After building my scene hierarchy with `override v...

# tornadofx

[matthjes]

After building my scene hierarchy with override val root = borderpane { ... } , how can I set the focus to a specific widget inside this hierarchy? Currently I have a TreeView and a TextArea somewhere nested inside root and when the application starts the TreeView always has the focus. However, I'd like to have the TextArea having the focus.

[Arthur]

Usually it should work if you just call the requestFocus() method on the Node, in this case your TextArea
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/javafx/api/javafx/scene/Node.html#requestFocus--

[matthjes]

I've already tried this:

override val root = borderpane {
   ...
   treeview<String>(null) {
      ...
   }
                                        
   textarea {
      requestFocus()
      ...
   }
}

But still the focus is captured by the TreeView.

[Arthur]

hmm that's weird ... probably it could just make sense to call the requestFocus() function after the Scene is visible.

[Arthur]

Using this code it gets the focus when the View is docked, which is probably what you want.

class MyView : View() {

    private val myTextArea = TextArea()

    override val root = borderpane {
        center = treeview<String> {

        }
        left = myTextArea
    }

    override fun onDock() {
        super.onDock()
        myTextArea.requestFocus()
    }
}

[matthjes]

👍 That did the trick, thank you!

[Arthur]

Glad it worked!