Bootstrap - Tooltip Plug-in

Tooltips are useful when you need to describe a link. The plugin was inspired by jQuery.tipsy plugin written by Jason Frame. Tooltips have since been updated to work without images, animate with a CSS animation, and data-attributes for local title storage.

If you want to include this plugin functionality individually, then you will need tooltip.js. Else, as mentioned in the chapter Bootstrap Plugins Overview, you can include bootstrap.js or the minified bootstrap.min.js.

Usage

The tooltip plugin generates content and markup on demand, and by default places tooltips after their trigger element. You can add tooltips in the following two ways −

  • Via data attributes − To add a tooltip, add data-toggle = "tooltip" to an anchor tag. The title of the anchor will be the text of a tooltip. By default, tooltip is set to top by the plugin.

<a href = "#" data-toggle = "tooltip" title = "Example tooltip">Hover over me</a>

  • Via JavaScript − Trigger the tooltip via JavaScript −

$('#identifier').tooltip(options)

Tooltip plugin is NOT only-css plugins like dropdown or other plugins discussed in previous chapters. To use this plugin you MUST activate it using jquery (read javascript). To enable all the tooltips on your page just use this script −

$(function () { $("[data-toggle = 'tooltip']").tooltip(); });

Example

The following example demonstrates the use of tooltip plugin via data attributes.

Live Demo 
<h4>Tooltip examples for anchors</h4>

This is a <a href = "#" class = "tooltip-test" data-toggle = "tooltip" 
   title = "Tooltip on left"> Default Tooltip</a>.

This is a <a href = "#" class = "tooltip-test" data-toggle = "tooltip" 
   data-placement = "left" title = "Tooltip on left">Tooltip on Left</a>.

This is a <a href = "#" data-toggle = "tooltip" data-placement = "top" 
   title = "Tooltip on top">Tooltip on Top</a>.

This is a <a href = "#" data-toggle = "tooltip" data-placement = "bottom"
   title = "Tooltip on bottom">Tooltip on Bottom</a>.

This is a <a href = "#" data-toggle = "tooltip" data-placement = "right" 
   title = "Tooltip on right">Tooltip on Right</a>
	
<br>

<h4>Tooltip examples for buttons</h4>

<button type = "button" class = "btn btn-default" data-toggle = "tooltip" title = "Tooltip on left">
   Default Tooltip
</button>

<button type = "button" class = "btn btn-default" data-toggle = "tooltip" 
   data-placement = "left" title = "Tooltip on left">
	
   Tooltip on left
</button>

<button type = "button" class = "btn btn-default" data-toggle = "tooltip" 
   data-placement = "top" title = "Tooltip on top">
   
   Tooltip on top
</button>

<button type = "button" class = "btn btn-default" data-toggle = "tooltip" 
   data-placement = "bottom" title = "Tooltip on bottom">
   
   Tooltip on bottom
</button>

<button type = " button" class = " btn btn-default" data-toggle = "tooltip" 
   data-placement = "right" title = "Tooltip on right">
   
   Tooltip on right
</button>

<script>
   $(function () { $("[data-toggle = 'tooltip']").tooltip(); });
</script>

Options

There are certain options which can be added via the Bootstrap Data API or invoked via JavaScript. Following table lists the options −

Option Name Type/Default Value Data attribute name Description
animation boolean Default: true data-animation Applies a CSS fade transition to the tooltip.
html boolean Default: false data-html Inserts HTML into the tooltip. If false, jQuery’s text method will be used to insert content into the dom. Use text if you’re worried about XSS attacks.
placement string|function Default: top data-placement

Specifies how to position the tooltip (i.e., top|bottom|left|right|auto).

When auto is specified, it will dynamically reorient the tooltip. For example, if placement is "auto left", the tooltip will display to the left when possible, otherwise it will display right.
selector string Default: false data-selector If a selector is provided, tooltip objects will be delegated to the specified targets.
title string | function Default: " data-title The title option is the default title value if the title attribute isn’t present.
trigger string Default: 'hover focus' data-trigger Defines how the tooltip is triggered: click| hover | focus | manual. You may pass multiple triggers; separate them with a space.
content string | function Default: '' data-content Default content value if data-content attribute isn't present
delay number | object Default: 0 data-delay

Delays showing and hiding the tooltip in ms — does not apply to manual trigger type. If a number is supplied, delay is applied to both hide/show. Object structure is − 

delay: { show: 500, hide: 100 }
container string | false Default: false data-container Appends the tooltip to a specific element. Example: container: 'body'

Methods

The following are some useful methods for tooltips −

Method Description Example

Options − .tooltip(options)

 Attaches a tooltip handler to an element collection. 
$().tooltip(options)

Toggle − .tooltip('toggle')

 Toggles an element's tooltip. 
$('#element').tooltip('toggle')

Show − .tooltip('show')

 Reveals an element's tooltip. 
$('#element').tooltip('show')

Hide − .tooltip('hide')

 Hides an element's tooltip. 
$('#element').tooltip('hide')

Destroy − .tooltip('destroy')

 Hides and destroys an element's tooltip. 
$('#element').tooltip('destroy')

Example

The following example demonstrates the use of tooltip plugin via data attributes.

Live Demo 
<div style = "padding: 100px 100px 10px;">
   This is a <a href = "#" class = "tooltip-show" data-toggle = "tooltip" 
      title = "show">Tooltip on method show</a>.

   This is a <a href = "#" class = "tooltip-hide" data-toggle = "tooltip" 
      data-placement = "left" title = "hide">Tooltip on method hide</a>.

   This is a <a href = "#" class = "tooltip-destroy" data-toggle = "tooltip" 
      data-placement = "top" title = "destroy">Tooltip on method destroy</a>.

   This is a <a href = "#" class = "tooltip-toggle" data-toggle = "tooltip" 
      data-placement = "bottom" title = "toggle">Tooltip on method toggle</a>.
   
   <br><br><br><br><br><br>
   
   <p class = "tooltip-options" >
      This is a <a href = "#" data-toggle = "tooltip" title = "<h2>'am Header2
         </h2>">Tooltip on method options</a>.
   </p>

   <script>
      $(function () { $('.tooltip-show').tooltip('show');});
      $(function () { $('.tooltip-hide').tooltip('hide');});
      $(function () { $('.tooltip-destroy').tooltip('destroy');});
      $(function () { $('.tooltip-toggle').tooltip('toggle');});
      $(function () { $(".tooltip-options a").tooltip({html : true });});
   </script>
</div>

Events

Following table lists the events to work with tooltip plugin. This event may be used to hook into the function.

Event Description Example
show.bs.tooltip This event fires immediately when the show instance method is called. 
$('#myTooltip').on('show.bs.tooltip', function () {
   // do something
})
shown.bs.tooltip This event is fired when the tooltip has been made visible to the user (will wait for CSS transitions to complete). 
$('#myTooltip').on('shown.bs.tooltip', function () {
   // do something
})
hide.bs.tooltip This event is fired immediately when the hide instance method has been called. 
$('#myTooltip').on('hide.bs.tooltip', function () {
   // do something
})
hidden.bs.tooltip This event is fired when the tooltip has finished being hidden from the user (will wait for CSS transitions to complete). 
$('#myTooltip').on('hidden.bs.tooltip', function () {
   // do something
})

Example

The following example demonstrates the use of tooltip plugin via data attributes.

Live Demo 
<h4>Tooltip examples for anchors</h4>

This is a <a href = "#" class = "tooltip-show" data-toggle = "tooltip" 
   title = "Default Tooltip">Default Tooltip</a>.

<script>
   $(function () { $('.tooltip-show').tooltip('show');});
   
   $(function () { $('.tooltip-show').on('show.bs.tooltip', function () {
      alert("Alert message on show");
   })});
</script>
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