WPF how to prevent focus wrap on several buttons? - wpf

Question

I am curious if anyone knows if it is possible to prevent "focus wrap" on a series of buttons. If I merely add a few buttons to a grid within WPF like so:
<Window x:Class="ButtonList_Test.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:ButtonList_Test"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Title="MainWindow" Height="450" Width="800">
<StackPanel x:Name="myStackPanel" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center">
<Grid x:Name="myGrid">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*"></RowDefinition>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Button Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0">A</Button>
<Button Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="0">B</Button>
<Button Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="0">C</Button>
<Button Grid.Column="3" Grid.Row="0">D</Button>
<Button Grid.Column="4" Grid.Row="0">E</Button>
</Grid>
</StackPanel>
</Window>
And run the program, it will produce 5 small buttons in a nice single row.
If I click on the button in the middle (C), and then start to use any of the keyboard arrow keys, you will notice that the focus will begin to traverse these buttons in the direction of the key you are pressing.
If the dotted line reaches the "E" button, and I press one more time to the right, it will wrap back to the "A" button.
Is there any way to prevent this functionality?
Thank you in advance for any insight you may be willing to provide,

Answer 1

You can try Focusable="False". As far as I know, traverse controls with arrow keys or Tab keys can be happened by group of Focusable="True" controls only.
For example, if you try
<Button Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0">A</Button>
<Button Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="0">B</Button>
<Button Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="0" Focusable="False">C</Button>
<Button Grid.Column="3" Grid.Row="0">D</Button>
<Button Grid.Column="4" Grid.Row="0">E</Button>
and click B then press right key, D will be focused. So if you want to prevent every traverse, you can set Focusable="False" to every Buttons.

Answer 2

Set the IsTabStop property of all buttons to false or define an implicit Style that sets this property for all buttons:
<StackPanel x:Name="myStackPanel" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center">
<Grid x:Name="myGrid">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*"></RowDefinition>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.Resources>
<Style TargetType="Button">
<Setter Property="IsTabStop" Value="False" />
</Style>
</Grid.Resources>
<Button Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0">A</Button>
<Button Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="0">B</Button>
<Button Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="0">C</Button>
<Button Grid.Column="3" Grid.Row="0">D</Button>
<Button Grid.Column="4" Grid.Row="0">E</Button>
</Grid>
</StackPanel>