Bubble Types

There are four types of bubbles available in Nintex Studio:

Bubble

The standard bubble is a robot- or user-controlled bubble that floats on the window, not pointing to any specific area.

Anchored bubble

An anchored bubble is a robot- or user-controlled bubble with an anchor that points to a specific area of the window (often referred to as a "callout").

Tooltip

A tooltip is robot-controlled bubble (icon) that informs the end-user of additional information or validation errors. The tooltip appears as an icon on the screen, attached to an anchored bubble that appears when the user hovers over the icon with the mouse cursor.

Though a tooltip’s timing is robot-controlled, the user must be allowed control of the mouse while the tooltip is displayed so that he can hover over the tooltip icon and view the bubble itself. Therefore, tooltips must be timed to appear in one of the following ways:

  • With a previous user-controlled bubble; or

  • In a step whose core action is Wait

Tooltips:

  • Do not contain buttons or input fields

  • Are useful for tips and explanations that users can expand if needed

  • Cannot appear at the same time as the core action

  • Can appear at the same time as other bubbles or tooltips

  • Cannot be timed to disappear after a few seconds

  • Can be set to hide at the end of a subsequent step

  • Must be anchored (and cannot have a transparent anchor)

  • Have an icon that can be selected by the RPA developer

Tooltips can only be displayed with other bubbles, but never on their own.

Exception: A tooltip can be used on its own in a step whose core action is Wait

Help button

A help button is a robot-controlled bubble (icon) that allow the user to simultaneously display or hide all other robot-controlled bubbles and tooltips on the screen. By default, a help button hides all robot-controlled bubbles that precede it until it is clicked. It appears as an icon on the screen, anchored to a hint bubble that appears when the user hovers over the icon with the mouse cursor:

Though a help button’s timing is robot-controlled, the user must be allowed control of the mouse while the button is displayed so that he can hover over the button and view its hint bubble. Therefore, help buttons must be timed to appear in one of the following ways:

  • With a previous user-controlled bubble; or

  • In a step whose core action is Wait

Help buttons:

  • Have anchored hint bubbles with no buttons or input fields

    • A help button's anchored hint bubble can be disabled

  • Are useful for tips and explanations that do not require user interaction

  • Cannot appear at the same time as the core action

  • Can only appear with other robot-controlled bubbles and/or tooltips

  • Can only be timed to disappear at the end of a step or with a preceding bubble

  • By default, cause all preceding robot-controlled bubbles and tooltips to be hidden until clicked

  • Can be moved around the screen by the end-user during wizard/sensor runtime

  • Have an icon that can be selected by the RPA developer