Control.Enter Event

Definition

Occurs when the control is entered.

C#
public event EventHandler Enter;
C#
public event EventHandler? Enter;

Event Type

Examples

The following code example uses the Enter event to change the foreground and background colors of a TextBox under particular conditions.

C#
private void textBox1_Enter(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    // If the TextBox contains text, change its foreground and background colors.
    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(textBox1.Text))
    {
        textBox1.ForeColor = Color.Red;
        textBox1.BackColor = Color.Black;
        // Move the selection pointer to the end of the text of the control.
        textBox1.Select(textBox1.Text.Length, 0);
    }
}

private void textBox1_Leave(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    // Reset the colors and selection of the TextBox after focus is lost.
    textBox1.ForeColor = Color.Black;
    textBox1.BackColor = Color.White;
    textBox1.Select(0,0);
}

Remarks

When you change the focus by using the keyboard (TAB, SHIFT+TAB, and so on), by calling the Select or SelectNextControl methods, or by setting the ContainerControl.ActiveControl property to the current form, focus events occur in the following order:

  1. Enter

  2. GotFocus

  3. Leave

  4. Validating

  5. Validated

  6. LostFocus

When you change the focus by using the mouse or by calling the Focus method, focus events occur in the following order:

  1. Enter

  2. GotFocus

  3. LostFocus

  4. Leave

  5. Validating

  6. Validated

If the CausesValidation property is set to false, the Validating and Validated events are suppressed.

Note

The Enter and Leave events are suppressed by the Form class. The equivalent events in the Form class are the Activated and Deactivate events. The Enter and Leave events are hierarchical and will cascade up and down the parent chain until the appropriate control is reached. For example, assume you have a Form with two GroupBox controls, and each GroupBox control has one TextBox control. When the caret is moved from one TextBox to the other, the Leave event is raised for the TextBox and GroupBox, and the Enter event is raised for the other GroupBox and TextBox.

Caution

Do not attempt to set focus from within the Enter, GotFocus, Leave, LostFocus, Validating, or Validated event handlers. Doing so can cause your application or the operating system to stop responding. For more information, see the WM_KILLFOCUS topic in the "Keyboard Input Reference" section and the "Message Deadlocks" section of the About Messages and Message Queues topic.

For more information about handling events, see Handling and Raising Events.

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