Tab Panel additional description

[Thomas Garvey]

I've got a tab panel with four tabs. The panel is a subfile list of data values by types. Each tab will cause the subfile list to contain only the type indicated on the tab. For example, numeric fields, alphanumeric fields, date data types, timestamps, etc. However, the Text Description requires additional information about the fields included. For example, it's possible that numeric fields also contain dates. I'd like to convey that additionla info to the user.

I can't show all this info in the Tab itself. I've tried the Mouse Over attribute that allows me to enter some text that pops up when the mouse is over the tabs, but it appears when the mouse is over ANY tab. I don't want the user to actually click on a tab to change the contents of the subfile unless they really want to.

Any ideas how I can get some additional description to indicate what clicking on each Tab might produce? I am not a JavaScript guy so if that's part of the solution I'll need complete instructions on how to get it working.

[Scott Klement]

So it sounds like you want something like a "tool tip" (see the tool tip property) except that it should show a different value when you hover over different tabs?

[Thomas Garvey]

A qualified yes, but Tool Tip currently works over all the tabs, not just the one the mouse is over. Also, since the actual text to be included in the Tool Tip may be a long paragraph, the Tool Tip does not stay visible long enough for a typical user to read it in its entirety. And the Tool Tip text is just text. I can't even put in a hard space or forced paragraph.

[Scott Klement]

I hesitate to code up an example of this (which, yes, would require Javascript) because I'm concerned about what is the "right" way to do this.

I could code something that shows a box of information when the mouse is moved over each tab... but, it wouldn't work on touch devices (which aren't capable of 'mouse over' type actions.) So this would mean that devices like mobile devices, or even the new Windows 8 stuff might not work with your screen.

But, at the same time, I can't think of a better way to do it :-)

[Thomas Garvey]

Thanks, Scott. I developed a kludgey workaround.
I just put some Info buttons above each Tab. The user can click on the Info button above the Tab they are interested in and a small popup window is displayed. They have to click a Close button to make it go away.
Though I would like to see how you would get the Tab Number into your script without actually clicking on it. I think that would be the hard part.

[Scott Klement]

I have no idea how I'd get the tab number into my script... what I was thinking was hard-coding the screen coordinates (pixels) of each tab, so when the cursor was over them, I'd say something like if (x>1000 && x<1500 && y>250 && y<600) ...etc..

Ugly, huh?

[Thomas Garvey]

yep.