*Default to Next Button:
    Is there a good way to have the asp:wizard navigation control default to
the next button instead of the previous button?  I need my wizard to be
navigatable without a mouse. 

I have set the tab index but unfortunetly the previous button will still
appear highlighted and accept an ENTER key.  I don’t know what is causing
this...The highlight appears as a solid black border..different than the
focus that has a dotted border. It seems to happen after the content portion
of the wizard/templateWizard step has been touched. 

I have tried using javascript to forward the focus from the Previous button
to the Next button. This is visible to the user and can effect how other
controls work.  (If you have a radio button list and make it forward focus to
the NextButton after it’s been selected the user can no longer use the
keyboard to adjust their selection in the radiobuttonlist.)

*Accessing Buttons Programmatically:
    Can you only access navigation buttons in a TemplatedWizardStep?  The
only way I have been able to access a navigational button programmatically is
with :
myTemplatedWizardStep.CustomNavigationTemplateContainer.FindControl("StepNextButton")
The custom NavigationTemplateContainer only exists for Templated steps not
wizard steps.  I am surprised it isn’t possible to access buttons in
navigation section of a wizardStep.  I have tried accessing navigation
buttons in a wizardStep with and without a StepNavigationTemplate.  (Via
customizing as wizardStep navigation template.)

*Visible AccessKeys in a wizard step:
To this same end the navigation buttons have to support Access Keys.  I
tried using an html button so that the hot keys are visible to the user.
(asp:button does not accept markup so I am unable to under line the hotkey) 
Unfortunetly the html button doesn’t have a commandName property.  I don’t
believe this is directly compatible with the recommended NextButtonClick
event handler

Protected Sub OnNext(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.Web.UI.WebControls.WizardNavigationEventArgs) Handles
Wizard1.NextButtonClick

Select Case e.NextStepIndex
                Case 0                   

                Case 1
                    ‘Prep things for wizardStepIndex 1 display.
                Case 2

End sub

I tried to shoehorn my new html button into the recommend flow control Like
this:

Sub myHtmlNextButton_OnClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
  Dim WizEvent As New
System.Web.UI.WebControls.WizardNavigationEventArgs(Me.Wizard1.ActiveStepIndex(), Me.Wizard1.ActiveStepIndex() + 1)
        OnNext(Wizard1, WizEvent)

‘ The below code had to added otherwise the page would not change (Yes; the
page was valid and the e.cancel=false)

If (Me.Page.IsValid And WizEvent.Cancel = False) Then
            Wizard1.MoveTo(Wizard1.WizardSteps(WizEvent.NextStepIndex))
        Else

        End If
End Sub

I had to use the Wizard.MoveTo method to increment the page. This isn’t good
because my wizard has some non-linear navigation.  (Some selection make
wizard steps not applicable) Sometimes the NextStep handler will need to
forward the user to a different step using Wizard.MoveTo.  With the
myHtmlNextButton_OnClick as it is now this would undo the desired navigation.
All I wanted to do was make HotKeys visible to the user.  Is there a better
way to do this or a better way to integrate the use of htmlButtons with the
wizard control?



In summary:

•    What is the best way to make the wizard control default to the Next button
(Its normal behavior is default to the previous step)?

•    Is it possible to access navigation buttons in code without having to use
TemplatedWizardSteps? 

•    What is the best way to make the Access keys on a wizard navigation button
visible to the user and not give up the convienence of the
wizard.NextButtonClick of the wizard control?

I have read every article I can find on this and none of them address these
questions.

Any examples, guidance, or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for posting!

For the current issues, I have performed some tests.

button (Its normal behavior is default to the previous step)?"
I have a workaround for this but only working with the ContentTemplate
control. We can define the DefaultButton for the current wizard control
likes below:
<asp:TemplatedWizardStep ID="TemplatedWizardStep1" Title="Step 1"
runat="server" StepType="Step">
<ContentTemplate>
<asp:Panel ID="mypanel" runat="server" DefaultButton="Button1">
<asp:TextBox ID="mytextbox" runat="server" />
<asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="Server" Text="My Button"
CommandName="MoveNext"/>
</asp:Panel>
</ContentTemplate>
<CustomNavigationTemplate>
</CustomNavigationTemplate>
</asp:TemplatedWizardStep>

When you use the TemplatedWizardStep, the button is defined explicitly, but
it is generated dynamically in the Wizard. So, this wasn't to access the
button programmatically.

button visible to the user and not give up the convienence of the
wizard.NextButtonClick of the wizard control?"
I can't understand the issue clearly. Could please give me some detail
steps for this? Anyway, the html button is not working fine under this
situation.

I appreciate your understanding!

Regards,

Yuan Ren [MSFT]
Microsoft Online Support

Yuan thanks for your quick reply!

1)
Unfortunately, all of my navigation controls are in the Navigation Template
(Not the content template.) 

Also the ASP:Panel.DefaultButton does not accept an htmlButton (<Button>)
(The Default button has to be an IButtonControl) And I believe I will need to
use an HtmlButton so that I can have a button that supports markup to display
my accessKeys.

I tried to adapt your suggestion (Putting a panel surrounding navigational
buttons in the navigation template) with <asp:button>s and it compiled but
appeared to have no effect.  I also tried adjusting the tabIndex thinking it
might have a better effect within a panel but that didn’t seem to have an
effect.  I also attempted to put the panel around the whole wizard but got
the same error that the default button had to be and IButtonControl.

I have noticed that there are quite a few unanswered posts about setting a
default button for a wizard control. 

2)
I don’t understand your response to this.  I can access the navigation
buttons programmatically if they are in a templatedWizardStep.  I was asking
if I really need to use a templatedWizardStep every time I need to access a
navigation button programmatically.   (Sometimes I need to add javascript, a
dynamic tooltip, or a dynamic button text.)

If I don’t need to use a templatedWizardStep how can I do this?
I would like to be able to
StepNextButton.Text=”SomePageDependentNameHere”
   Or
StepNextButton.Attributes("onClick") = "myJavaScriptFunctionHere();"

(Note:  Here I need to make changes to the button behavior in the code
behind.  So I could have NextStepButton text or javascript change when I’m on
different steps in my wizard.  It might also be a good place to change the
validation group that button checks.)

3)
button visible to the user and not give up the convenience of the
wizard.NextButtonClick of the wizard control?"
ex:
I want to have a NextStepButton with the text property set to <u>N</u>ext. 
I would like to configure this button to raise an event that can be handled
with:

Protected Sub OnNext(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.Web.UI.WebControls.WizardNavigationEventArgs) Handles
Wizard1.NextButtonClick
End sub

This would give my code behind direct access to the
WizardNavigationEventArgs.  And I hope this would allow my pages to increment
correctly without having to call the MoveTo function.

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for your reply!

For the first issue, the DefaultButton is only work for the content
template. I suggest you send a feedback to the Microsoft using links below:
https://support.microsoft.com/common/survey.aspx?scid=sw;en;1214&showpage=1&
WS=mscom&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.microsoft.com%2f

For the second issue, we often add the attributes for the web control which
likes the sample you supplied:
StepNextButton.Attributes("onClick") = "myJavaScriptFunctionHere();"

For the third issue, you can customize the behavior of the Wizard control
by using custom code and events. For example, you can intercept the
NextButtonClick event, which is raised when the user clicks the Next button
and captures the data of the current step. The WizardNavigationEventArgs
parameter passed to this event includes the CurrentStepIndex and
NextStepIndex properties, enabling you to customize the behavior of the
control based on the current and next steps, or to cancel the navigation
when the Next button is clicked. Similarly, you can customize the behavior
of the Previous and Finish buttons by using the PreviousButtonClick and
FinishButtonClick events. Or you can perform cleanup when the Cancel button
is clicked by using the CancelButtonClick event.

I hope the information will be helpful!

Regards,

Yuan Ren [MSFT]
Microsoft Online Support

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