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I'm trying to call a method from a textbox in winforms when the enter key is pressed and it's not working

The if statement is being checked until I hit enter then it goes straight to another method. My guess is there is something else on the form that is getting triggered when I hit enter but I can't find it despite my search.
I want to not have to put a button on the form to call this function, the button I had worked but I just want to be able to hit enter from my textbox input.
Here is my code below:
private void textBox1firstName_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
if (e.KeyCode == Keys.Enter)
{
searchAD();
}
}
private void textBox2lastName_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
if (e.KeyCode == Keys.Enter)
{
searchAD();
}
}
searchAD() is not getting called despite hitting enter. Any suggestions? Thank you!

The form has a KeyDown event, but also has a "AcceptButton" property, which hooks the [Enter] keypress and can call an event handler. Check if there are event-handlers attached to either of those on the form.

Windows form only executs when I press the buttons with the mouse

I m working at an uni project and I encountered a problem.(I m also a beginner with C#).
I created a windows form menu and I have to choose options via keyboard. But my program won't let me choose unless i clicked on the option prior. (I have to click the option then press the key, otherwise I can even spam the key and nothing will happen).
private void button1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
if( e.KeyCode==Keys.D1 || e.KeyCode==Keys.NumPad1)
{
SidePanel.Height = button1.Height;
SidePanel.Top = button1.Top;
firstCustomControl1.BringToFront();
}
}
Here's a code snippet of how i choose an option based on the number.
Thank you :)

Firstly Set "KeyPreview" Option of your form on which you tend to perform action to true, it is false by default. It needs to be true to perform any function based on any keyboard event.
Secondly add Keydown event on same form.
private void YourForm_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
YourCodeHere();
}

don't use the Keydown event on your Button!
Select the Form in the designer and add Keydown Event for entire Form.
Add Key Down Event on Form 1
then add your Code to the following auto generated Method
private void Form1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
YourCodeHere();
}

C# Form - MouseClick will click the actual control after losing form focus

If you ever remove focus from any professional application like Chrome/FireFox/Visual Studio, and then reclick a button/menu item, it will actually click it as if you never lost focus.
How can I apply the same concept in C# WinForm? I tried many things like
private void form1_MouseClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
BringToFront();
Activate();
}
Activate/focus/select/etc... nothing worked to react the same way, it always takes 3-4 clicks to actually click on a menu!
I thought about making a click event for every single control, but that seemed rather redundant.
Check this for example (Yellow Clicks)

You are right about Menues taking an extra click to get focus.
Which is extra annoying since the menue get highlighted anyway but doesn't react to the 1st click..
You can avoid that by coding the MouseEnter event:
private void menuStrip1_MouseEnter(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// either
menuStrip1.Focus();
// or
this.Focus();
}
The downside of this is, that it is stealing focus from other applications, which is not something a well-behaved application should do..
So I think it is better to wait for a definitive user action; code the MouseDown event in a similar way..:
private void menuStrip1_MouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
menuStrip1.Focus();
}
Or use the event that was made for the occasion:
private void menuStrip1_MenuActivate(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
menuStrip1.Focus();
}
I can't confirm a similar problem with Buttons or any other controls, though.

I have find trick to solve your problem. it work for me 100%
See this code:
dynamic elem1;
private void menuStrip1_MouseEnter(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
elem1 = sender;
}
private void menuStrip1_MouseLeave(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
elem1 = null;
}
private void Form1_Activated(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if(elem1 != null){
elem1.PerformClick();
if (elem1.GetType().ToString() == "System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem") elem1.ShowDropDown();
}
elem1 = null;
}
Here what happend.
When mouse enter button/menu item elem1 = this button/menu, and when mouse leave it set back to null.
so when form Activated we can call elem1.PerformClick() to click the button/menu item.

C# Prevent Hotkeys while TextBox focus

I have a program containing multiple C# Forms TextBoxes. I've set up Hotkeys for the entire form activating certain functions. My problem is that my Hotkeys have been set onto the Form KeyDown event and they activate if I write something on a TextBox.
Example: One Hotkey might be I. Everytime I write the letter onto a textbox the Hotkey activates.
Alterior solutions and problems: I've thought about putting a Key in front of the Hotkey like CTRL+Hotkey, but these also present problems as CTRL+C is Windows Copy command etc. SHIFT is an UpperKey button.
Question: Can I prevent Hotkeys from activating when I am writing onto a TextBox without having to go through all of them in the form?
EDIT: Some code as requested. The button codes come from a stored XML file or the Hotkeys Form+Class (separate) where I've set up a window for them.
public Hotkeys hotkeysForm = new Hotkeys();
void Form1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
toggleInformation = hotkeysForm.toggleInformation;
if (e.Control && e.KeyCode == toggleInformation)
{
showInfo(true);
}
else if (e.KeyCode == toggleInformation)
{
if (!isInfoActive)
showInfo();
else
hideInfo();
}
}

You can disable hotkeys while texbox is an active control. Add the Enter and Leave events for all textboxes:
private void textBox_Enter(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
KeyPreview = false;
}
private void textBox_Leave(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
KeyPreview = true;
}

You should try this hack, if it could solve your problem,
Create a Extented TextBox and use it in your code. you can handle whether to write the pressed key in textbox or not in hotkeyPressed check.
public class ETextBox : System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
{
protected override void OnKeyDown(System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs e)
{
if (hotKeyPressed) // this is the condition when you don't want to write in text.
{
//Do whatever you want to do in this case.
}
else
{
base.OnKeyDown(e);
}
}
}

Wire _KeyDown event of textbox to a _click event of button control

I have a form with a textbox called 'tbWO.' This field is used to enter a Purchase Order Number. I also have a button control called 'btnFill.' When btnFill is clicked, it fills a dataset with a parameter from 'tbWO.'
I would like to be able to press 'ENTER' in the 'tbWO' textbox (after a Purchase Order # is entered) and have it fire the btnFill_Click event I mentioned above.
I tried with this bit of errant, badly written code - but, it's just not working properly, i.e., at all, or how I think it should work. Anyway, the code is below; in all it's glory.
private void txtWO_KeyUp(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
if (e.KeyCode == Keys.Enter)
{
btnFill.Click += new EventHandler(btnFill_Click);
}
}
I will admit confusion on using 'new EvenHandler( ?? ). Fairly new to C# (as is probably blantantly obvious.)
Any help, links, suggestions - all are greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Jasoomian

you could do this...
private void txtWO_KeyUp(object sender, KeyEventArgs e) {
if (e.KeyCode == Keys.Enter) {
btnFill_Click();
}
}

As a rule, I abhor mapping one event handler to another. Instead, write a separate function, and have both event handlers invoke that separate function. Something like this:
private void txtWO_KeyUp(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
if (e.KeyCode == Keys.Enter)
{
AcceptInput();
}
}
private void btnFill_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
AcceptInput();
}
private void AcceptInput()
{
// Do clever stuff here when the user presses enter
// in the field, or clicks the button.
}
Granted, you may feel differently, but it accomplishes the same thing, but with (IMO) far more readable code. But it's been my experience that criss-crossing event handlers is very sloppy and leads to maintenance headaches out the wazoo.