Tooltips

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javascript-tooltips  

Inspired by the excellent jQuery.tipsy plugin written by Jason Frame; Tooltips are an updated version, which don't rely on images, use CSS3 for animations, and data-attributes for local title storage.

Tooltips with zero-length titles are never displayed.

Examples

Hover over the links below to see tooltips:

Static tooltip

Four options are available: top, right, bottom, and left aligned.

Four Directions

Opt-in functionality

For performance reasons, the Tooltip and Popover data-apis are opt-in, meaning you must initialize them yourself.

One way to initialize all tooltips on a page would be to select them by their data-toggle attribute:

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

Usage

The tooltip plugin generates content and markup on demand, and by default places tooltips after their trigger element.

Trigger the tooltip via JavaScript:

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

Markup

The required markup for a tooltip is only a data attribute and title on the HTML element you wish to have a tooltip. The generated markup of a tooltip is rather simple, though it does require a position (by default, set to top by the plugin).

<!-- HTML to write -->
<a href="#" data-toggle="tooltip" title="Some tooltip text!">Hover over me</a>

<!-- Generated markup by the plugin -->
<div class="tooltip top" role="tooltip">
  <div class="tooltip-arrow"></div>
  <div class="tooltip-inner">
    Some tooltip text!
  </div>
</div>

Multiple-line links

Sometimes you want to add a tooltip to a hyperlink that wraps multiple lines. The default behavior of the tooltip plugin is to center it horizontally and vertically. Add white-space: nowrap; to your anchors to avoid this.

Tooltips in button groups and input groups require special setting

When using tooltips on elements within a .btn-group or an .input-group, you'll have to specify the option container: 'body' (documented below) to avoid unwanted side effects (such as the element growing wider and/or losing its rounded corners when the tooltip is triggered).

Don't try to show tooltips on hidden elements

Invoking $(...).tooltip('show') when the target element is display: none; will cause the tooltip to be incorrectly positioned.

Accessible tooltips for keyboard and assistive technology users

For users navigating with a keyboard, and in particular users of assistive technologies, you should only add tooltips to keyboard-focusable elements such as links, form controls, or any arbitrary element with a tabindex="0" attribute.

Tooltips on disabled elements require wrapper elements

To add a tooltip to a disabled or .disabled element, put the element inside of a <div> and apply the tooltip to that <div> instead.

Options

Options can be passed via data attributes or JavaScript. For data attributes, append the option name to data-, as in data-animation="".

Name Type Default Description
animation boolean true Apply a CSS fade transition to the tooltip
container string | false false

Appends the tooltip to a specific element. Example: container: 'body'. This option is particularly useful in that it allows you to position the tooltip in the flow of the document near the triggering element - which will prevent the tooltip from floating away from the triggering element during a window resize.

delay number | object 0

Delay showing and hiding the tooltip (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 }

html boolean false Insert 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 'top'

How to position the tooltip - 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.

When a function is used to determine the placement, it is called with the tooltip DOM node as its first argument and the triggering element DOM node as its second. The this context is set to the tooltip instance.

selector string false If a selector is provided, tooltip objects will be delegated to the specified targets. In practice, this is used to enable dynamic HTML content to have tooltips added. See this and an informative example.
template string '<div class="tooltip" role="tooltip"><div class="tooltip-arrow"></div><div class="tooltip-inner"></div></div>'

Base HTML to use when creating the tooltip.

The tooltip's title will be injected into the .tooltip-inner.

.tooltip-arrow will become the tooltip's arrow.

The outermost wrapper element should have the .tooltip class.

title string | function ''

Default title value if title attribute isn't present.

If a function is given, it will be called with its this reference set to the element that the tooltip is attached to.

trigger string 'hover focus' How tooltip is triggered - click | hover | focus | manual. You may pass multiple triggers; separate them with a space. manual cannot be combined with any other trigger.
viewport string | object | function { selector: 'body', padding: 0 }

Keeps the tooltip within the bounds of this element. Example: viewport: '#viewport' or { "selector": "#viewport", "padding": 0 }

If a function is given, it is called with the triggering element DOM node as its only argument. The this context is set to the tooltip instance.

Data attributes for individual tooltips

Options for individual tooltips can alternatively be specified through the use of data attributes, as explained above.

Methods

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

.tooltip('show') Reveals an element's tooltip. Returns to the caller before the tooltip has actually been shown (i.e. before the shown.bs.tooltip event occurs). This is considered a "manual" triggering of the tooltip. Tooltips with zero-length titles are never displayed.

.tooltip('show')

.tooltip('hide') Hides an element's tooltip. Returns to the caller before the tooltip has actually been hidden (i.e. before the hidden.bs.tooltip event occurs). This is considered a "manual" triggering of the tooltip.

$('#element').tooltip('hide')

.tooltip('toggle') Toggles an element's tooltip. Returns to the caller before the tooltip has actually been shown or hidden (i.e. before the shown.bs.tooltip or hidden.bs.tooltip event occurs). This is considered a "manual" triggering of the tooltip.

$('#element').tooltip('toggle')

.tooltip('destroy') Hides and destroys an element's tooltip. Tooltips that use delegation (which are created using the selector option) cannot be individually destroyed on descendant trigger elements.

$('#element').tooltip('destroy')

Elements

Event Type Description
show.bs.tooltip This event fires immediately when the show instance method is called.
shown.bs.tooltip This event is fired when the tooltip has been made visible to the user (will wait for CSS transitions to complete).
hide.bs.tooltip This event is fired immediately when the hide instance method has been called.
hidden.bs.tooltip This event is fired when the tooltip has finished being hidden from the user (will wait for CSS transitions to complete).
inserted.bs.tooltip This event is fired after the show.bs.tooltip event when the tooltip template has been added to the DOM.