Comparing the Navigation Form to the Tab Control
You may wonder why you might use the new navigation form feature instead of the standard
Tab control, which provides similar functionality. One reason, of course, is that the
Tab control does not provide a mechanism for supporting a hierarchy of options, as does the navigation form. To enable users to select a main category, and then select sub-categories, the navigation form is the only choice.
In addition, the load-time behavior is different for the two types of controls. The navigation form loads each child form or report on demand (that is, as you click the corresponding tab). The
Tab control, however, loads all its child objects as it loads. Not only does this affect performance (when you open the main form, you must wait while the
Tab control loads all its child objects), but it can also make it difficult when handling querying data. Because the navigation form loads each form as you click the corresponding tab, you can be certain that users see the most current data, without a need for you to create specific code that re-queries the form as users click each tab. This also means that the navigation form does not provide a specific event as you click each tab. Instead, place the load-time code in each form or report Load or Open event handler.