Prevent Focus on textbox in code

Hi all,

I'm inheriting from a textbox, to amongst many other things alter the enabled behavior for a textbox in my application because "vissually impared" users can't read the grayed out text (i.o.w. sloppy users).

So I want the forecolor to stay black on the gray back color when a textbox is disabled, that's the easy part.
This is the class I'm using, but this way disabled textbox can get the focus and it's possible to select text.
how to avoid the textbox to accept focus?

Code:

---

Public Class TextboxPlus
    Inherits System.Windows.Forms.TextBox

    Private _enabled As Boolean = True

    Private _foreColor As System.Drawing.Color = System.Drawing.SystemColors.ControlText
    Private _backcolor As System.Drawing.Color = System.Drawing.SystemColors.Control
    Private _disabledBackcolor As System.Drawing.Color = System.Drawing.SystemColors.InactiveCaption

    Public Property DisabledBackColor As System.Drawing.Color
        Get
            Return _disabledBackcolor
        End Get
        Set(value As System.Drawing.Color)
            _disabledBackcolor = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Shadows Property BackColor As System.Drawing.Color
        Get
            Return If(_enabled, _backcolor, _disabledBackcolor)
        End Get
        Set(value As System.Drawing.Color)
            _backcolor = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Shadows Property Forecolor As System.Drawing.Color
        Get
            Return _foreColor
        End Get
        Set(value As System.Drawing.Color)
            _foreColor = value
        End Set
    End Property


    Public Shadows Property Enabled As Boolean
        Get
            Return _enabled
        End Get
        Set(value As Boolean)
            _enabled = value
            MyBase.BackColor = If(_enabled, _backcolor, _disabledBackcolor)
        End Set
    End Property

    Private Sub TextboxPlus_KeyDown(sender As Object, e As KeyEventArgs) Handles Me.KeyDown

        If Not _enabled Then
            e.Handled = True
            Exit Sub
        End If

        '---------other code---------------
    End Sub


    Private Sub TextboxPlus_KeyPress(sender As Object, e As KeyPressEventArgs) Handles Me.KeyPress

        If Not _enabled Then
            e.Handled = True
            Exit Sub
        End If

        '---------other code---------------
    End Sub


    '-------- other overrides and extra methods

   
End Class

---

Use a label. If the text can't be changed or selected, then there isn't much use to a textbox... so a label would be appropriate.

-tg

Hi techgnome


some users have the right to edit tekst others don't
sometimes entry's are locked by other users
sometimes the object is locked due to it's status.

and it's normal to show data normally is editable by users in a textbox.
So a label is not an option to me. Just as you'll see many disabled textboxes in applications.

True... and normally that's what I'd argue... but if your'e disabling it, changing the color, and want to prevent focus and selection (not sure why) ... then a label fits all that.

-tg

I want that because it's standard behavior for a textbox.
You can't focus on a disabled textbox. But I want to keep the forecolor black for readabilty reasons.
normal disabled textboxes are hard to read (for some users)

Sorry... I had things mixed up... I was thinking about Readonly, which is what I normally use instead of enabled.

I was going to suggest something along these lines to simply pass focus along, but for some reason I can't get it to work even with a couple of simple text boxes.

Code:

---

    Private Sub TextBox1_GotFocus(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles TextBox1.GotFocus
        Dim ctl As Control
        ctl = CType(sender, Control)
        ctl.SelectNextControl(ActiveControl, True, True, True, True)
    End Sub

---

Got it from here
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...vs.110%29.aspx

but it's not working.

-tg

Was running along the same line. and as Usual things are a bit more complicated then MSDN let's you believe

The problem I'm not able to solve is if a form has zero controls that can recieve focus, in that scenario the usercontrole still will accept focus.
Normally you could concider to ignore that, but a form showing data that's locked by another user is typically a form with all controls set to Enabled = False

Code:

---

Private Sub TextboxPlus_Enter(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Enter
        If Not _enabled Then
            SelectNext(Me)
        End If

    End Sub

    Private Function SelectNext(Ctrl As Control) As Boolean

        Dim container As Control
        Dim result As Boolean

        container = Ctrl.Parent

        If container IsNot Nothing AndAlso Ctrl.Parent.Controls.Count > 1 Then

            'search on parent control
            For Each itm As Control In container.Controls

                If itm IsNot Ctrl Then
                    'don't bother to check already searched part of the tree
                    If itm.CanFocus Then
                        'ther is another control the paren that can focus
                        result = True
                        container.SelectNextControl(Ctrl, True, True, True, True)
                        Exit For
                    ElseIf itm.Controls.Count > 0 Then
                        'this control hold ome other controls... to investigate
                        If SelectNext(itm.Controls(0)) Then
                            result = True
                            Exit For
                        End If
                    End If
                End If
            Next
        End If

        If Not result AndAlso container.Parent IsNot Nothing Then
            result = SelectNext(container)
        End If


        Return result

    End Function

---

Create an invisible label on the form. If there are zero controls that can receive focus select the invisible label.

Hi dbasnett,

Thx for your thoughts

I'm in a user control to be used on many forms.
In essence this control must be usable just like a normal textbox drop on the form and bind to data or whatever you normally do with a textbox