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Windows Forms FAQ resources

2. Windows Forms Controls

2.2 How do I get hold of the currently focused Control?


The .Net framework libraries does not provide you an API to query for the focused Control. You have to invoke a windows API to do so:


[C#]
public class MyForm : Form
{
          [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet=CharSet.Auto, CallingConvention=CallingConvention.Winapi)]
          internal static extern IntPtr GetFocus();

          private Control GetFocusedControl()
          {
               Control focusedControl = null;
               // To get hold of the focused control:
               IntPtr focusedHandle = GetFocus();
               if(focusedHandle != IntPtr.Zero)
                    // Note that if the focused Control is not a .Net control, then this will return null.
                    focusedControl = Control.FromHandle(focusedHandle);
               return focusedControl;
          }
}



[VB.Net]
Public Class Form1

' Declare the GetFocused method here:
_
Public Shared Function GetFocus() As IntPtr
End Function


Private Function GetFocusedControl() As Control
Dim focusedControl As Control = Nothing
' To get hold of the focused control:
Dim focusedHandle As IntPtr = GetFocus()
If IntPtr.Zero.Equals(focusedHandle) Then
' Note that if the focused Control is not a .Net control, then this will return null.
focusedControl = Control.FromHandle(focusedHandle)
End If
Return focusedControl
End Function

End Class