How to get the form active control?

Question

Is there a way to get the form active control?

I was checking in the help for the "Support.GetActiveControl" method but it isn't supported :) for the Compact Framework.

I suppose that I can track the focus by adding a custom GotFocus event handler to all the form controls, but I'm looking for a more generic way that can be implemented for any form.

possible duplicate of [Know who got the focus in a Lost Focus event](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2899338/know-who-got-the-focus-in-a-lost-focus-event) — ctacke, May 28 '10 at 14:47

score 8 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 01 '12 at 03:32

8

This example displays the name of the currently selected Windows Forms control in a Label control.

private void DisplayNameOfActiveControl()
{
    label1.Text = this.ActiveControl.Name;
}

answered Dec 01 '12 at 03:32

Sherif Hassaneen

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-1: As per the question `ActiveControl` does not exist in Compact Framework. – Daniel Hilgarth Aug 19 '13 at 15:57
Furthermore, if you have, for example, a textbox in a splitcontainer, it will return splitcontainer rather than textbox – Ben Philipp May 26 '16 at 17:18

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 26 '11 at 10:46

2

You can iterate over all the controls in the form and check which one is focused.

Example: Getting ActiveControl in Compact Framework

edited Aug 26 '11 at 10:46

Zeemee

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answered May 28 '10 at 13:36

Itay Karo

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How to get the form active control?

2 Answers2