.x, textInput.y);
}
private function toolTipDestroy():void {
if (tt) {
ToolTipManager.destroyToolTip(tt);
tt = null;
}
}
]]>
</mx:Script>
<mx:TextInput id="textInput" text="Tool tip text..." />
<mx:HBox>
<mx:Button label="create" click="toolTipCreate()" />
<mx:Button label="destroy" click="toolTipDestroy()" />
</mx:HBox>
</mx:Application>
View source is enabled in the following example.



Hey Peter. This is a great start for something I need to do today but there’s something else I need :
I need to create some custom tooltips with animations (easy enough) but as well as being triggered by the mouse I need to create an automated sequence to have the tooltips appear one by one as a prompt for the user when the app loads. My fear is that the events for creating them are all MouseEvent triggers and the show & hide methods will be private.
I’ll take a look and will probably figure it out but I thought you might already know and provide a quicker solution.
Thanks.