Method and tool for generating and displaying a descriptive annotation of selected application data

A set of software components, a system and a method provide to a user of a data processing system per-value interpretative information relating to application data values. The method includes the following steps: in response to user selection of a set of an application component's data values, generating per-value interpretation information corresponding to the selected data values; and, in response to subsequent movement of an input device pointer into a display screen area associated with a data value within the set, presenting the interpretation information to the user via an output device connected to the data processing system. A processing component selectable by the user from set of processing components preferably responds to user selection of both the operation to be performed and a set of application data by performing the processing operation on the set of data to produce a result, and then generating per-value interpretation information corresponding to that result. The presentation of interpretation information to the user preferably uses a flyover text box in a GUI, as is known in the art for application-specific Bubble Help.