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TabView

UnityEngine.UIElements.TabView
Read time 5 minutesLast updated a month ago
You can group multiple Tab elements within a TabView element to create a tab-based navigation system.

Create a TabView

You can create a TabView with UI Builder, UXML, or C#.
To create a TabView with C#, create a new instance of the TabView object and then add Tab elements to it. For example:
var tabView = new TabView("Title text");var tab1 = new Tab("Tab 1");var tab2 = new Tab("Tab 2");var tab3 = new Tab("Tab 3");tabView.Add(tab1);tabView.Add(tab2);tabView.Add(tab3);

Make tabs reorderable

To make tabs reorderable with a TabView, set the 
reorderable
 property to 
true
.
To persist the tab order for a TabView in the Editor UI, assign a unique 
view-data-key
 to both the TabView and its contained Tab elements. The 
view-data-key
stores the state of the tabs. If you left the 
view-data-key
empty, the tab state doesn't persist when the document is reloaded. for more information, refer to View data persistence.

Examples

The following UXML example creates a TabView with Tabs:
<UXML xmlns="UnityEngine.UIElements" xmlns:uie="UnityEditor.UIElements">    <TabView>       <Tab label="UXML Tab A">           <Label text="UXML tab: This is some content for the first Tab." />       </Tab>       <Tab label="UXML Tab B">           <Label text="UXML tab: This is some content for the second Tab." />       </Tab>    </TabView></UXML>
The following USS example styles the TabView and its Tabs:
.some-styled-class .unity-tab__header {    -unity-font-style: bold-and-italic;}.some-styled-class .unity-tab__header:checked > .unity-tab__header-underline {    background-color: #46607C;}.some-styled-class .unity-tab__content-container {    padding: 16px;}
The following C# example illustrates some of the customizable functionalities of the TabView and its Tabs:
// Create a TabView with Tabs that only contains a label.            var csharpTabViewWithLabels = new TabView() { style = { marginTop = 15 } }; // marginTop not required, only for demonstration purposes.            var tabOne = new Tab("One");            tabOne.Add(new Label("Tab with labels only: This is some content for the first Tab.") { style = { marginTop = 10 } });            csharpTabViewWithLabels.Add(tabOne);            var tabTwo = new Tab("Two");            tabTwo.Add(new Label("Tab with labels only: This is some content for the second Tab.") { style = { marginTop = 10 } });            csharpTabViewWithLabels.Add(tabTwo);            container.Add(csharpTabViewWithLabels);            // Create a TabView with Tabs that only contains an icon.            var csharpTabViewWithIcons = new TabView() { style = { marginTop = 15 } }; // marginTop not required, only for demonstration purposes.            var tabIconConnect = new Tab(EditorGUIUtility.FindTexture("CloudConnect"));            tabIconConnect.Add(new Label("Tab with icons only: This is some content for the first Tab.") { style = { marginTop = 10 } });            csharpTabViewWithIcons.Add(tabIconConnect);            var tabIconStore = new Tab(EditorGUIUtility.FindTexture("Asset Store"));            tabIconStore.Add(new Label("Tab with icons only: This is some content for the second Tab.") { style = { marginTop = 10 } });            csharpTabViewWithIcons.Add(tabIconStore);            container.Add(csharpTabViewWithIcons);            // Create a TabView with Tabs that only contains an icon and a label.            var csharpTabViewWithIconsAndLabels = new TabView() { style = { marginTop = 15 } }; // marginTop not required, only for demonstration purposes.            var tabConnect = new Tab("Connect", EditorGUIUtility.FindTexture("CloudConnect"));            tabConnect.Add(new Label("Tab with an icon and a labels: This is some content for the first Tab.") { style = { marginTop = 10 } });            csharpTabViewWithIconsAndLabels.Add(tabConnect);            var tabStore = new Tab("Store", EditorGUIUtility.FindTexture("Asset Store"));            tabStore.Add(new Label("Tab with an icon and a labels: This is some content for the second Tab.") { style = { marginTop = 10 } });            csharpTabViewWithIconsAndLabels.Add(tabStore);            container.Add(csharpTabViewWithIconsAndLabels);            // Create a TabView that allows re-ordering of the tabs.            var csharpReorderableTabView = new TabView() { reorderable = true, style = { marginTop = 10 } }; // marginTop not required, only for demonstration purposes.            var tabA = new Tab("Tab A");            tabA.Add(new Label("Reorderable tabs: This is some content for Tab A") { style = { marginTop = 10 } });            csharpReorderableTabView.Add(tabA);            var tabB = new Tab("Tab B");            tabB.Add(new Label("Reorderable tabs: This is some content for Tab B") { style = { marginTop = 10 } });            csharpReorderableTabView.Add(tabB);            var tabC = new Tab("Tab C");            tabC.Add(new Label("Reorderable tabs: This is some content for Tab C") { style = { marginTop = 10 } });            csharpReorderableTabView.Add(tabC);            container.Add(csharpReorderableTabView);            // Create a TabView with closeable tabs.            var closeTabInfoLabel = new Label($"Last tab closed: None");            void UpdateLabel(string newLabel) => closeTabInfoLabel.text = $"Last tab closed: {newLabel}";            var cSharpCloseableTabs = new TabView() { style = { marginTop = 10 } }; // marginTop not required, only for demonstration purposes.            var closeableTabA = new Tab("Title A") { closeable = true };            closeableTabA.closed += (tab) => { UpdateLabel(tab.label); };            closeableTabA.Add(new Label("Closeable tabs: This is some content for Tab A") { style = { marginTop = 10 } });            cSharpCloseableTabs.Add(closeableTabA);            var closeableTabB = new Tab("Title B") { closeable = true };            closeableTabB.closed += (tab) => { UpdateLabel(tab.label); };            closeableTabB.Add(new Label("Closeable tabs: This is some content for Tab B") { style = { marginTop = 10 } });            cSharpCloseableTabs.Add(closeableTabB);            var closeableTabC = new Tab("Title C") { closeable = true };            closeableTabC.closed += (tab) => { UpdateLabel(tab.label); };            closeableTabC.Add(new Label("Closeable tabs: This is some content for Tab C") { style = { marginTop = 10 } });            cSharpCloseableTabs.Add(closeableTabC);            container.Add(cSharpCloseableTabs);            container.Add(closeTabInfoLabel);            // Create a TabView and apply custom styling to specific areas of their tabs.            var csharpCustomStyledTabView = new TabView() { style = { marginTop = 15 }, classList = { "some-styled-class" }}; // marginTop not required, only for demonstration purposes.            var customStyledTabOne = new Tab("One");            customStyledTabOne.Add(new Label("Custom styled tabs: This is some content for the first Tab."));            csharpCustomStyledTabView.Add(customStyledTabOne);            var customStyledTabTwo = new Tab("Two");            customStyledTabTwo.Add(new Label("Custom styled tabs: This is some content for the second Tab."));            csharpCustomStyledTabView.Add(customStyledTabTwo);            container.Add(csharpCustomStyledTabView);
To try this example live in Unity, go to Window > UI Toolkit > Samples.
For more examples, refer to the following:
-Create a tabbed menu.

C# base class and namespace

C# class: 
TabView
Namespace: 
UnityEngine.UIElements
Base class: 
VisualElement

Member UXML attributes

This element has the following member attributes:

Name

Type

Description

reorderable
boolean
A property that adds dragging support to tabs.

The default value is 
false
. Set this value to 
true
to allow the user to reorder tabs in the tab view.

Inherited UXML attributes

This element inherits the following attributes from its base class:

Name

Type

Description

focusable
boolean
If false, this prevents the element from being focused.

The element can only be focused if its canGrabFocus property is true.
tabindex
int
An integer used to sort focusable elements in the focus ring. Must be greater than or equal to zero.

Setting the 
tabIndex
value to less than 
0
(for example, 
−1
) removes the element from the focus ring and tab navigation.
This element also inherits the following attributes from 
VisualElement
:

Name

Type

Description

content-container
string
Logical container where child elements are added. If a child is added to this element, the child is added to this element's content container instead.

When iterating over the 
VisualElement.Children
of an element, the element's content container hierarchy is used instead of the element itself. This can lead to unexpected results, such as elements being ignored by the navigation events if they are not directly in the content container's hierarchy. Refer to 
IFocusRing
for more information.

If the content container is the same as the element itself, child elements are added directly to the element. This is true for most elements but can be overridden by more complex types.

The 
ScrollView
, for example, has a content container that is different from itself. In that case, child elements added to the scroll view are added to its content container element instead. While the physical parent (
VisualElement.Hierarchy.parent
) of the child elements is the scroll view's content container element, their logical parent (
VisualElement.parent
) still refers to the scroll view itself. Since some of the scroll view's focusable children are not part of its logical hierarchy, like its 
Scroller
elements, these focusable children are not considered by default when using sequential navigation. Refer to How can I change what element is focused next for an example of a workaround solution if the default navigation rules don't correspond to your needs.
data-source
Object
Assigns a data source to this VisualElement which overrides any inherited data source. This data source is inherited by all children.
data-source-path
string
Path from the data source to the value.
data-source-type
System.Type
The possible type of data source assignable to this VisualElement.

This information is only used by the UI Builder as a hint to provide some completion to the data source path field when the effective data source cannot be specified at design time.
enabled
boolean
Returns true if the 
VisualElement
is enabled locally.

This flag isn't changed if the VisualElement is disabled implicitly by one of its parents. To verify this, use 
enabledInHierarchy
.
language-direction
UIElements.LanguageDirection
Indicates the directionality of the element's text. The value will propagate to the element's children.

Setting 
languageDirection
to 
RTL
can only get the basic RTL support like text reversal. To get more comprehensive RTL support, such as line breaking, word wrapping, or text shaping, you must enable Advance Text Generator.
name
string
The name of this VisualElement.

Use this property to write USS selectors that target a specific element. The standard practice is to give an element a unique name.
picking-mode
UIElements.PickingMode
Determines if this element can be the target of pointer events or picked by 
IPanel.Pick
queries.

Elements can not be picked if:

- They are invisible- Their 
style.display
is set to 
DisplayStyle.None


Elements with a picking mode of 
PickingMode.Ignore
never receive the hover pseudo-state.
style
string
Sets the style values on a 
VisualElement
.

The returned style data, computed from USS files or inline styles written to this object in C#, doesn't represent the fully resolved styles, such as the final height and width of a VisualElement. To access these fully resolved styles, use 
resolvedStyle
.



For information about how to use this property and all the supported USS properties, refer to the Apply styles in C# scripts and USS properties reference manual pages.
tooltip
string
Text to display inside an information box after the user hovers the element for a small amount of time. This is only supported in the Editor UI.
usage-hints
UIElements.UsageHints
A combination of hint values that specify high-level intended usage patterns for the 
VisualElement
. This property can only be set when the 
VisualElement
is not yet part of a 
Panel
. Once part of a 
Panel
, this property becomes effectively read-only, and attempts to change it will throw an exception. The specification of proper 
UsageHints
drives the system to make better decisions on how to process or accelerate certain operations based on the anticipated usage pattern. Note that those hints do not affect behavioral or visual results, but only affect the overall performance of the panel and the elements within. It's advised to always consider specifying the proper 
UsageHints
, but keep in mind that some 
UsageHints
might be internally ignored under certain conditions (e.g. due to hardware limitations on the target platform).
view-data-key
string
Used for view data persistence, such as tree expanded states, scroll position, or zoom level.

This key is used to save and load the view data from the view data store. If you don't set this key, the persistence is disabled for the associated 
VisualElement
. For more information, refer to View data persistence in the Unity Manual.

USS classes

The following table lists all the C# public property names and their related USS selector.

C# property

USS selector

Description

ussClassName
.unity-tab-view
USS class name of elements of this type.
contentContainerUssClassName
.unity-tab-view__content-container
USS class name for the content container of this type.
reorderableUssClassName
.unity-tab-view__reorderable
The USS class name for reorderable tab view.
verticalUssClassName
.unity-tab-view__vertical
The USS class name for vertical tab view.
viewportUssClassName
.unity-tab-view__content-viewport
USS class name for the content viewport of this type.
nextButtonUssClassName
.unity-tab-view__next-button
USS class name for the scroll next button of this type.
previousButtonUssClassName
.unity-tab-view__previous-button
USS class name for the scroll previous button of this type.
disabledUssClassName
.unity-disabled
USS class name of local disabled elements.
You can also use the Matching Selectors section in the Inspector or the UI Toolkit Debugger to see which USS selectors affect the components of the 
VisualElement
at every level of its hierarchy.

Additional resources