The BalloonTip class implements a basic balloon tip which is suited for most uses. A BalloonTip instance can attach itself to about any visual component: a JButton, JLabel, JTextField, … In order to create and show a BalloonTip instance, all you need to do is construct one. Like most components in Swing, the BalloonTip class comes with several constructors.

Starting off with the easiest constructor:

BalloonTip(JComponent attachedComponent, String text)

The attachedComponent parameter is the JComponent you want to attach your balloon tip to. The text parameter is the text to be shown inside the balloon tip. For example, if the attached component were a JButton called myButton and you want the balloon to say “Hello world!”, you can do this as follows:

BalloonTip myBalloonTip = new BalloonTip(myButton, "Hello world!");

The newly created balloon tip would then look like this:

A BalloonTip attached to a JButton

myBalloonTip.setCloseButton(
  BalloonTip.getDefaultCloseButton(), false);

If you want to have control over the balloon tip's looks, you can use this constructor:

BalloonTip(JComponent attachedComponent, String text, BalloonTipStyle style, boolean useCloseButton)

The style parameter sets a balloon tip's BalloonTipStyle, which defines the balloon tip's looks. Several different styles can be found in the package net.java.balloontip.styles. As an example, I'll make a BalloonTip with the simplest style, the EdgedBalloonStyle:

BalloonTipStyle edgedLook = new EdgedBalloonStyle(Color.WHITE, Color.BLUE);
BalloonTip myBalloonTip = new BalloonTip(myButton, "Hello world!", edgedLook, true);

Now we'll get something looking like this:

A BalloonTip with an EdgedBalloonStyle

Balloon tips can also contain other components beside just text. In fact, just about any JComponent can serve as the contents of a balloon tip. The following constructor allows you to add a JComponent as the contents of a balloon tip:

BalloonTip(JComponent attachedComponent, JComponent contents, BalloonTipStyle style, boolean useCloseButton)

For example, you could set a balloon tip's contents to a JTable:

BalloonTipStyle edgedLook = new EdgedBalloonStyle(Color.WHITE, Color.BLUE);
BalloonTip myBalloonTip = new BalloonTip(myButton, new JTable(3,2), edgedLook, true);

This creates the following result:

A BalloonTip with a JTable as its contents

If you also need control over the balloon tip's position, you can use the following constructor:

BalloonTip(JComponent attachedComponent, JComponent contents, BalloonTipStyle style, Orientation orientation, AttachLocation attachLocation, int horizontalOffset, int verticalOffset, boolean useCloseButton)

This constructor has four new parameters:

• orientation: Determines whether you want the tip of the balloon on the left or right side of the balloon, and whether the balloon itself should be above or below the attached component
• attachLocation: Should the balloon tip align itself with the attached component? Or should it put the balloon's tip on a fixed location? (e.g. fix the balloon's tip in the center of the attached component)
• horizontalOffset: The amount of space (in pixels) between the balloon's left (or right) side and the tip of the balloon
• verticalOffset: The amount of space (in pixels) between the balloon's bottom (or top) side and the tip of the balloon

In order to clarify the horizontalOffset and verticalOffset parameters a bit better, have a look at this picture:

The horizontal and vertical offset of a BalloonTip

Here's a snippet of code that creates a balloon tip using this constructor:

BalloonTipStyle edgedLook = new EdgedBalloonStyle(Color.WHITE, Color.BLUE);BalloonTip myBalloonTip = new BalloonTip(myButton, new JLabel("Hello world!"), edgedLook, Orientation.RIGHT_BELOW, AttachLocation.ALIGNED, 40, 20, false);

This snippet will produce the following picture:

A BalloonTip with Orientation.RIGHT_BELOW and AttachLocation.ALIGNED

Finally, if you want full control over your balloon tip, use this constructor:

BalloonTip(JComponent attachedComponent, JComponent contents, BalloonTipStyle style, BalloonTipPositioner positioner, boolean useCloseButton)

Even though this constructor has fewer parameters than the previous one, it is more powerful. This is because of the positioner parameter. A BalloonTipPositioner defines the way a balloon tip should behave. More specifically: it determines where a balloon tip should position itself, whether the balloon tip should flip, what happens when the balloon tip collides with something, …
What the previous constructors actually did was simply instantiating the appropriate BalloonTipPositioner for you. However, this constructor will allow you to supply your own instance of BalloonTipPositioner. Here's another example snippet that produces exactly the same result as the example in the previous section:

BalloonTipStyle edgedLook = new EdgedBalloonStyle(Color.WHITE, Color.BLUE);
BalloonTipPositioner rightBelowPositioner = new Right_Below_Positioner(40, 20);
BalloonTip myBalloonTip = new BalloonTip(myButton, "Hello world!", edgedLook, rightBelowPositioner, false);

This concludes the basic usage of BalloonTip. The other methods BalloonTip has to offer should now be quite straightforward to use. If you require more information, you can always refer to the project's Javadoc.