I need basic idea of creating a custom tooltip using pure Javascript code;

What I want :

For example :

<a href="#" onmousemover="tooltip('text')">Link Text</a>

And onmouseover I want to display a custom tooltip with fixed position based on <a>'s element position, to start from right:0 or from left:0 of the <a> element;

I need basic idea of creating a custom tooltip using pure Javascript code;

What I want :

For example :

<a href="#" onmousemover="tooltip('text')">Link Text</a>

And onmouseover I want to display a custom tooltip with fixed position based on <a>'s element position, to start from right:0 or from left:0 of the <a> element;

• javascript
• tooltip

• 8 Why so many what have you tried these days, where would these people go for help who are beginners ? Hate those words ! – Sarfraz Commented Jun 10, 2012 at 19:24
• @DavidThomas the only problem I had, was with position of created tooltip, I thought I did it right, but the position was not as I expected it to be – John Commented Jun 10, 2012 at 19:24
• 2 @Sarfraz: I have no objection to helping someone who's tried nothing, but, if something's been attempted, I'd rather start with that foreknowledge. While I accept that the opening question may appear to be somewhat over-aggressive, the more-important parts are the subsequent questions, though they build off the foundations of the first. – David Thomas Commented Jun 10, 2012 at 19:26
• 1 @DavidThomas: That makes sense then and I totally agree with you in that sense :) – Sarfraz Commented Jun 10, 2012 at 19:29
• I don't know whether you're still around or whether you have found something suited in the meantime, but I created just that last week. It is posted as answer on stackoverflow.com/questions/24458970/…. – Frank Conijn - Support Ukraine Commented Jun 29, 2014 at 3:42

3 Answers 3

HTML

<a href="https://www.google.com" tooltip="Go to Google">Google</a>

JavaScript

(function () {

var a = document.getElementsByTagName('*'),
    tip, text,
    base = document.createElement('tooltip'); //Defining all objects

for (var x=0;x < a.length;x++) { //I'm using "for" loop to get all "a" elements with attribute "tooltip".
     a[x].onmouseover = function () {
         text = this.getAttribute('tooltip');
         tip = document.createTextNode(text);
         if (text != null) {// Checking if tooltip is empty or not.
               base.innerHTML = '';
               base.appendChild(tip);
               if (document.getElementsByTagName('tooltip')[0]){// Checking for any "tooltip" element
                   document.getElementsByTagName('tooltip')[0].remove();// Removing old tooltip
               }
               base.style.top = (event.pageY + 20) + 'px';
               base.style.left = (event.pageX + 20) + 'px';
               document.body.appendChild(base);
         }

     };
     a[x].onmouseout = function () {
         document.getElementsByTagName('tooltip')[0].remove();// Remove last tooltip
     };
}

})();

By including this script into your page, you just have to use tooltip="Text" in any HTML Element

CSS

tooltip {
    position: fixed;
    background: #fff;
    color: #333;
    border: 2px solid #333;
    font-size: 15px;
}

You can edit CSS as your wish!

Here's my JSFiddle

As this question comes up when a user searches for custom tooltip, I would like to add the bootstrap's JS tooltip, although you have mentioned pure javascript. So in a sense this answer is only to give the future readers another nice option to work with.

Take a look here for how to use bootstrap tooltip plugin. And here to learn about the options and methods available at your disposal when using Bootstrap's JS Tooltip.

Still I am giving the tryit from their site here:

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

/* Tooltip */

.test+.tooltip>.tooltip-inner {
  background-color: #73AD21;
  color: #FFFFFF;
  border: 1px solid green;
  padding: 15px;
  font-size: 20px;
}


/* Tooltip on top */

.test+.tooltip.top>.tooltip-arrow {
  border-top: 5px solid green;
}


/* Tooltip on bottom */

.test+.tooltip.bottom>.tooltip-arrow {
  border-bottom: 5px solid blue;
}


/* Tooltip on left */

.test+.tooltip.left>.tooltip-arrow {
  border-left: 5px solid red;
}


/* Tooltip on right */

.test+.tooltip.right>.tooltip-arrow {
  border-right: 5px solid black;
}

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
  <title>Bootstrap Example</title>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.6/css/bootstrap.min.css">
  <script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.12.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
  <script src="http://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.6/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
</head>

<body>

  <div class="container">
    <h3>Tooltip CSS Example</h3>
    <ul class="list-inline">
      <li><a class="test" href="#" data-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="top" title="Hooray!">Top</a></li>
      <li><a class="test" href="#" data-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="bottom" title="Hooray!">Bottom</a></li>
      <li><a class="test" href="#" data-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="left" title="Hooray!">Left</a></li>
      <li><a class="test" href="#" data-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="right" title="Hooray!">Right</a></li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</body>

</html>

You need a function something like this:

function tooltip(text, element) {

    var offsetDistance = 20;

    tt = document.getElementById('ttdiv');
    elem = document.getElementById(element.id);
    tt.style.top = elem.offsetTop + offsetDistance + 'px';
    tt.style.left = elem.offsetLeft + offsetDistance + 'px';
    tt.style.display = 'block';
    tt.innerHTML = text;
}

Where ttdiv is the id of the tooltip div, that is initially set to display:none. You'll need an accompanying hide() function to hide the tooltip when onmouseout is triggered.

Here's a working JSFiddle.