PopupLocations

PopupLocations is a concept used in graphical user interfaces to describe the relative position of a popup element, such as a tooltip, menu, or dialog, in relation to a reference target. It encompasses a range of anchor points and alignment options that determine where the popup should appear on the screen.

The primary purpose of PopupLocations is to provide a flexible and predictable way to render popups in varying layout contexts. Implementations typically support common positions such as top, bottom, left, and right, along with combined alignments like top-start, top-end, bottom-start, and bottom-end. Many systems also allow fine-grained control through offsets and support for automatic flipping when space is limited to keep the popup within the viewport.

From a data-model perspective, a PopupLocation entry may specify the reference target, the preferred position, an offset along the chosen axis, and any constraints or collision handling rules. This enables UI components to compute final coordinates by considering element dimensions, scroll offsets, and viewport boundaries. In practice, PopupLocations are often integrated with a positioning service or library that abstracts away the math and rendering details.

Common usage involves tooltips, dropdown menus, contextual menus, and floating widgets where consistent placement improves usability. Designers and developers rely on a defined set of PopupLocations to ensure consistency across components and responsive behavior across devices. Related concepts include tooltip placement, dropdown positioning, and libraries that handle dynamic positioning, such as floating UI systems.