Set focus on TextBox in UserControl

Question

In my program I have a user control that displays data on a window using a content presenter. I would like to simply set the cursor focus on a certain textBox in my window at startup.

Usually I would do this through the code-behind of the window, like this: textBox.Focus();

However, the textBox is defined in the user control, and doesn't seem to work the same way. So far I have tried the same method as above in the user control's code-behind.

Why doesn't this work? How do I set the focus if the textBox is defined in a user control?

What I have tried....:

User Control:

public UserControl()
{
    InitializeComponent();

    FocusManager.SetFocusedElement(this, textBox);
}

User Control:

public UserControl()
{
    InitializeComponent();

    textBox.Focusable = true;
    Keyboard.Focus(textBox);
}

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/817610/wpf-and-initial-focus — Trevor Elliott, Oct 17 '13 at 18:11

JTFRage · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-17T18:23:12.967

5

Give this a try: FocusManager.SetFocusedElement

FocusManager.SetFocusedElement(parentElement, textBox)

or from the msdn website:

textBox.Focusable = true;
Keyboard.Focus(textBox);

Note: You can't set focus in a constructor. If you are, UI Elements have not been created at that point. You should set focus during the Loaded event of your control.

edited Oct 17 '13 at 18:23

answered Oct 17 '13 at 18:11

JTFRage

387
7
20

Okay, I was trying to set the focus in the constructor of the User Control. Where exactly is the loaded event of my control(Which would be the `textBox`)? – Eric after dark Oct 17 '13 at 18:29
I have tried both of these things in the constructor of my user control. Neither had any effect. – Eric after dark Oct 17 '13 at 18:37
2

`private void Document_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { textbox.Focusable = true; textbox.Focus();}` – JTFRage Oct 17 '13 at 18:38
alright, do I have to attach that to any xaml so that the program will call to it? Edit: NVM, got it, thanks a lot – Eric after dark Oct 17 '13 at 18:42

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 27 '16 at 07:53

3

A little bit late but what it really worked for my was

public UserControl()
    {
        InitializeComponent();

        Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(new System.Action(() => { Keyboard.Focus(TextBox); }),
                               System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherPriority.Loaded);
    }

answered Dec 27 '16 at 07:53

Ieskudero

31
2

Similar at its core to https://stackoverflow.com/a/9624985/3195477 – StayOnTarget Sep 16 '21 at 15:42

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 17 '13 at 18:48

2

You can try setting the focus in the Loaded or Initialized event of the User control. Eg:

private void MyWpfControl_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    textBox.Focusable = true;
    Keyboard.Focus(textBox);
}

Info: Loaded event or Initialized event

edited Oct 17 '13 at 18:48

MikeSmithDev

15,731
4
58
89

answered Oct 17 '13 at 18:41

Loetn

3,832
25
41

Set focus on TextBox in UserControl

3 Answers3