Capture mouse messages when a ToolStripDropDown is shown

Question

I am trying to create a "tooltip" which contains a custom control. I implemented it using ToolStripDropDown which does what I need - closes when the user clicks somewhere else, or activates another window etc.

However, I'd like to be able to get the MouseMove event in the parent control even when the ToolStripDropDown is shown. I tried to set the Capture property of the parent control at various stages (before showing the dropdown, in its Opened event handler etc.) but it is always immediately set back to false. Is there a way (not necessarily employing the Capture property) to get the MouseMove event in the parent control? And no, I don't want to consider ugly hacks like using a timer and periodically checking the mouse position.

Answer 1

If you want to know the mouse position all the time, then you should register MouseDown event for both the parent control and the ToolStripDropDown control, something like this:

private void Form1_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
    lblPosition.Text = e.Location.ToString();
}

private void toolStripDropDownButton2_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
    lblPosition.Text = e.Location.X + toolStripDropDownButton2.Bounds.Location.X + ", " + toolStripDropDownButton2.Bounds.Location.Y + e.Location.Y;
}

For ToolStripDropDown you should calculate the relative location to its parent