Control.TabIndex Property

Definition

Gets or sets the tab order of the control within its container.

C#
public int TabIndex { get; set; }

Property Value

The index value of the control within the set of controls within its container. The controls in the container are included in the tab order.

Examples

The following code example adds a Button to a form and sets some of its common properties. The example anchors the button to the bottom-right corner of the form so it keeps its relative position as the form is resized. Next it sets the BackgroundImage and resizes the button to the same size as the Image. The example then sets the TabStop to true and sets the TabIndex property. Lastly, it adds an event handler to handle the Click event of the button. This example requires that you have an ImageList named imageList1.

C#
// Add a button to a form and set some of its common properties.
private void AddMyButton()
{
   // Create a button and add it to the form.
   Button button1 = new Button();

   // Anchor the button to the bottom right corner of the form
   button1.Anchor = (AnchorStyles.Bottom | AnchorStyles.Right);

   // Assign a background image.
   button1.BackgroundImage = imageList1.Images[0];

   // Specify the layout style of the background image. Tile is the default.
   button1.BackgroundImageLayout = ImageLayout.Center;
   
   // Make the button the same size as the image.
   button1.Size = button1.BackgroundImage.Size;

   // Set the button's TabIndex and TabStop properties.
   button1.TabIndex = 1;
   button1.TabStop = true;

   // Add a delegate to handle the Click event.
   button1.Click += new System.EventHandler(this.button1_Click);

   // Add the button to the form.
   this.Controls.Add(button1);
}

Remarks

A tab index can consist of any valid integer greater than or equal to zero, lower numbers being earlier in the tab order. If more than one control on the same parent control has the same tab index, the z-order of the controls determines the order to cycle through the controls.

For a control to be included in the tab order, its TabStop property must be set to true.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
Windows Desktop 3.0, 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

See also