Member Avatar for serkan sendur

i have a textbox with tab index set to 0, i want to keep the tab index the same but i dont want it to got focus when the windows form loads. how to do that?

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Dani AI

Generated

As pointed out, forcing focus/selection during load is a common quick fix and, as confirmed, selecting the caret position solved the immediate problem. A bit more context and a couple more robust options are useful when that simple call misbehaves (it sometimes does when WinForms finishes layout/activation after Load).

WinForms chooses the initial active control by TabIndex among focusable controls, and focus changes you make in Form.Load can be overwritten by the framework. Two reliable patterns to avoid the textbox being focused on startup while keeping its TabIndex are:

  • Set the initial active control after the form is shown (handle Form.Shown or override OnShown) so the change happens after activation.
  • Defer the focus change using BeginInvoke from Load so it runs after the current layout/activation work finishes.

Example patterns:

private void Form1_Shown(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    this.ActiveControl = someOtherControl; // choose a control that can receive focus
}
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    this.BeginInvoke((Action)(() => someOtherControl.Focus()));
}

Notes and cautions: the target control must be focusable (a Label or disabled control won’t work). If the goal is to skip the textbox in tab order, consider toggling its TabStop, but that changes runtime tab behavior; if you only want to avoid the initial focus, prefer Shown/BeginInvoke. For official behavior and APIs see the Microsoft docs on Control.Focus, ContainerControl.ActiveControl, Form.Shown and Control.BeginInvoke.

Member Avatar for mypicturefaded

Does textbox1.Focus(); not work in the form_load method?

Member Avatar for mypicturefaded

Oooppss its textbox1.Select(); in the Form_Load method.

commented: good job +5
Member Avatar for serkan sendur

let me try, if it works, i will kiss you on the forehead.

Member Avatar for serkan sendur

it worked :)

smartAppendOnlyTextBox1.Select(smartAppendOnlyTextBox1.Text.Length,0);

thank you so much

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