Tab Key Functionality Using Enter Key in VB.Net

Question

I have a form with nearly 20 Textbox and 5 Combobox and one control in dependent on the other, Now I want to write the code for the form in such a way that, Pressing Enter Key and Tab Key should have the same functionality.

Like on pressing Tab Key the focus moves to next control should also be performed when I press the Enter Key. Similarly when I press the Enter Key, there is some process code written in key press event but this should also be performed when I press the Tab Key.

Answer 1

First Make your Form's Keypreview property= True And Then Paste The Code Below in Form's Keydown Event

 If e.KeyCode = Keys.Enter Then
    Me.SelectNextControl(Me.ActiveControl, True, True, True, False) 'for Select Next Control
End If

Answer 2

The way that I have accomplished it in Winforms is by using the SelectNextControl Method.

i.e.

Private Sub TextBox_KeyPress(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyPressEventArgs)
    Dim tb As TextBox
    tb = CType(sender, TextBox)

    If Char.IsControl(e.KeyChar) Then
        If e.KeyChar.Equals(Chr(Keys.Return)) Then
            Me.SelectNextControl(tb, True, True, False, True)
            e.Handled = True
        End If
    End If
End Sub

If you are using WPF you can use TraversalRequest

i.e.

Private Sub TextBox_KeyDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Input.KeyEventArgs)
    Dim tb As TextBox
    tb = CType(sender, TextBox)

    If e.Key = Key.Return Then
        tb.MoveFocus(New TraversalRequest(FocusNavigationDirection.Next))
    ElseIf e.Key = Key.Tab Then
        Exit Sub
    End If
End Sub

As far as intercepting the Tab Key take a look at this Stackoverflow question.

Answer 3

simply make following function

Public Sub perform_tab_on_enter(ByVal e As KeyEventArgs) 
If e.KeyCode = Keys.Enter Then 
  SendKeys.Send("{TAB}")
else
  exit sub
End If
e.SuppressKeyPress = True 'this will prevent ding sound 
End Sub

call this function on control's keydown event

Answer 4

I was able to accomplish this without having to manually create or set event handlers for each control. At the initialization of the form, I run a function that loops through every control and adds a generic handler function.

Private Sub AddHandlers()
    Try
        'Get the first control in the tab order.
        Dim ctl As Windows.Forms.Control = Me.GetNextControl(Me, True)
        Do Until ctl Is Nothing
            If TypeOf ctl Is System.Windows.Forms.TextBox Or TypeOf ctl Is System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox _
                    Or TypeOf ctl Is System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox Or TypeOf ctl Is System.Windows.Forms.DateTimePicker Then

                AddHandler ctl.KeyDown, AddressOf ReturnKeyTabs
            End If
            'Get the next control in the tab order.
            ctl = Me.GetNextControl(ctl, True)
        Loop
    Catch ex As Exception
    End Try
End Sub

Private Sub ReturnKeyTabs(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs)
    If e.KeyCode = System.Windows.Forms.Keys.Return Then
        e.Handled = True
        e.SuppressKeyPress = True
    End If
    ReturnKeyTabs(e.KeyCode)
End Sub

Private Sub ReturnKeyTabs(ByVal KeyCode As System.Windows.Forms.Keys)
    If KeyCode = System.Windows.Forms.Keys.Return Then
        System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys.Send("{Tab}")
        KeyCode = 0
    End If
End Sub

Answer 5

A better option that I uses for the same problem is to create a new textbox class textboxClass and paste following code in its keypress event

    Private Sub commonTextbox_KeyPress(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyPressEventArgs) Handles Me.KeyPress
            If Char.IsControl(e.KeyChar) Then
                If e.KeyChar.Equals(Chr(Keys.Return)) Then
                    Me.Parent.SelectNextControl(Me, True, True, False, True)
                    e.Handled = True
                End If
            End If
    End Sub

Now we can add any number of textbox to any form. it will behave as desired. when enter is pressed on the last textbox focus goes to first one.

This code as taken from @Mark Hall for single textbox from this page only.

Answer 6

This is quite old but I got here because I wanted to do the same thing. The problem with some of the answers here is that they will always jump to the next control when pressing enter and I only want it to do that with text boxes. If they get to a button, I want them to be able to hit enter to "click" that button. So here is what I did.

Private Sub txtName_KeyPress(sender As Object, e As KeyPressEventArgs) Handles txtName.KeyPress, txtAttn.KeyPress, txtAdd1.KeyPress, txtAdd2.KeyPress, txtCity.KeyPress, txtState.KeyPress, txtZip.KeyPress

    If Asc(e.KeyChar) = 13 Then
        e.Handled = True
        SendKeys.SendWait("{TAB}")
    End If

End Sub

It is kind of a pain having to add all of the .keypress in the handles part of the sub but then you can control which items will cause it to move to the next control and which will not. Of course you also have to set the tab stops order at design time for this to work. But with this method, it can still trigger a button press once it tabs to a button and they hit enter again.

I would have just added this as a comment but I do not have enough points to add comments. :)

Answer 7

You can do it with some javascript: Enter Key Focus