Tabs and Associated Controls
SftTabs/OCX offers two distinct methods to manage controls associated with a tab:
Tab Controls With Client Area
Based on the presence of a , controls can be added to the tab's at design-time. The is used to display controls associated with each tab. During design-time and at run-time, switching between tabs exposes the associated controls. As the user switches between tabs, the controls associated with each tab are shown or hidden. As controls are hidden because their associated tab is not the , the controls are not only hidden, but also disabled (using Visual Basic's Enabled property). This is fully automatic and requires no application intervention.
The PropSheet sample shows how a tab control is used to contain associated controls.
The application receives a Switching and Switched event as the currently changes. The Switching event allows an application to prevent the change to the new .
The tab order of the controls contained within the (or page) is defined using Visual Basic's TabIndex property.
Tab Controls Without Client Area
If a is not present, SftTabs/OCX does not maintain associated controls. The tab control can then be used (under application control) to cause some sort of data switching or to activate other objects, such as forms or controls.
The included MDITab sample demonstrates how a tab control can be used to switch between MDI child windows of an MDI application.
The Tab.Tag1 (and Tab.Tag2) property is particularly useful in this context, as it allows an application to store a reference to an object, usually a form, with each tab. This provides easy access to and management of objects that are controlled by the application in response to events generated by the tab control.
The application receives a Switching and Switched event as the currently changes. The Switching event allows an application to prevent the change to the new .
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