Unable to SHIFT-TAB in empty RadWatermarkTextBox

[Marc]

When using a normal TextBox I can TAB over it forwards and backwards (SHIFT-TAB) no matter if it contains text or not. When using RadWatermarkTextBox the SHIFT-TAB does nothing (control after RadWatermarkTextBox stays focused) when there is no text in the RadWatermarkTextBox. This behaviour probably has to do with the SelectionOnFocus-Mode. But no matter what I set here, I cannot TAB backwards in an EMPTY RadWatermarkTextBox.

Is this a bug or a feature? Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Stephan

[Nick]

Hello Stephan,

I have tried to reproduce the problem but I was unable to. I am sending you my test project. I would highly apreciate it if you could send me a sample project demonstrating the problem, so I can look into it. 

Greetings,
Nikolay Vasilev
the Telerik team

[Marc]

Hi Nikolay,

thank you for your answer. Of course you're right. Your test project works indeed. But as soon as you switch to the Metro theme

StyleManager.ApplicationTheme = new MetroTheme();

you will see that you cannot backwards tab anymore. Sorry, that I didn't mention Metro and sorry that I didn't test it with another theme beforehand. Otherwise I would have probably posted it in another forum.

Maybe you can help me anyway.

Thank you,
Stephan

[Nick]

Hi Stephan,

I tried again to reproduce the problem. I have attached the test product that I used.
However even applying the Metro theme did not affect the desired functionality. Again, I would really apreciate it if you could send me a sample of your project, so I can be able look into it and provide some help with the problem. 

All the best,
Nikolay Vasilev
the Telerik team

[Marc]

Hi Nikolay,

as mentioned in your docs you should apply the application theme BEFORE calling InitializeComponent(). If you change your demo like this, you'll see the error.

StyleManager.ApplicationTheme = new MetroTheme();
InitializeComponent();

Cheers,
Stephan

[Marc]

Ok, as far as I can see the problem is that the "WatermarkVisualElement"-contentcontrol in the RadWatermarkTextBox template captures the focus on SHIFT-TAB. If you apply an IsTabStop=false to "WatermarkVisualElement" it works. Could you please confirm this and add it to your next build if that's the correct fix?

And while you're changing the RadWatermarkTextBox-template you could fix another bug: Usually one applies the Telerik styles to the native controls as well to get a consistent look. However, if you to this for scrollviewer like this in app.xaml

<Style TargetType="ScrollViewer" t:StyleManager.BasedOn="Metro"/>

you'll notice, that all RadWatermarkTextBoxes loose their border which looks completely stupid. I think this is because in contrast to the native ScrollViewer style, the Metro style for a ScrollViewer stretches the viewer in both directions which eventually hides the border element of RWTB which is under/before the ScrollViewer (see the RWTB template).

To fix this issue you could apply a Margin=1 to the ScrollViewer element ("ContentElement") in the RWTB template so that the border element will shine through.

I would be very glad if you could apply both fixes in the next build.


Regards,
Stephan

[Marc]

Well, I just noticed that setting Margin=1 on the ScrollViewer increases the height of RWTB by 2 px which is not consistent with other controls like combobox (22px). I'm sure you have a better idea. Maybe setting the border directly on the ScrollViewer instead of forcing it to 0. This would definitely work. The only "downside" of this is that you'll notice 4 little black dots in the RWTB edges on mouse over. But this is only because the "ScrollViewerControlTemplate" style has CornerRadius="2" which is probably a copy and paste legacy from the native template and not consistent with the rest of Metro anyway. So I would suggest setting CornerRadius="0" in "ScrollViewerControlTemplate" and apply the RadWatermarkTextBox border directly to its internal ScrollViewer. This would fix two bugs in one go and would look better and more consistent as well.

Hope to hear from you tomorrow.

Stephan

[Marc]

Ok, as noted above, the RWTB border is hidden by by a stretched ScrollViewer which has its background set to MainBrush. Setting the background to null/transparent would work as well but I don't know if there would be other sideeffects then.

[Marc]

Any news, Nikolay?

[Pana]

Hi,

RadWatermarkTextBox was intended to be used as a PART inside the RadDateTimePicker but over time clients found it and started using it although it is not officially announced and has no demos or help page. I am sure it is quite a useful control so we will do our best to fix the issues you have found.

The updates will not be available in the Q3 release. Simply there is not enough time to fix and more important test them. I believe we will update the RadWatermarkTextBox in one of the first internal build from the upcoming Q.

Thank you very much for the feedback it is greatly appreciated.

Greetings,
Pana
the Telerik team

[Marc]

Ok, thank you for your response.

[Daní]

Does any body know if this issue is solved in current version? I can navigate forward throw RadWatermarkTextBoxes using CTRL key but I cannot navigate backward with SHIGT + TAB keys.

[Georgi]

Hi Daní,

The issue is fixed and it is not present in our latest release ( Q2 2012). As you can see in the attached video navigating backwards with Shift+Tab works just fine.

All the best,
Georgi
the Telerik team

[Daní]

Hi Georgi,

I'm using Q1 2012 SP1 release. And backward navigation is not working in metro theme (I haven't tested any other theme).

So, although the issue is fixed is not present yet in Q2 2012 release, is it?
Thanks

[Georgi]

Hi Daní,

I have just tasted it with Q1 2012 SP1 and you are right that it is not working. What I have meant is that the issue is fixed and the issue is not present in Q2 2012, meaning that the fix is available in Q2 2012 release.

All the best,
Georgi
the Telerik team