Bring cursor to a textbox in C#

Question

I want to bring the cursor to a textbox when i clicked a button. How can i do that? I tried Focus() method but it didn't not work. The code is shown below.

CsNIPAddrTextBox.Focus();
CsNIPAddrTextBox.TabIndex = 1;

Solution 1

If that's a 'proper' TextBox (i.e. not custom) then simply calling Focus() should work. It might not, however, if it's read-only (I'm not sure - I've not tried. I know you can get a caret in a read-only box, which implies it can get focus). Certainly if it's not Enabled then you won't be able to set focus.

Check the CanFocus property is true - if it's not, then there might be some other reason preventing the control from receiving focus.

If that's true, however, and the caret still doesn't make it to the control - you need to verify that it is receiving it. Add an event handler for the text box's GotFocus event and breakpoint it to clarify that it gets hit. My guess is that it your breakpoint will be hit. If so - then the answer is that another process is setting focus to another control immediately after your button click occurs. For example, if you do this kind of thing in a validation event handler you'll get a similar result, because the Windows Forms pipeline is already in the process of changing controls when the handler is fired.

Also - why are you setting TabIndex=1? Generally TabIndex is set at design time and left alone (unless of course these are dynamically created). Unless you have a particular reason for doing this I'd get rid of that line. It doesn't have a bearing on why this would/wouldn't work - just an observation.

Solution 2

Try textbox1.select(). It's the best approach to bring your cursor to your textbox. It also selects content of the texbox which makes it easier for the user to edit what's inside the textbox.

Solution 3

Set theActiveControl property of the form

ActiveControl = yourtextbox

Solution 4

Edit again:

If you try to select a TextBox in the Click event of a TreeView, it usually fails, because after the Click event the TreeNode will be selected, making your previous Focus() or Select() useless. The workable way is, perhaps, calling them in a Timer.

Timer t = new Timer();
t.Interval = 10;
t.Tick += new EventHandler((s,ev)=>textBox2.Focus());
t.Start();

This is more like a hack though...

Solution 5

You have to use TextBox.Select Method

For example

textbox1.Select(textbox1.Text.Length,0);

Sets the cursor to the end of the text in yout textbox.

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Comments

[sanchop22]

No, i want to move tab to the textbox. This only moves mouse pointer to textbox1 location.

[sanchop22]

CanFocus property is true, i checked it. Focus() does not work, cursor does not go to textbox when i clicked.

[CSharpened]

Have you tried removing the control and double checking you add the correct control. A fresh text box control that has not been messed with should be capable of taking focus using .Focus(). If it still doesnt work then suggestion above for testing the GotFocus event is your next step.

[Alvin Wong]

@petre have you checked my newest answer?

[barlop]

@blabla so why did you accept this answer then if you found it didn't work? Try Michay's answer and see if it works and if it does then you should accept it

[Syed Irfan Ahmad]

I had a similar problem where focus was not shifted to a textbox on a tabpage. Setting that control as form's active control worked ... without calling Focus() and SelectAll()