# Displaying Text Tips in a Cell

Learn how to display text tips for cells that are too small to display all the text, including setting the policy, location, and behavior for text tips.

## Content

For cells that are too small to display all the text in the cell, you can allow the end user to see the contents in a text tip. You can set the policy and location for text tips for a cell or range of cells. Text tips can be displayed for data cells or header cells. When the pointer is over such a cell, the text tip displays.
![Text Tip for Header](https://cdn.mescius.io/document-site-files/images/2238e618-a1fb-45a6-9ce5-9a4157bd2931/images/texttipheader.png)
![Text Tip Example](https://cdn.mescius.io/document-site-files/images/2238e618-a1fb-45a6-9ce5-9a4157bd2931/images/texttipcell.png)
To display a text tip over a combo box cell, you would need to turn change the default behavior. By default, the combo box cell captures the mouse when moving over the cell, so it can go into edit mode on the first click and drop-down the list. You can either turn off this behavior, by setting the [Editable](/spreadnet/api/latest/online-win/FarPoint.Win.Spread/FarPoint.Win.Spread.CellType.ComboBoxCellType.Editable.html) property to True or you can create a custom cell type and override the **IsReservedLocation** method to return nothing for the parts of the cell that you want the text tip to show over and return an instance of the cell type in the parts of the cell for which you want the click to open the list.
For more information refer to the [TextTipAppearance](/spreadnet/api/latest/online-win/FarPoint.Win.Spread/FarPoint.Win.Spread.FpSpread.TextTipAppearance.html) property, [TextTipDelay](/spreadnet/api/latest/online-win/FarPoint.Win.Spread/FarPoint.Win.Spread.FpSpread.TextTipDelay.html) property, and [TextTipPolicy](/spreadnet/api/latest/online-win/FarPoint.Win.Spread/FarPoint.Win.Spread.FpSpread.TextTipPolicy.html) property.
Refer also to the [TextTipFetchEventArgs](/spreadnet/api/latest/online-win/FarPoint.Win.Spread/FarPoint.Win.Spread.TextTipFetchEventArgs.html) class and the [TextTipFetch](/spreadnet/api/latest/online-win/FarPoint.Win.Spread/FarPoint.Win.Spread.FpSpread.TextTipFetch.html) event and [OnTextTipFetch](/spreadnet/api/latest/online-win/FarPoint.Win.Spread/FarPoint.Win.Spread.FpSpread.OnTextTipFetch.html) method.
For information on scroll bar tips, refer to the section on setting scroll bar tips in [Customizing the Scroll Bars](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssojbects/spwin-scroll/spwin-cntrlscrollbars).

## Using the Properties Window

1. At design time, in the **Properties** window, select the Spread component.
2. Select (in the **Behavior** group) the **TextTipPolicy** property.
3. Click the drop-down arrow to display the choices and choose a value.
4. If you want to set the delay, select the **TextTipDelay** property and type in a value.

## Using Code

1. Set the [TextTipPolicy](/spreadnet/api/latest/online-win/FarPoint.Win.Spread/FarPoint.Win.Spread.FpSpread.TextTipPolicy.html) property for the Spread component.
2. If you want to set a delay, set the [TextTipDelay](/spreadnet/api/latest/online-win/FarPoint.Win.Spread/FarPoint.Win.Spread.FpSpread.TextTipDelay.html) property.

## Example

This example creates a new control, sets whether to display text tips, the location of the tips, and how long to wait before the text tip is shown.

```csharp
FarPoint.Win.Spread.FpSpread fpSpread1 = new FarPoint.Win.Spread.FpSpread();
FarPoint.Win.Spread.SheetView shv = new FarPoint.Win.Spread.SheetView();
fpSpread1.Location = new Point(10, 10);
fpSpread1.Height = 200;
fpSpread1.Width = 400;
Controls.Add(fpSpread1);
fpSpread1.Sheets.Add(shv);
fpSpread1.ActiveSheet.SetValue(0, 0, "TestTextTip");
fpSpread1.TextTipPolicy = FarPoint.Win.Spread.TextTipPolicy.Floating;
fpSpread1.TextTipDelay = 1000;
MessageBox.Show("Place the pointer over the text to see the text tip.", "", MessageBoxButtons.OK);
```

```vbnet
Dim fpSpread1 As New FarPoint.Win.Spread.FpSpread()
Dim shv As New FarPoint.Win.Spread.SheetView()
fpSpread1.Location = New Point(10, 10)
fpSpread1.Height = 200
fpSpread1.Width = 400
Controls.Add(fpSpread1)
fpSpread1.Sheets.Add(shv)
fpSpread1.ActiveSheet.SetValue(0, 0, "TestTextTip")
fpSpread1.TextTipPolicy = FarPoint.Win.Spread.TextTipPolicy.Floating
fpSpread1.TextTipDelay = 1000
MessageBox.Show("Place the pointer over the text to see the text tip.", "", MessageBoxButtons.OK)
```

## Using the Spread Designer

1. Select the Spread component (or select **Spread** from the pull-down menu).
2. In the property list, in the **Behavior** category, select the **TextTipPolicy** property.
3. Click the drop-down arrow to display the choices and choose a value.
4. If you want to set the delay, select the **TextTipDelay** property and type in a value.
5. From the **File** menu choose **Apply and Exit** to apply your changes to the component and exit Spread Designer.

## See Also

[Cells](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell)
[Working with the Active Cell](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-cellactive)
[Creating a Range of Cells](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-cellrange)
[Managing Data on a Sheet](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-usedata)
[Displaying Cell Data](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-celldata)
[Creating a Span of Cells](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-cellspan)
[Allowing Cells to Merge Automatically](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-cellmerge)
[Adding a Note to a Cell](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-cell-note)
[Adding a Tag to a Cell](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-tags-cell)
[Working with Pattern and Gradient Fill Effects](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-patternandgradientfill)
[Cells](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell)
[Working with the Active Cell](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-cellactive)
[Creating a Range of Cells](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-cellrange)
[Managing Data on a Sheet](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-usedata)
[Displaying Cell Data](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-celldata)
[Creating a Span of Cells](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-cellspan)
[Allowing Cells to Merge Automatically](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-cellmerge)
[Adding a Note to a Cell](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-cell-note)
[Adding a Tag to a Cell](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-tags-cell)
[Working with Pattern and Gradient Fill Effects](/spreadnet/docs/latest/online-win/overview/spwin-devguide/spwin-ssobject-cell/spwin-patternandgradientfill)