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How do I tab between text boxes on a form in C#?

I'm trying to get the functionality to tab to the next text box once the user has input their data for the previous text box. For example, once they filled in a company name I'd like to be able to hit Tab and set the focus on the next text box "Job Name". Is this done in the code or the form properties?
Here is some of my code. I'm unsure how to nest a KeyEventsArgs within these, which is how I've seen others set the focus to the next text boxes using the KeyPress function.
private void textBox1_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
CompanyName = textBox1.Text;
textBox1.AcceptsTab = true;
}
private void textBox2_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
JobName = textBox2.Text;
textBox2.AcceptsTab = true;
}

From the question you've asked and the code sample provided, there seems to be somewhat of a disconnect between your approach and the desired functionality.
As you would like the user to be able to use the Tab key in order to shift keyboard focus between elements in the window, you need only provide a TabIndex attribute on each of your TextBox controls. There is no need to use the TextChanged events to achieve this and it can be done completely in XAML for simplicity's sake.
From how I interpret your question, your next follow-on will likely be:
How do I initially give focus to a control when the application
starts?
To address this, there are a couple of alternatives available, simplest of which comes in the form of the FocusManager, which again I've illustrated usage of in XAML.
For convenience, here is a XAML-only implementation with TabIndex and FocusManager implemented:
<Window x:Class="tab_navigation.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:tab_navigation"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Title="MainWindow" ResizeMode="NoResize" SizeToContent="WidthAndHeight" FocusManager.FocusedElement="{Binding ElementName=TbxCompanyName}">
<Grid Margin="10">
<StackPanel Orientation="Vertical">
<StackPanel Orientation="Vertical" Margin="0,0,0,10">
<Label Content="Company Name:" Target="{Binding ElementName=TbxCompanyName}" />
<TextBox Name="TbxCompanyName" TabIndex="0" Width="160" HorizontalAlignment="Left"/>
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel Orientation="Vertical">
<Label Content="Job Description:" Target="{Binding ElementName=TbxJobDescription}"/>
<TextBox Name="TbxJobDescription" TabIndex="1" Width="160" HorizontalAlignment="Left"/>
</StackPanel>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
Give me a shout if you need any further help, although I would strongly recommend checking out some of the MSDN resources first, particularly those concerning Focus
UPDATE: In response to comment regarding implementing the solution,
WPF has a different design and best practices from that of WinForms.
I would strongly make the case that you cease using Forms and instead use a Window or UserControl derived class in place of a Form in your WPF project unless there is a very, very good reason for doing so. If you continue to use a Form inside of your WPF project, you will indeed need to implement your own keyboard navigation logic inside that form, and bridge various other gaps you'll inevitably run into when trying to get a Form behave in a commonly acceptable way.
I'll instead show you how you can achieve your request using an objectively better and more suitable approach in WPF-only, using Window or UserControl elements. There is also a complete solution zip downloadable here.
WPF is by design a lot more modular than WinForms and splits the areas of concerns nicely by default, although most developers implement a design pattern ontop of this; MVVM is the current darling of WPF, and does add quite a lot of value to a project, although it is outside the scope of your question, so I shall instead address the question itself on the grounds of how to achieve the request in its most basic forms. Do please be aware though that this is not the entirely ideal solution and I would strongly recommend you learn and implement the MVVM pattern for WPF if you are not already familiar with it.
With that disclaimer out of the way, instead of using a Form in WPF, its more useful for us to make a class which derives from Window. An even more common scenario in WPF would be that you would want to have a single window whose content changes between different views, rather than say creating multiple windows, although again that is outside the scope of the question and would rely upon reading into Binding and MVVM. I'm going to be showing you a quick and easy way to get the functionality you've asked for, I'm just trying to iterate here that this is not the norm almost all of the time.
To make a working solution, do the following to your project:
Right click your project in the solution explorer (presuming you are using Visual Studio)
'Add' a 'New Item...'.
Choose the 'Window (WPF)' template and name it. I'm going to call it CustomerInformationEntry from here out.
Open the CustomerInformationEntry.xaml file that has been created for us, remove the <Grid></Grid> tags and copy/paste this excerpt from the XAML I've already provided from above in their place:
<Grid Margin="10">
<StackPanel Orientation="Vertical">
<StackPanel Orientation="Vertical" Margin="0,0,0,10">
<Label Content="Company Name:" Target="{Binding ElementName=TbxCompanyName}" />
<TextBox Name="TbxCompanyName" TabIndex="0" Width="160" HorizontalAlignment="Left"/>
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel Orientation="Vertical">
<Label Content="Job Description:" Target="{Binding ElementName=TbxJobDescription}"/>
<TextBox Name="TbxJobDescription" TabIndex="1" Width="160" HorizontalAlignment="Left"/>
</StackPanel>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
Add FocusManager.FocusedElement="{Binding ElementName=TbxCompanyName} to the Window element in CustomerInformationEntry.xaml.
This is our view or visual representation finished with now, and all that remains is to instanciate a new CustomerInformationEntry from our other Window or UserControl, and to then display it. In this case I'm going to be putting a button onto the MainWindow.xaml, and providing it a click event which will create the instance of our new Window:
In MainWindow.xaml add <Button Name="BtnOpenCustomerInformationEntry" Content="Enter Customer Information" Click="OpenCustomerInformationEntry"/>. In my case I'll be adding the button inside my object, although you can put it wherever you like if you've already created your initial window.
In MainWindow.xaml.cs we'll add a new private method which will be used by the Click event of your new button. Adding the following code:
private void OpenCustomerInformationEntry(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
CustomerInformationEntry myWindow = new CustomerInformationEntry();
myWindow.Show();
}
That's it, you now have a button in your MainWindow.xaml which when clicked uses the OpenCustomerInformationEntry method defined in MainWindow.xaml.cs, which in turn makes an instance of your CustomerInformationEntry window and displays it.
If you would still rather stick with the Forms approach, you can do that by using WindowsFormsHost, usage of which is discussed here.
Best Regards,
JC

How to inherit property values in a UserControl?

I have a page where I am adding a custom control like this:
<custom:ClickableIcon x:Name="DeleteTask" Grid.Column="2" Foreground="Red" Icon="Delete" Click="DeleteTask_Click" />
In my custom control, I have the following XAML:
<UserControl x:Name="clickableIconUserControl"
x:Class="Client.UWP.Controls.ClickableIcon"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="using:Client.UWP.Controls" IsEnabledChanged="userControl_IsEnabledChanged">
<Grid x:Name="ohmygrid">
<SymbolIcon x:Name="CIIcon"
Foreground="{Binding Foreground, ElementName=clickableIconUserControl}"
Symbol="{Binding Icon, ElementName=clickableIconUserControl}"
Tapped="CIIcon_Tapped"/>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
This doesn't actually work. What I want is to copy the Foreground property for the control into specific places in the user control. I'd like to do this within a style sheet, direct property or whatever. In addition, I'd like to update the foreground when the foreground of the control on the page is changed.
Unfortunately, in this code (which is much simplified than the code I am actually trying to write), the Foreground is always #FF000000 in the debugger and I cannot seem to get a hold of the setting on the actual control to set it - either in code behind or as a binding.
How can I achieve this?

Binding to code behind from custom control

I have a GridView that has several buttons. One of them is defined by the following template:
<DataTemplate x:Name="SubjectItemTemplate">
<Canvas Width="340" Height="170" VerticalAlignment="Top">
<Controls:ThreeImageButton HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="0,0,0,0"
NormalStateImageSource="{Binding NormalImage}"
HoverStateImageSource="{Binding HoverImage}"
PressedStateImageSource="{Binding PressedImage}" Command="{Binding Path=NavigateToUnitsPage}"
CommandParameter="{Binding}" Canvas.Left="0" Canvas.Top="0">
</Controls:ThreeImageButton>
</Canvas>
</DataTemplate>
Now I have a custom control as you can see, called ThreeImageButton. The button works fine when I use it on its own. But when I have it in the DataTemplate it won't bind properties to the code behind.
Right now, I have
x:Name="MyThreeImageButton"
in the custom button definition. And I connect to the code-behind like this:
<TextBlock Text="{Binding ElementName=MyThreeImageButton, Path=NormalStateImageSource}"/>
(This is just a test to display the text, in the actual code I would assign an image source to another property that is referred to by an element).
Right now, nothing is displayed in the TextBlock. What is the correct binding syntax I'm supposed to use to reach my properties?
Thanks!
Edit: I am setting the variable in the InitializeComponent function and I am using SetValue on the DependencyProperty.
Edit: Let me add the following information to be more clear
Scenario I:
In DataTemplate for GridView:
<UserControl CustomParameter="Literal Text">
In UserControl:
<TextBlock Text="{Binding CustomParameter}">
in UserControl .cs: this.DataContext = this
works!
Scenario II:
In DataTemplate for GridView:
<UserControl CustomParameter="{Binding ValueFromDataItem">
In UserControl:
<TextBlock Text="{Binding CustomParameter}">
in UserControl .cs: this.DataContext = this
nope!

I see,
So setting up a two-way binding to a custom property in a user control can be tricky because a user control cannot bind to a CLR property. Not only that but setting the data context on a user control has an unexpected effect on the binding inside it.
You can solve these problems with a little slight of code. Basically back your CLR properties with dependency properties and set the data context on a child element instead of the root user control.
Take a look at this sample. Let's pretend you have the following MainPage. That MainPage will eventually use our custom user control. So let's set the stage.
Here's the code-behind:
public sealed partial class MainPage : Page
{
public MainPage()
{
this.InitializeComponent();
this.DataContext = new /* your view model */
{
Title = Guid.NewGuid().ToString(),
};
}
}
In the code above I am simulating a complex view model with a simple anonymous class. It would be silly for you to implement your own like this, but at the same time it is silly for me to build a simple sample with the complete scaffolding. I bring this up only so it does not confuse you - as it could look like I am suggesting this approach in prod.
Here's the XAML:
<Grid Background="{StaticResource ApplicationPageBackgroundThemeBrush}">
<local:MyUserControl Text="{Binding Title}" />
</Grid>
In the XAML above, there is absolutely nothing special. I already have reference to the user control in the local namespace and I simply declare it here.
Okay, now that we have a consumer of the control, it's worth pointing out that in testing developers can mistakenly think that their binding is working because they test with literal values. Literal values bind fine. It's binding from the underlying view model that hick-ups.
Let's say another thing, some developers tend to avoid dependency properties because the require a little more typing. People remember that [kbd]propdp[/kbd] is a handy Visual Studio snippet that stubs out a dependency property for you.
Take a look at this user control. It has two controls, a TextBox and a TextBlock which are there to demonstrate the OneWay and TwoWay functionality of this binding approach. We also implement INotifyPropertyChanged on the user control. For the most part, adding a view model in the case of a user control is overkill because the user control already acts like a view model. It's up to the developer, but it seems dumb to me.
Here's the code behind:
public sealed partial class MyUserControl : UserControl, INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public MyUserControl()
{
this.InitializeComponent();
}
// text property
public string Text
{
get { return (string)GetValue(TextProperty); }
set { SetValueDp(TextProperty, value); }
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty TextProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("Text", typeof(string), typeof(MyUserControl), null);
// bindable
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
void SetValueDp(DependencyProperty property, object value,
[System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallerMemberName] String propertyName = null)
{
SetValue(property, value);
if (PropertyChanged != null)
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
In the ode above, I have create a "Text" property and backed it with a dependency property. For a matter of reuse I have also implemented SetValueDp() which could be used again and again if I had more than a single property. Even though this demo has but one, I wanted to include this because the repetitive logic should certainly be abstracted out like this.
Here's the XAML:
<Grid Background="Black" DataContext="{Binding ElementName=userControl}">
<StackPanel>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Text, Mode=TwoWay}"
MinHeight="100" Padding="15" FontWeight="Light" FontSize="50" />
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Text}"
MinHeight="100" Padding="15" FontWeight="Light" FontSize="50" />
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
In the XAML above, I do nothing special insofar as binding. The syntax simply binds to the Text property using the Mode appropriate to the control. Just like you would do normally. However, what's worth noticing is that the DataContext is NOT set on the user control. Instead, it is set on the Grid. As a point of fact, any control in the tree other than the user control could be used like this. Just don't set the data context of the user control.
That is it by the way.
I have tested it to make sure it works. Demonstrating both one and two way binding is pretty handy here. I might even turn this into a blog in case other developers want to find it and don't discover this question. Thanks for your question!
Best of luck!

As the comments alluded to, your DataTemplate is placing the datacontext of the items to whatever object you are adding to your list. This is not the same as the surrounding user control's data context. If you want to reference that datacontext's commands, do the following in the DataTemplate's bindings:
{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type UserControl}}, Path=DataContext.NormalImage}
What this is saying is to go out and find the user control ancestor and use its datacontext and then look for the NormalImage property. If you run into problems, check your output window for binding errors. It is very helpful in finding binding problems.

Xaml TextBox not behaving

I am trying to create UI from XAML at runtime, with something like
private void Application_Startup (object esender, StartupEventArgs e)
{
this.RootVisual = (UIElement)(XmlReader.Load(e.InitParams["Xaml"])
If I feed it this XAML:
<Canvas
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:sdk="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Controls;assembly=System.Windows.Controls">
<StackPanel>
<TextBox Width="120" Margin="8" Text="Edit Me" />
<CheckBox Margin="8">Normal</CheckBox>
<ComboBox Margin="8" Width="120" SelectedIndex="1">
<ComboBoxItem Content="First Normal Item" />
<ComboBoxItem Content="Second Normal Item" />
</ComboBox>
</StackPanel>
</Canvas>
then the check box and list behave as expected, but my TextBox does not respond to typing, it stays with its initial value.
The really weird (to me) part is that if I put a handler for KeyDown on to the RootVisual, and in there display a message box, it works. If I have an empty handler or no handler it doesn't.
Do I need to set up some explicit handling for some events? If so, which ones, and how do I handle them?
Upadate: as suggested, I tried putting the dynamic markup into the MainPage of a new app, like this:
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
var dynamic = XamlReader.Load(xaml);
this.LayoutRoot.Children.Add(dynamic as UIElement);
}
where xaml is a string literal containing the content as above, and everything else is just how VS2010 wizard left it. That works. But I can't see what the effective difference is.
Update update: that's a red herring; the difference is the environment. It works in VS, but not in the Silverlight ActiveX control that I am using in the real app.

Did you define the root namespace on your root element?
<param name="initParams" value="xaml=<TextBox xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation' Text='hi'/>" />
Just a shot in the dark here, but have you tried adding the dynamically created content as the child of a static "MainPage.xaml" Grid instead of as RootVisual?

Check for IsEnabled="True" property in your main XAML file, if it is set to false then controls will not be editable.

Control which field is displayed in the textbox part of a databound WPF ComboBox

I have a ComboBox in WPF which is databound, and has data template which controls how each of the items is displayed. I have made it so that each item is displayed with two bits of text (for the Name and Path properties) and one image (for the Icon property).
At the moment when I select an item from the ComboBox the textbox bit of the ComboBox just changes to say "TestWPF.Result" which is the name of the class which I have populated the ComboBox with.
I'm interested in one (or both) of two things:
How do I change it so that it displays the value of one of the fields there (eg. so it shows the value of the Name field rather than the name of the class)?
Is it possible get it to use the same DataTemplate there as in the list of items, so that once I have selected an item it displays in the closed ComboBox the same way as it looks in the list of items. Basically I've got a DataTemplate called ShowResults and a ComboBox which uses that template. I've also added in a separate ContentControl which I've got to show the details of the selected item in the ComboBox, but I want to get that to replace the textbox in the ComboBox.
Update:
Thanks for the first answer. I've tried using a separate ContentControl, as you've described, and it works fine. The question now is how to replace the textbox part of the ComboBox with this ContentControl. Any hints on that would be most welcome.
Also, is it possible to replace the textbox bit of the ComboBox control with a mixture of the ContentControl and a textbox, so that I can still type in the textbox to help select items from the ComboBox, but then when I close the dropdown the rest ContentControl bit will be populated with the rest of the text and the icon. Hope that makes sense - ask questions if it doesn't!
Code:
I've been asked to post my code - so here it is. I've tried to remove things that I know are definitely not relevant, but I'm not sure exactly what is relevant so when in doubt I've left things in.
<Window x:Class="TestWPF.Window1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:custom="clr-namespace:TestWPF"
Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="843" Loaded="Window_Loaded">
<Window.Resources>
<DataTemplate x:Key="ShowResult" DataType="TestWPF.Result">
<StackPanel Margin="5" Orientation="Horizontal">
<Image Width="32" Height="32" Source="{Binding Path=Image}"/>
<StackPanel Margin="5">
<TextBlock FontWeight="Bold" Text="{Binding Path=Name}"/>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Path}"/>
</StackPanel>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</Window.Resources>
<Grid Width="786">
<Button Height="23" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Margin="0,24,166,0" Name="btnTest" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="75" Click="btnTest_Click">Add</Button>
<ComboBox StaysOpenOnEdit="True" DropDownClosed="comboBox1_DropDownClosed" PreviewTextInput="comboBox1_PreviewTextInput" SelectionChanged="comboBox1_SelectionChanged" ItemTemplate="{StaticResource ShowResult}" Margin="259,109,22,89" Name="comboBox1" IsEditable="True" />
<ContentControl Height="50" Margin="268,0,22,21" Name="contentControl1" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Content="{Binding ElementName=comboBox1,Path=SelectedValue}" ContentTemplate="{StaticResource ShowResult}"/>
</Grid>

You got the binding part right - binding to the data and using a DataTemplate to display the source the way you want to.
As to your second question, a way to do it would be to use a ComboBox with IsEditable="True" as you have, and withing the TextChanged event handler check if the comboBox.Items contains the new value, if not check use Linq to seach for a match:
if (comboBox.Items.Contains(e.NewValue))
return;
var matches =
with comboBox.Items
select item
where item.BeginsWith(e.NewValue);
if (matches.Count > 0)
comboBox.SelectedItem = matches.First();

Just place the Property Binding expression to the textBox,You dont need to apply template.
Another way to get exact Data template, Place a ContentControl in the place of textBox and assign the same DataTemplate (say x:Name="robinTemplate")
<ContentControl Content="{Binding ElementName=cmbBox,Path=SelectedValue}" ContentTemplate="{StaticResource robinTemplate}"/>
For making the Selected content display in the same way :
Create a copy of the combobox control template and you will find a ContentPresenter there. Replace that with the ContentControl.. This is not the right solution though.