Question

I am developing a Windows Form Application with several pages. I am using a TabControl to implement this. Instead of using the header to switch between tabs, I want my application to control this e.g. the next tab should open after the user has filled in a text box and clicked the next button.

Answer 1

You can replace tabcontrol with a hand made panel that mimic like you want:

class MultiPagePanel : Panel
{
  private int _currentPageIndex;
  public int CurrentPageIndex
  {
    get { return _currentPageIndex; }
    set
    {
      if (value >= 0 && value < Controls.Count)
      {
        Controls[value].BringToFront();
        _currentPageIndex = value;
      }
    }
  }

  public void AddPage(Control page)
  {
    Controls.Add(page);
    page.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
  }
}

And then add pages and set current visible page:

MultiPagePanel p;

// MyTabPage is a Control derived class that represents one page on your form.
MyTabPage page = new MyTabPage(); 
p.AddPage(page);

p.CurrentPageIndex = 0;