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.

If the Cancel property of the CancelEventArgs is set to true in the Validating event delegate, all events that would usually occur after the Validating event are suppressed.

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.

Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows CE Platform Note: The Validating event fires after LostFocus in all code sequences on the .NET Compact Framework, except where it is not possible to restore focus later, such as when closing the form.

The following code example uses the derived class TextBox and validates an e-mail address that the user enters. If the e-mail address is not in the standard format (containing "@" and "."), the validation fails, an ErrorProvider icon is displayed, and the event is canceled. This example requires that a TextBox and ErrorProvider control have been created on a form.

   Private Function ValidEmailAddress(ByVal emailAddress As String, ByRef errorMessage As String) As Boolean
      ' Confirm there is text in the control.
      If textBox1.Text.Length = 0 Then
         errorMessage = "E-mail address is required."
         Return False

      End If

      ' Confirm that there is an "@" and a "." in the e-mail address, and in the correct order.
      If emailAddress.IndexOf("@") > -1 Then
         If (emailAddress.IndexOf(".", emailAddress.IndexOf("@")) > emailAddress.IndexOf("@")) Then
            errorMessage = ""
            Return True
         End If
      End If

      errorMessage = "E-mail address must be valid e-mail address format." + ControlChars.Cr + _
        "For example 'someone@example.com' "
      Return False
End Function

   Private Sub textBox1_Validating(ByVal sender As Object, _
   ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs) Handles textBox1.Validating

      Dim errorMsg As String
      If Not ValidEmailAddress(textBox1.Text, errorMsg) Then
         ' Cancel the event and select the text to be corrected by the user.
         e.Cancel = True
         textBox1.Select(0, textBox1.Text.Length)

         ' Set the ErrorProvider error with the text to display. 
         Me.errorProvider1.SetError(textBox1, errorMsg)
      End If
   End Sub


   Private Sub textBox1_Validated(ByVal sender As Object, _
   ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles textBox1.Validated
      ' If all conditions have been met, clear the error provider of errors.
      errorProvider1.SetError(textBox1, "")
   End Sub

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC

.NET Framework

.NET Compact Framework

Reference