How can I make a specific TabItem gain focus on a TabControl without click event?

Question

How can I tell my TabControl to set the focus to its first TabItem, something like this:

PSEUDO-CODE:

((TabItem)(MainTabControl.Children[0])).SetFocus();

score 33 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 04 '09 at 12:15

33

How about this?

MainTabControl.SelectedIndex = 0;

answered Aug 04 '09 at 12:15

Martin Liversage

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In my case, as I use a datagrid, something locks the selection or the focus, so I needed to wrap this into a call to Dispatcher. – bohdan_trotsenko May 16 '13 at 13:38
2

This answer does NOT set the focus, only the selection. – Scott Solmer Oct 03 '19 at 11:44

score 12 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 20 '13 at 15:54

12

this.tabControl1.SelectedTab = this.tabControl1.TabPages["tSummary"];

I've found it's usually a best practice to name your tabs and access it via the name so that if/when other people (or you) add to or subtact tabs as part of updating, you don't have to go through your code and find and fix all those "hard coded" indexes. hope this helps.

edited Feb 20 '13 at 15:54

koopajah

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answered Feb 20 '13 at 15:38

Brian

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2

This answer applies to WinForms, not WPF which the OP has specified in his tags. – Scott Solmer Oct 03 '19 at 12:15

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 23 '11 at 03:46

I realise this was answered a long time ago, however a better solution would be to bind your items to a collection in your model and expose a property that selected item is bound to.

XAML:

<!-- MyTemplateForItem represents your template -->
<TabControl ItemsSource="{Binding MyCollectionOfItems}"
            SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedItem}"
            ContentTemplate="{StaticResource MyTemplateForItem}">
</TabControl>

Code Behind:

public ObservableCollection<MyItem> MyCollectionOfItems {
    get;
    private set;
}

private MyItem selectedItem;
public MyItem SelectedItem{
    get { return selectedItem; }
    set {
        if (!Object.Equals(selectedItem, value)) {
            selectedItem = value;
            // Ensure you implement System.ComponentModel.INotifyPropertyChanged
            OnNotifyPropertyChanged("SelectedItem");
        }
    }
}

Now, all you have to do to set the item is:

MyItem = someItemToSelect;

You can use the same logic with the SelectedIndex property, further, you can use the two at the same time.

This approach allows you to separate your model correctly from the UI, which could allow you to replace the TabControl with something else down the line but not requiring you to change your underlying model.

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 16 '14 at 12:01

Look at the properties for the tab control... Expand the TabPages properties "collection"... Make note of the names you gave the members.

ie. a tab control called tabMain with 2 tabs called tabHeader and tabDetail

Then to select either tab...You have to set it with the tabname

tabMain.SelectedTab = tabHeader;

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 04 '09 at 12:16

2

tabControl1.SelectedTab = item;
item.Focus();

answered Aug 04 '09 at 12:16

Chernikov

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3

What is the benefit of using item.Focus() after setting the selected Item? – Hugo Estrada Jan 18 '11 at 13:24
1

@HugoEstrada Focus and selection are not the same thing. Create a couple triggers based off of each of these properties to see what I mean. Or see my related question: https://stackoverflow.com/q/58207987/2596334 – Scott Solmer Oct 03 '19 at 12:20

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 03 '19 at 12:08

2

Basically all of the answers here deal with SELECTION, which does not answer the question.
Maybe that is what OP wanted, but the question very specifically asks for FOCUS.

TabItem item = (TabItem)MainTabControl.Items[0];
// OR
TabItem item = (TabItem)MainTabControl.SelectedItem;
// Then
item.Focus();

answered Oct 03 '19 at 12:08

Scott Solmer

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This appears to be the only sensible answer, BUT: my `Items[]` collection does not contain instances of `TabITem`, (that would make too much sense,) it contains viewmodels, because I am using `ItemsSource="{Binding...` and `SelectedItem="{Binding...` -- do you have a solution in this case? – Mike Nakis Mar 16 '21 at 23:00
@MikeNakis did you ever find a solution to your question? I asked what you were looking for here: https://stackoverflow.com/q/74385939/1306012 – Bruno Bieri Nov 10 '22 at 08:20
1

@BrunoBieri no, I did not. I looked at your question, but I still do not have an answer. – Mike Nakis Nov 10 '22 at 12:03
@MikeNakis Have you considered basing your "viewmodels" classes on UIElement or ContentElement? So long as one of those is in the base of the custom class you are using as a ViewModel, it should have the Focus method and events. – Scott Solmer Nov 10 '22 at 13:37
@ScottSolmer that sounds like a horrible, horrible, *horrible beyond words* idea. – Mike Nakis Nov 10 '22 at 15:31
@MikeNakis I don't disagree. However that is the result of choosing "ViewModel" as the type for TabControl Items. _That_ is a horrible idea. – Scott Solmer Nov 10 '22 at 16:14

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered May 23 '12 at 13:16

it's better to use the following type of code to select the particular item in the particular tab...

.

 private void PutFocusOnControl(Control element)
        {
            if (element != null)
                Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherPriority.Input,
                    (System.Threading.ThreadStart)delegate
                    {
                        element.Focus();
                    });
        }

And in calling time... tabcontrol.isselected=true; PutFocusOnControl(textbox1);

will works fine...

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 04 '09 at 12:19

1

tabControl.SelectedItem = tabControl.Items[0];

answered Aug 04 '09 at 12:19

Ray

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score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 04 '09 at 12:50

If you have a Tabcontroller named tabControl you could set the selectedIndex from different methods, i use following methods mostly.

codebehind:

tabControl.SelectedIndex = 0; // Sets the focus to first tabpanel

clientside:

First, put the following javascript in your aspx/ascx file:

<script type="text/javascript">
function SetActiveTab(tabControl, activeTabIndex) {
    var activeTab = tabControl.GetTab(activeTabIndex);
    if(activeTab != null)
        tabControl.SetActiveTab(activeTab);
}</script>

Then add following clientside event to prefered controller:

OnClientClick="function(s, e) { SetActiveTab(tabControl, 0);

The question relates to WPF, however your answer is ASP.NET specific. — Brett Ryan, Jun 23 '11 at 03:36

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Mar 26 '13 at 08:30

Private Sub TabControl1_SelectedIndexChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles TabControl1.SelectedIndexChanged 'MsgBox(TabControl1.SelectedIndex)

    If TabControl1.SelectedIndex = 0 Then
        txt_apclntFrstName.Select()
    Else
        txtApplcnNo.Select()
    End If


End Sub

score 0 · Answer 11 · edited Nov 09 '22 at 15:01

0

It worked for me to set focus to the last tab just after I open it:

//this is my assignment of the collection to the tab control
DictTabControl.DataContext = appTabs.DictTabs;  

//set the selected item to the last in the collection, i.e., the one I just added to the end.
DictTabControl.SelectedItem = DictTabControl.Items[(DictTabControl.Items.Count-1)];

edited Nov 09 '22 at 15:01

Bruno Bieri

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answered Aug 24 '21 at 21:29

mly

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5

How can I make a specific TabItem gain focus on a TabControl without click event?

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