8.18.1.23. Flat tooltips

The container form tooltip(IDENT) { ... } (already in v1) wraps a full layout scope — useful when the tooltip needs nested widgets or its own state. For one-liner annotations that just need one line of text on a hovered item, v2 ships two flat-form rails that fire without opening a scope:

  • set_tooltip(IDENT, (text = ...)) — always shows; rare in practice, shown for completeness.

  • set_item_tooltip(IDENT, (text = ...)) — shows when the most-recently-submitted item is hovered. The canonical replacement for the imgui_demo HelpMarker helper.

if (button(SAVE_BTN, (text = "Save"))) { /* ... */ }
set_item_tooltip(SAVE_TIP, (text = "Persists current state to disk."))

Chain them one per row — the tooltip attaches to whatever was just submitted. No layout scope, no extra widgets, no nested block.

Source: modules/dasImgui/examples/tutorial/flat_tooltips.das.

8.18.1.23.1. Walkthrough

  1options gen2
  2options _comment_hygiene = true
  3
  4require imgui
  5require imgui_app
  6require opengl/opengl_boost
  7require live/glfw_live
  8require live/live_api
  9require live/live_commands
 10require live/live_vars
 11require live_host
 12require imgui/imgui_live
 13require imgui/imgui_boost_runtime
 14require imgui/imgui_boost_v2
 15require imgui/imgui_widgets_builtin
 16require imgui/imgui_containers_builtin
 17require imgui/imgui_visual_aids
 18
 19// =============================================================================
 20// TUTORIAL: flat_tooltips — boost v2 flat-form tooltip widgets.
 21//
 22// The container form `tooltip(IDENT) { ... }` (already in v1) wraps a full
 23// scope. For one-liner tooltips with no inner layout, use the flat forms:
 24//
 25//   set_tooltip(IDENT, (text = ...))         — always shows; rare
 26//   set_item_tooltip(IDENT, (text = ...))    — shows when previous item hovered
 27//
 28// set_item_tooltip is the canonical replacement for the imgui_demo HelpMarker
 29// idiom (call after the widget you want to annotate).
 30//
 31// STANDALONE: daslang.exe modules/dasImgui/examples/tutorial/flat_tooltips.das
 32// LIVE:       daslang-live modules/dasImgui/examples/tutorial/flat_tooltips.das
 33// =============================================================================
 34
 35[export]
 36def init() {
 37    live_create_window("dasImgui flat tooltips", 720, 420)
 38    live_imgui_init(live_window)
 39    let io & = unsafe(GetIO())
 40    GetStyle().FontScaleMain = 1.4
 41}
 42
 43[export]
 44def update() {
 45    if (!live_begin_frame()) return
 46    begin_frame()
 47
 48    ImGui_ImplGlfw_NewFrame()
 49    apply_synth_io_override()
 50    NewFrame()
 51
 52    SetNextWindowPos(ImVec2(60.0, 60.0), ImGuiCond.Always)
 53    SetNextWindowSize(ImVec2(600.0, 300.0), ImGuiCond.Always)
 54    window(TOOLTIP_WIN, (text = "Flat tooltips", closable = false,
 55                         flags = ImGuiWindowFlags.None)) {
 56        text("Hover the buttons - tooltips fire on item hover.")
 57
 58        // set_item_tooltip — fires on the most-recently-submitted item.
 59        if (button(SAVE_BTN, (text = "Save"))) {
 60            print("save\n")
 61        }
 62        set_item_tooltip(SAVE_TIP, (text = "Persists current state to disk."))
 63
 64        spacing(SP_BTNS)
 65
 66        if (button(LOAD_BTN, (text = "Load"))) {
 67            print("load\n")
 68        }
 69        set_item_tooltip(LOAD_TIP, (text = "Restores the last saved state."))
 70
 71        spacing(SP_HELP)
 72
 73        // Classic "(?)" disabled marker + item_tooltip — replaces the old
 74        // HelpMarker / demo_help_marker helpers in v1 imgui_demo.
 75        text("Verbose option (with help marker):")
 76        same_line(SL_HINT)
 77        text_disabled(HELP_GLYPH, (text = "(?)"))
 78        set_item_tooltip(HELP_TIP, (text = "The imgui_demo HelpMarker idiom, in two lines."))
 79    }
 80
 81    end_of_frame()
 82    Render()
 83    var w, h : int
 84    live_get_framebuffer_size(w, h)
 85    glViewport(0, 0, w, h)
 86    glClearColor(0.10f, 0.10f, 0.12f, 1.0f)
 87    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT)
 88    live_imgui_render()
 89
 90    live_end_frame()
 91}
 92
 93[export]
 94def shutdown() {
 95    live_imgui_shutdown()
 96    live_destroy_window()
 97}
 98
 99[export]
100def main() {
101    init()
102    while (!exit_requested()) {
103        update()
104    }
105    shutdown()
106}

8.18.1.23.1.1. Requires

Baseline boost layer — both rails live in imgui/imgui_boost_v2.

8.18.1.23.1.2. set_item_tooltip vs the container form

tooltip(IDENT) { ... } is still the right tool when:

  • The tooltip body needs nested widgets — separators, colored text, inline checkboxes, indented bullets.

  • The hover bool is computed at the call site and you want a custom block to fire only on certain conditions.

set_item_tooltip is the right tool when:

  • You want exactly one line of text on hover.

  • The tooltip is purely informational (no nested layout).

  • You want to chain many of them — one per button, slider, etc.

8.18.1.23.1.3. The HelpMarker pattern

The imgui_demo’s HelpMarker(...) helper renders a disabled (?) glyph and shows a tooltip on hover. v2 replaces it with two source lines:

text("Verbose option (with help marker):")
same_line(SL_HINT)
text_disabled(HELP_GLYPH, (text = "(?)"))
set_item_tooltip(HELP_TIP, (text = "short explanation here"))

The text_disabled(HELP_GLYPH, ...) renders the dim glyph; set_item_tooltip attaches the tooltip to that disabled-text item. No helper function, no extra abstraction — just two boost rails composed.

8.18.1.23.1.4. Standalone vs live

Same convention as the other widget tutorials: daslang for standalone or daslang-live for live-reload + telemetry. set_item_tooltip’s state struct (NarrativeState) carries the text string into the snapshot for downstream playwright tests.

See also

Full source: modules/dasImgui/examples/tutorial/flat_tooltips.das

Integration test: modules/dasImgui/tests/test_tooltip_flat.das.

Boost macros — the macro layer.