When you change the focus by using the keyboard (TAB, SHIFT+TAB, and so on), by calling the Select or SelectNextControl methods, or by setting the ContainerControl..::.ActiveControl property to the current form, focus events occur in the following order:

1. Enter

2. GotFocus

3. Leave

4. Validating

5. Validated

6. LostFocus

When you change the focus by using the mouse or by calling the Focus method, focus events occur in the following order:

1. Enter

2. GotFocus

3. LostFocus

4. Leave

5. Validating

6. Validated

If the CausesValidation property is set to false, the Validating and Validated events are suppressed.

Note   The GotFocus and LostFocus events are low-level focus events that are tied to the WM_KILLFOCUS and WM_SETFOCUS Windows messages. Typically, the GotFocus and LostFocus events are only used when updating UICues or when writing custom controls. Instead the Enter and Leave events should be used for all controls except the Form class, which uses the Activated and Deactivate events. For more information about the GotFocus and LostFocus events, see the WM_SETFOCUS and WM_KILLFOCUS topics in the "Keyboard Input Reference" section in the MSDN library at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library.

Caution

Do not attempt to set focus from within the Enter, GotFocus, Leave, LostFocus, Validating, or Validated event handlers. Doing so can cause your application or the operating system to stop responding. For more information, see the WM_KILLFOCUS topic in the "Keyboard Input Reference" section, and the "Message Deadlocks" section of the "About Messages and Message Queues" topic in the MSDN library at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library.

For more information about handling events, see Consuming Events.

The following code example demonstrates the use of this member. In the example, an event handler reports on the occurrence of the GotFocus event. This report helps you to learn when the event occurs and can assist you in debugging.

To run the example code, paste it into a project that contains an instance of a type that inherits from Control, such as a Button or ComboBox. Then name the instance Control1 and ensure that the event handler is associated with the GotFocus event.

Private Sub Control1_GotFocus(sender as Object, e as EventArgs) _ 
     Handles Control1.GotFocus

Console.WriteLine("You are in the Control.GotFocus event.")

End Sub

private void Control1_GotFocus(Object sender, EventArgs e) {

   MessageBox.Show("You are in the Control.GotFocus event.");

}

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

Reference