CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netvb.netwinformstabcontrol
Rick Mogstad
Rick Mogstad

Reputation: 817

How do I tell which tab you are moving from/to in a WinForms tab control?

I need to determine which tab the user is coming from, and going to, when they switch tabs, and possibly cancel the switch. I have tried the Deselecting, Deselected, Selecting, Selected events, and all of them show the e.TabPageIndex to be the same as the sender.SelectedIndex.

Is there an event, or property, that I can use so that I can determine both sides of this, or do I have to hack something together with caching it from one event and using that value in the new event.

I am trying to avoid handling the Deselecting/Deselected events and caching the value to use in the Selecting event. I already know I can do this, so I am asking if there is a cleaner way, without doing this.

I have tried in both C# and VB, with the same results (no surprise).

Thanks.

Upvotes: 9

Views: 13348

Answers (8)

Jed Monsanto
Jed Monsanto

Reputation: 31

Try this in Deselect_Event:

private void tabControl1_Deselected(object sender, TabControlEventArgs e)
{
    var test = e.TabPage.Text;
}

Upvotes: 1

STW
STW

Reputation: 46366

It doesn't look like any one event argument will carry the details of both the previous and current tabs, so you'll need to handle a couple of events to keep track.

At a minimum, you'd need to use the Deselected event to store a reference to the previously-selected tab. You can always query the TabControl for its current tab. To stretch a little further, you can also handle the Selected event to track the current tab.

Option Strict On
Option Explicit On

Public Class Form1

    Private PreviousTab As TabPage
    Private CurrentTab As TabPage

    Private Sub TabControl1_Deselected(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.TabControlEventArgs) Handles TabControl1.Deselected
        PreviousTab = e.TabPage
        Debug.WriteLine("Deselected: " + e.TabPage.Name)
    End Sub

    Private Sub TabControl1_Selected(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.TabControlEventArgs) Handles TabControl1.Selected
        CurrentTab = e.TabPage
        Debug.WriteLine("Selected: " + e.TabPage.Name)
    End Sub

    Private Sub TabControl1_Selecting(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.TabControlCancelEventArgs) Handles TabControl1.Selecting
        If CurrentTab Is Nothing Then Return
        Debug.WriteLine(String.Format("Proposed change from {0} to {1}", CurrentTab.Name, e.TabPage.Name))
    End Sub

End Class

Upvotes: 11

JustHelping
JustHelping

Reputation: 11

The tabControl has a non-public member "lastSelection" that has the info you want. Unfortunately, I don't see a way to get to it. It's very frustrating when they have what you want but don't let you use it.

Upvotes: 1

MarcLawrence
MarcLawrence

Reputation: 127

I believe the e.Cancel flag in the selecting event should do this trick. This sends the selected tab back to the original on cancel:

    private void tabControl1_Selecting( object sender, TabControlCancelEventArgs e )
    {
        int badIndex = 0;

        if ( tabControl1.SelectedIndex == badIndex )
            e.Cancel = true;            
    }

If you really need more complex beharvior, subclassing the tab control will work, Then override the onSelecting method. This shouldn't be done lightly. If the control is changed in the future you will have broken code. And you have to confirm that all the behavior of the tab control are met (ie constructors ...)

EDIT: based on feedback. This will internally track the original tab before selection.

public class MyTab : System.Windows.Forms.TabControl
{
    int _previousTab;

    protected override void OnSelecting( TabControlCancelEventArgs e )
    {
        // Some logic here to do cool UI things, perhaps use _previousTab

        // Call the base method
        base.OnSelecting( e );           
    }
    protected override void OnDeselecting( TabControlCancelEventArgs e )
    {
        // Store the value for use later in the chain of events
        _previousTab = this.SelectedIndex;

        // Call the base method
        base.OnDeselecting( e );
    }

}

Upvotes: 2

STW
STW

Reputation: 46366

To provide an alternative to my initial answer.... here's a sample of an extended TabControl which modifies the event arguments to include some more details.

Disclaimer This is slapped together, it'll need some adjustments for sure!

Option Strict On
Option Explicit On

Imports System
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Public Class ExtendedTabControl
    Inherits TabControl

    Public Shadows Event Selecting As EventHandler(Of SelectedTabChangingEventArgs)
    Public Shadows Event Selected As EventHandler(Of SelectedTabChangedEventArgs)

    Private _PreviousTab As TabPage
    Public Property PreviousTab() As TabPage
        Get
            Return _PreviousTab
        End Get
        Private Set(ByVal value As TabPage)
            _PreviousTab = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Private _CurrentTab As TabPage
    Public Property CurrentTab() As TabPage
        Get
            Return _CurrentTab
        End Get
        Private Set(ByVal value As TabPage)
            _CurrentTab = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Protected Overrides Sub OnDeselected(ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.TabControlEventArgs)
        PreviousTab = e.TabPage
        MyBase.OnDeselected(e)
    End Sub

    Protected Overrides Sub OnSelected(ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.TabControlEventArgs)
        CurrentTab = e.TabPage
        Dim selectedArgs As New SelectedTabChangedEventArgs(e, PreviousTab)
        RaiseEvent Selected(Me, selectedArgs)
    End Sub

    Protected Overrides Sub OnSelecting(ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.TabControlCancelEventArgs)
        Dim selectedArgs As New SelectedTabChangingEventArgs(e, CurrentTab)
        RaiseEvent Selecting(Me, selectedArgs)
    End Sub

End Class

Public Class SelectedTabChangingEventArgs
    Inherits TabControlCancelEventArgs

    Public Sub New(ByVal selectingEventArgs As TabControlCancelEventArgs, ByVal previousTabPage As TabPage)
        MyBase.New(selectingEventArgs.TabPage, selectingEventArgs.TabPageIndex, selectingEventArgs.Cancel, selectingEventArgs.Action)
        Me.CurrentTab = previousTabPage
    End Sub

    Private _CurrentTab As TabPage
    Public Property CurrentTab() As TabPage
        Get
            Return _CurrentTab
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As TabPage)
            _CurrentTab = value
        End Set
    End Property

End Class

Public Class SelectedTabChangedEventArgs
    Inherits TabControlEventArgs

    Public Sub New(ByVal selectedEventArgs As TabControlEventArgs, ByVal previousTabPage As TabPage)
        MyBase.New(selectedEventArgs.TabPage, selectedEventArgs.TabPageIndex, selectedEventArgs.Action)
        Me.PreviousTab = previousTabPage
    End Sub

    Private _PreviousTab As TabPage
    Public Property PreviousTab() As TabPage
        Get
            Return _PreviousTab
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As TabPage)
            _PreviousTab = value
        End Set
    End Property

End Class

...and a sample Form using this control...

Option Strict On
Option Explicit On

Public Class Form1

    Private Sub TabControl1_Selecting(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As SelectedTabChangingEventArgs) Handles TabControl1.Selecting
        If e.CurrentTab Is Nothing Then Return
        Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Proposed change from {0} to {1}", e.CurrentTab.Name, e.TabPage.Name))
    End Sub

    Private Sub TabControl1_Selected(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As SelectedTabChangedEventArgs) Handles TabControl1.Selected
        Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Changed from {0} to {1}", e.PreviousTab.Name, e.TabPage.Name))
    End Sub

End Class

Upvotes: 1

raven
raven

Reputation: 18125

You can get the index of the tab the user is moving away from with the Deselecting event and store it in a variable for later use:

Private Sub TabControl1_Deselecting(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.TabControlCancelEventArgs) Handles TabControl1.Deselecting
    someClassLevelVariable = e.TabPageIndex
End Sub

You want put code to prevent the switch in the Selecting event. Here's an example in VB.NET that will prevent you from selecting tab 2 on a tab control:

Private Sub TabControl1_Selecting(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.TabControlCancelEventArgs) Handles TabControl1.Selecting
    If (e.TabPageIndex = 1) Then
        e.Cancel = True
    End If
End Sub

Upvotes: 1

Thomas Levesque
Thomas Levesque

Reputation: 292365

You could do something like that :

    private int _oldIndex = -1;

    private void tabControl1_Deselected(object sender, TabControlEventArgs e)
    {
        _oldIndex = e.TabPageIndex;
    }

    private void tabControl1_Selecting(object sender, TabControlCancelEventArgs e)
    {
        if (_oldIndex != -1)
        {
            if (CanChangeTab(_oldIndex, e.TabPageIndex))
            {
                e.Cancel = true;
            }
        }
    }

    private bool CanChangeTab(int fromIndex, int toIndex)
    {
        // Put your logic here
    }

Upvotes: 1

Reed Copsey
Reed Copsey

Reputation: 564333

You can subscribe to TabControl.Deselecting. When it fires, the tab index in the event args will be the old index.

You can then subscribe to TabControl.Selected. When this event fires, the tab index will be the index of the newly selected tab.

Upvotes: 2

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