Trap keyboard input in a WindowsFormsHost control in WPF

Question

I have an ActiveX control inside a WinForms user control. My WinForms app loves it!

Now, moving over to WPF, I use the user control in a WindowsFormsHost control. Works great..., but I want to treat this control as a single element so the user can neatly hit TAB over the existing WPF controls AND this user control NOT to 'go inside' it. i.e. just treat it as a single control like all the others.

I think what i need is the ability to trap the keys, and in the event handler simply move focus to the next control in the sequence, but I can't seem to trap any keyboard input. Ive tried the WPF PreviewKey.. events and the like, but once the tabbing gets to the control, it seems to stay inside it and WPF events are ignored.

I couldnt find anything on this in many WPF books and the net. Can anyone suggest a way ?

Thanks, Jack.

Answer 1

Can't you create some sort of a filter by doing a preview mouse down on the panel or window (whatever is the parent of your controls), this way the panel will catch it before the user control and you should set e.handled to true, and if the user control raised the tab event, keep pushing the focus until you get another control. Preview and e.Handled=ture should solve the problem.