Client Area

A tab control can optionally contain a client area. The client area is used to display controls associated with a tab.

If the client area is available (see ClientArea property), controls can be added to the tab control at design-time. 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 current tab, the controls are not only hidden, but also disabled (using the Visible and Enabled properties). This is fully automatic and requires no application intervention.

The client area can display a background image (see BackgroundImage) or use the background color defined using the TabClass.ClientAreaColor property if the SftTabsPanel control is used on the tab page.

The tab order of the controls contained within the client area (or current tab page) is defined using TabIndex property.