Question

I’m just looking to see if the functionality I would like to add to the DateTimePicker control is actually possible.

What I would like to do is upon the user tabbing to the DateTimePicker having the date picker drop down appear so they can start entering the date rather than having to click the arrow to make the date picker appear.

I haven’t seen anything on this from MSDN but I may have missed it, is this possible?

Answer 1

From Programmatically open the calendar of the DateTimePicker control, you can try this:

Private Sub DateTimePicker1_Enter(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) _
                                  Handles DateTimePicker1.Enter
  SendKeys.Send("%{DOWN}")
End Sub

To tab through the drop down, try something like this:

Private Sub DateTimePicker1_KeyDown(ByVal sender As Object, _
                                    ByVal e As KeyEventArgs) _
                                    Handles DateTimePicker1.KeyDown
  If e.KeyCode = Keys.Tab Then
    SendKeys.Send("%{F4}")
    Me.SelectNextControl(DateTimePicker1, True, True, True, True)        
  End If
End Sub