Vb.net – Can’t set focus on a Windows Forms textbox

vb.netwinforms

I can't seem to get input focus on a textbox when a tab page first comes up (I'm using Windows Forms, VB.NET 3.5).

I have a textbox on a panel on a tab page, and I want the focus to be on the textbox when the tab page comes up. I want the user to be able to start typing immediately in the focused textbox without having to click on the textbox. I have tab stops set in the order I want and the textbox is the first tab stop. The tab stops work except that when the tab page comes up the focus is not on the textbox, i.e. the one that's first in the tab order.

In the Enter event handler of the tab page I call the Focus method of the text box, but it returns False and does nothing, no error messages. I know I can access the text box because
at the same point in the code I can set the text of the text box.

If it matters, the layout of the tab page is a little complicated:

frmFoo/TabControl1/TabPageX/Panel1/Panel2/TextBox1

I want to set the focus on TextBox1.

What's the best way to get the focus on the desired textbox?
If setting focus is the best way, why is the textbox.Focus() method failing?

Best Answer

I would assume you are attempting to set focus in the form load event handler? If so, you need to do a Me.Show() to actually create the onscreen controls before focus can be set. Something along the lines of:

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
    Me.Show()
    Application.DoEvents()
    TextBox1.Focus()
End Sub

If you don't do the Me.Show(), the form is NOT displayed until the load event is complete.

For the tab control, handle the _SelectedIndexChanged event:

Private Sub TabControl1_SelectedIndexChanged(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) _
  Handles TabControl1.SelectedIndexChanged

    If TabControl1.SelectedTab.Name = "TabPage1" Then
        TextBox2.Focus()
    End If
    If TabControl1.SelectedTab.Name = "TabPage2" Then
        TextBox4.Focus()
    End If

You will still want to set the initial focus in the load event as shown above if the first field selected is to be the textbox on the tab control.

Related Solutions

.net – Making a WinForms TextBox behave like your browser’s address bar

First of all, thanks for answers! 9 total answers. Thank you.

Bad news: all of the answers had some quirks or didn't work quite right (or at all). I've added a comment to each of your posts.

Good news: I've found a way to make it work. This solution is pretty straightforward and seems to work in all the scenarios (mousing down, selecting text, tabbing focus, etc.)

bool alreadyFocused;

...

textBox1.GotFocus += textBox1_GotFocus;
textBox1.MouseUp += textBox1_MouseUp;
textBox1.Leave += textBox1_Leave;

...

void textBox1_Leave(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    alreadyFocused = false;
}


void textBox1_GotFocus(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    // Select all text only if the mouse isn't down.
    // This makes tabbing to the textbox give focus.
    if (MouseButtons == MouseButtons.None)
    {
        this.textBox1.SelectAll();
        alreadyFocused = true;
    }
}

void textBox1_MouseUp(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
    // Web browsers like Google Chrome select the text on mouse up.
    // They only do it if the textbox isn't already focused,
    // and if the user hasn't selected all text.
    if (!alreadyFocused && this.textBox1.SelectionLength == 0)
    {
        alreadyFocused = true;
        this.textBox1.SelectAll();
    }
}

As far as I can tell, this causes a textbox to behave exactly like a web browser's address bar.

Hopefully this helps the next guy who tries to solve this deceptively simple problem.

Thanks again, guys, for all your answers that helped lead me towards the correct path.

C# – How to save application settings in a Windows Forms application

If you work with Visual Studio then it is pretty easy to get persistable settings. Right click on the project in Solution Explorer and choose Properties. Select the Settings tab and click on the hyperlink if settings doesn't exist.

Use the Settings tab to create application settings. Visual Studio creates the files Settings.settings and Settings.Designer.settings that contain the singleton class Settings inherited from ApplicationSettingsBase. You can access this class from your code to read/write application settings:

Properties.Settings.Default["SomeProperty"] = "Some Value";
Properties.Settings.Default.Save(); // Saves settings in application configuration file

This technique is applicable both for console, Windows Forms, and other project types.

Note that you need to set the scope property of your settings. If you select Application scope then Settings.Default.<your property> will be read-only.

Reference: How To: Write User Settings at Run Time with C# - Microsoft Docs

Best Answer

Related Solutions

.net – Making a WinForms TextBox behave like your browser’s address bar

C# – How to save application settings in a Windows Forms application

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