6 Lay Out a UI Using GUIDE
Customize Tabbing Behavior in a GUIDE UI
A UI's tab order is the order in which components of the UI acquire focus when a user
presses the Tab key on the keyboard. Focus is generally denoted by a border or a dotted
border.You can set, independently, the tab order of components that have the same parent. The
figure window, each panel, and each button group has its own tab order. For example,
you can set the tab order of components that have the figure as a parent. You can also set
the tab order of components that have a panel or button group as a parent.If, in tabbing through the components at the figure level, a user tabs to a panel or button
group, then subsequent tabs sequence through the components of the panel or button
group before returning to the level from which the panel or button group was reached.NoteAxes cannot be tabbed. From GUIDE, you cannot include ActiveX components in
the tab order.When you create a UI, GUIDE sets the tab order at each level to be the order in which
you add components to that level in the Layout Editor. This may not be the best order for
the user.NoteTab order also affects the stacking order of components. If components overlap,
those that appear lower in the tabbing order, are drawn on top of those that appear
higher in the order. See “Front-to-Back Positioning” on page 6-72 for more information.The figure in the following UI contains an axes component, a slider, a panel, static text,
and a pop-up menu. Of these, only the slider, the panel, and the pop-up menu at the
figure level can be tabbed. The panel contains three push buttons, which can all be
tabbed.