#310 – Give a Control Logical Focus

May 31, 2011 3 Comments

You can give a control the keyboard focus using the static Keyboard.Focus method.  If you want to instead give a control the logical focus, you can use the FocusManager.SetFocusedElement static method.  (In the System.Windows.Input namespace).

                // Give logical focus to txtFirst TextBox
                DependencyObject focusScope = FocusManager.GetFocusScope(txtFirst);
                FocusManager.SetFocusedElement(focusScope, txtFirst);

If you do this in an application with multiple windows and you set logical focus for a control in the inactive window, you’ll see that it does not get keyboard focus.  You can continue entering text in a control in the active window.  But when you switch back to the inactive window, you’ll see that the control does get keyboard focus.

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#309 – Keyboard Focus vs. Logical Focus

May 27, 2011 1 Comment

In WPF, there are two types of focus–keyboard focus and logical focus.

If an element has keyboard focus, it is the element that can currently receive input from the keyboard.  Only a single element in an entire application can have keyboard at any given time.

An element has logical focus if it is the element within a focus scope that has focus.  The idea is that WPF keeps track of one or more groups of controls, each of which makes up a focus scope.  Within each focus scope, a single control can have logical focus.  This allows WPF to remember the control that last had focus in a group of controls and give the keyboard focus back to the proper control when a group of controls becomes active again.

An element that has keyboard focus always has logical focus.  An element that has logical focus may not have keyboard focus.

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#308 – Checking to See Which Control Has Keyboard Focus

May 26, 2011 1 Comment

You can use the Keyboard.FocusedElement static property (in System.Windows.Input namespace) to determine which control currently has focus.

Here’s an example:

        private void DumpFocus()
        {
            IInputElement elem = Keyboard.FocusedElement;

            if (elem == null)
                Debug.WriteLine("Nobody has focus");
            else
            {
                FrameworkElement felem = elem as FrameworkElement;
                if (felem != null)
                {
                    string identifier = ((felem.Name != null) && (felem.Name.Length > 0)) ?
                        felem.Name :
                        felem.GetType().ToString();
                    Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("FrameworkElement - {0}", identifier));
                }
                else
                {
                    // Maybe a FrameworkContentElement has focus
                    FrameworkContentElement fcelem = elem as FrameworkContentElement;
                    if (fcelem != null)
                    {
                        string identifier = ((fcelem.Name != null) && (fcelem.Name.Length > 0)) ?
                            fcelem.Name :
                            fcelem.GetType().ToString();
                        Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("FrameworkContentElement - {0}", identifier));
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("Element of type {0} has focus", elem.GetType().ToString()));
                    }
                }
            }
        }

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#307 – Giving Focus to a Control When an Application Starts

May 25, 2011 1 Comment

A WPF application does not automatically gives keyboard focus to any single control when the application starts.  You can force a control to get focus at application startup by using the Keyboard.Focus static method (in the System.Windows.Input namespace).

Here’s an example that sets focus to one of the TextBox controls in the main window.

        public MainWindow()
        {
   	        this.InitializeComponent();

            this.Loaded += new RoutedEventHandler(MainWindow_Loaded);
        }

        void MainWindow_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            // On startup, set focus to my first TextBox
            Keyboard.Focus(txtFirst);
        }

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#306 – Keyboard Focus

May 24, 2011 7 Comments

In WPF, as in other Windows applications, a control or user interface element has focus if it can receive keyboard input.  Specifically, we say that the control has keyboard focus.

By default, when a WPF application start up, no control has focus.  You can give a control focus by pressing the TAB key–which cycles through all of the controls that are able to receive focus.  You can also give a control focus by clicking on the control.

Not all controls are able to receive focus.  In general, only controls that can accept user input can get focus.

Most controls will give some visual indication that the control currently has keyboard focus.  Many controls will display a dashed line around the control to indicate that it has focus.  The TextBox will display a light blue border to show that it has focus and also contain an editing carat.

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#305 – Guidelines for Defining Access Keys

May 23, 2011 Leave a comment

Microsoft defines the following guidelines for defining access keys, in the Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines.

  • Use wider characters for the access key  (e.g. avoid ‘i’, ‘I’)
  • Use a distinctive consonant or vowel  (e.g. _Sort rather than So_rt)
  • Avoid using characters that make it hard to see the underline  (e.g. characters with descenders, like ‘y’)
  • Assign an access key to every menu item
  • For dynamically created menu items (e.g. list of recent files), use numeric access keys
  • Assign unique keys within a particular menu
  • First choice is to use first character of first or second word in label
  • Assign an access key to every control in a window that takes input, or to a nearby label
  • Assign unique keys within a particular window or dialog
  • Don’t assign access keys for OK and Cancel buttons
  • Don’t assign an access key to a control that has no associated caption or label

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#304 – Defining an Access Key That Gives Focus to a Different Control

May 20, 2011 1 Comment

For controls that don’t have their own textual caption, it’s common to define an access key for a nearby label.  When that access key is activated, the control without the caption gets the focus.

In the example below, there is a TextBox where you can enter your name and the nearby Label “Enter Name”.  This screenshot was taken after the ALT key was pressed, so the ‘N’ in “Enter Name” is underlined, indicating that ‘N’ is the access key.  If the user presses ALT-N, the TextBox will get focus and they can then begin typing the name.

You can specify the control that should be the target of an access key by using the Target property on the control where you define the access key.

            <!-- Access key on Label gives focus to TextBox -->
            <Label Content="Enter _Name:" VerticalAlignment="Center" Target="txtName" />
            <TextBox Name="txtName" Width="150" Margin="10"/>

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#303 – Define an Access Key for a Control Using an Underline

May 19, 2011 1 Comment

You define an access key for a control by including an underscore ‘_’ character immediately before the desired access key character in the control’s caption or label.  You can then use that character, in combination with the ALT key, to activate the control or give it focus.

Here are some examples:

        <Button Content="_Eggs" Width="100" Margin="10" Click="Button_Click"/>
        <CheckBox Content="_I'm hungry now" Margin="10" HorizontalAlignment="Center"/>
        <RadioButton Content="Pick _Me" Margin="10" HorizontalAlignment="Center"/>

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#302 – Access Keys for Controls that Don’t Have a Caption

May 18, 2011 Leave a comment

Access keys are ALT key shortcuts that allow you to activate a control, or give focus to a control.

For controls that have captions, like buttons and checkboxes, the access key is the character in the caption that is underlined when you press the ALT key.

For controls that do not have a caption, a user interface will typically include a label near the control that does have an access key.  Activating the access key of that label will typically give focus to the nearby control.

In the example below, the TextBox and ComboBox controls do not have access keys of their own.  But both have an associated label with an access key.

Activating the access key of one of these labels will give focus to their associated control.

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#301 – Using Access Keys

May 17, 2011 12 Comments

An access key is a keyboard shortcut assigned to a control that has an associated text label.  Access keys allow users to activate a control using the keyboard rather than using the mouse to click on the control.

Access keys are triggered by pressing the ALT key along with one of the characters in the control’s label.  When you click or hold the ALT key, Windows will show you the access keys for all controls in the current window by underlining the character used for the access key.

Here’s the main window for an application that was just started.  The access keys are not visible.


When you press the ALT key, Windows underlines the characters corresponding to the access keys.

You can activate a control by pressing the associated access key after pressing ALT.  Pressing ALT-H in this window would be equivalent to clicking on the “Ham” button.

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