Question

I have a WPF window with a text box. I’d like to detect when a user presses either the Enter key or Tab key. When either of these keys are pressed, I’d like to bind to an action in our view model. Could someone show me how this can be done?

Answer 1

Handle the KeyDown event.

<TextBox KeyDown="TextBox_KeyDown"/>

private void TextBox_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
    switch (e.Key)
    {
        case Key.Enter:
            vw.Method1();
            break;
        case Key.Tab:
            vw.Method2();
            break;
        default:
    }
}

Or use commands:

public static class Commands
{
    public static RoutedCommand Command1 = new RoutedCommand();
    public static RoutedCommand Command2 = new RoutedCommand();
}

 <TextBox>
     <TextBox.CommandBindings>
         <CommandBinding Command="{x:Static local:Commands.Command1}"
                         Executed="Command1_Executed" CanExecute="Command1_CanExecute"/>
         <CommandBinding Command="{x:Static local:Commands.Command2}"
                         Executed="Command2_Executed" CanExecute="Command2_CanExecute"/>
     </TextBox.CommandBindings>
     <TextBox.InputBindings>
         <KeyBinding Key="Enter" Command="{x:Static local:Commands.Command1}"/>
         <KeyBinding Key="Tab" Command="{x:Static local:Commands.Command2}"/>
     </TextBox.InputBindings>
 </TextBox>

If you have not used commands before make sure to read this overview.