Tab Control Overview
- 2 minutes to read
The tab control contains a set of tabs and a client area. The client area of the control can contain any number of other controls. Note that unlike the page control, the tab control’s client area is a single panel. Thus, you cannot specify different page contents for different tabs (unless you change the page content dynamically in code).
The tab control is most likely to be used if you want the same set of controls to be displayed within its page. The content of controls can be dynamically changed by handling the OnChange event. Thus, one of the common applications of the tab control is to display dataset records. Tabs display values of the dataset field that can identify a record. Controls within the page display values of other fields from the selected record. Please refer to the Using the Tab Control to Display Dataset Records topic for an example of using the tab control in this manner. The image below displays the tab control after completing the steps listed in that topic.
You can also create more complex structures using the tab control. See the image below for an example of using the tab control within other tab controls.
Tab and page controls give you approximately the same feature set. With these controls you can:
display tabs on each side of the control;
arrange tabs across several rows;
change tab orientation with respect to the control;
use the Go Dialog to navigate through tabs;
use the Close Button to close the currently selected tab and remove it from the tabs displayed within the tab control;
display images within tabs;
use 9 predefined painting styles and XP painting style;
custom paint tabs;
and much more.