How to get the currently focused control?

Question

1.50/5 (2 votes)

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If I call other forms then the current form control loses focus.

So I'll have to give the focus back to the original control.

But I don't know the previously focused control.

How to get the currently focused control?

Posted 9-Jan-11 4:29am

rus204

Updated 9-Jan-11 8:23am

Dalek Dave

v2

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Comments

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 9-Jan-11 13:31pm

Forms, WPF, ASP.NET?!

Dalek Dave 9-Jan-11 14:23pm

Edited for Grammar.

5 solutions

Solution 4

if you use the validation also then if u like the focus to control use the below code.

document.GetElementById("txt1").focus();

Posted 9-Jan-11 22:24pm

velmahesh

Solution 5

// 1) Save the current index control
foreach (Control obj in this.Controls)
{
    int StoredIndex = 0;
    if (obj.Focused)
    {
        StoredIndex = this.Controls.Indexof(obj);
        break;
    }
}
//
// 2) Instance the other form here
// OtherForm.ShowDialog()

// 3) Restore the control focused
this.Controls[StoredIndex].Focus();
 
 I hope help you
 Mauricio de Sousa Coelho
 Software Engineer

Posted 14-Nov-13 14:52pm

Mauricio Coelho

Comments

Osman Bur 14-Jan-20 9:51am

public static Control FindFocusedControl(Control control)
{
ContainerControl container = control as ContainerControl;
while (container != null)
{
control = container.ActiveControl;
container = control as ContainerControl;
}
return control;
}
//Burada da hangi kontrol Focus edilmiş ise onu verir.
var focused = FindFocusedControl(this);

Aleshin Slawa 3-Mar-23 4:00am

Mauricio Coelho, great method, thank you very much!

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DaveyM69 · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-09T05:08:00

Solution 2

Every ContainerControl (including Form) has an ActiveControl property. You can use this to get the currently active control.

You may have to hook into either the Leave or LostFocus events of any controls you're interested in and save the last active control in a local variable to be able to revert to the previous control.

Posted 9-Jan-11 5:08am

DaveyM69

Comments

Roger Wright 9-Jan-11 12:03pm

Good call!

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 9-Jan-11 13:32pm

All correct if OP needs Forms. How do you know.

DaveyM69 9-Jan-11 13:56pm

From the original question:
"If i call other forms then current form control loses focus."
Most likely Forms :-)

Dalek Dave 9-Jan-11 14:24pm

Good Answer.

Anupama Roy · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-09T06:25:00

Solution 3

Make use of the tag property(All control's have this property including the form) .You can store the currently focused controls name in the Tag property.Something like this.

C#

btnCall.Tag = txtNotes;

When you are back to the form,check for tag property which you have set & bring back the focus on that control.

Posted 9-Jan-11 6:25am

Anupama Roy

Comments

Dalek Dave 9-Jan-11 14:24pm

Good Call.

Sandeep Mewara 10-Jan-11 0:43am

Good Answer.

Anupama Roy 10-Jan-11 13:04pm

Thanks Dalek & Sandeep!

Roger Wright · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-09T04:35:00

Solution 1

The .Net Framework doesn't appear to have any function to do this, but I found this article[^] which provides code to implement a Win32 API function to do so. Interesting reading...

Posted 9-Jan-11 4:35am

Roger Wright

Comments

DaveyM69 9-Jan-11 11:03am

Nice find Roger - could be useful, for the OPs problem ContainerControl.ActiveControl will get him what he needs.

Dalek Dave 9-Jan-11 14:24pm

Excellent Link.