Tab order

that's lot of controls!

you normally click the first control, the the second one, then the 3rd, .... that will set the tab order but seeing the number you have, it will be a pane!

I use the 3rd party tool named mz-tools (http://mztools.com/). it has a nice/better tab order utility

A pain.  I agree!  What are those numbers?  63.1, 63.1.1.193, etc?

I installed it.  Just briefly - how do I use once installed?

I see this:

you may open the .rc file with a text editor (choose open with... in visual studio).

then search your form and bring all the controls you see into the right order. the tab order only is determined by the order the controls are placed in the .rc file.

Sara

there is a button named Automatic. if you click on it, it will do its best to reorder your controls.
and you can always use the 2 arrows to modify the ordering

but I don't understand the numbers.  What so large?  Why decimal places?  I was expected to just see the tabindex property values.

this is the winforms designer!

the . represents level. i see that you have a panel containing tabs containing group containing panels ...

correct.  I don't see how to change the order using MZTools?  All it allows me to do is navigate the list???

as I wrote before, the "automatic" button at the top will try to reorder all your controls based on the container object and their location. Once you have done this, if any are misplaced, you can use the 2 arrows (on the left of the automatic button) to fine-tune the ordering

Yes, I did automatic, and that did a good job. However, if I look at the TabIndex property, they are all set to 1.  How does this thing work?   Also, they are two textboxes  I want to make last in the tab order.   I cant move it by itself I suppose, because it's on a panel.  I can move it's parent panel, but only so far.  Seems like I can only move it to the "end" of it's parent panel.  Does that make sense?  If I want to move it to the very end of the tab order for the form, I need to move it off it's panel, I suppose.

>>if I look at the TabIndex property, they are all set to 1.  

If you run the application and tab through the control, are they in the correct order?

>>Also, they are two textboxes  I want to make last in the tab order.  

Click on one of the textbox and use the arrow to move it down. Repeat for the second control.

>>I cant move it by itself I suppose, because it's on a panel.  

You won't be able to move them outside the scope of the panel for sure.

yes, the Auto button did a good job.   At runtime, they are in the correct order.  But I don't understand how/why?   How can that be when all the TabIndex properties are set to 1?

And correct.  I can't more outside the panel.   But I thought the tab order on a windows form could be set independently of the parent container?

well, it's works just fine.  I just don't get how, when all the TabIndex properties are set to 1.

Thanks!

thanks.