Below is an attached property that I’ve used for just this.
First, example usage:
<TextBox Width="100"
Text="{Binding Name, Mode=TwoWay}"
UI:FocusAdvancement.AdvancesByEnterKey="True" />
(UI is the namespace alias for where I’ve defined the following.)
The attached property:
public static class FocusAdvancement
{
public static bool GetAdvancesByEnterKey(DependencyObject obj)
{
return (bool)obj.GetValue(AdvancesByEnterKeyProperty);
}
public static void SetAdvancesByEnterKey(DependencyObject obj, bool value)
{
obj.SetValue(AdvancesByEnterKeyProperty, value);
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty AdvancesByEnterKeyProperty =
DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("AdvancesByEnterKey", typeof(bool), typeof(FocusAdvancement),
new UIPropertyMetadata(OnAdvancesByEnterKeyPropertyChanged));
static void OnAdvancesByEnterKeyPropertyChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
var element = d as UIElement;
if(element == null) return;
if ((bool)e.NewValue) element.KeyDown += Keydown;
else element.KeyDown -= Keydown;
}
static void Keydown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
if(!e.Key.Equals(Key.Enter)) return;
var element = sender as UIElement;
if(element != null) element.MoveFocus(new TraversalRequest(FocusNavigationDirection.Next));
}
}
You also said “instead of tab,” so I’m wondering if you want to suppress the ability to use tab in the usual way. I’d advise against it, as it is a common, well known paradigm, but if that is the case, you can add a PreviewKeyDown
handler in the attached property, check for the tab key, and set Handled = true
for the event args.