Bootstrap - Tab Plugin

Tabs were introduced in the chapter Bootstrap Navigation Elements. By combining a few data attributes, you can easily create a tabbed interface. With this plug-in you can transition through panes of local content in tabs or pills, even via drop down menus.

If you want to include this plugin functionality individually, then you will need tab.js. Else, as mentioned in the chapter Bootstrap Plugins Overview, you can include bootstrap.js or the minified bootstrap.min.js.

Usage

You can enable tabs in the following two ways −

• Via data attributes − you need to add data-toggle = "tab" or data-toggle = "pill" to the anchors.
  Adding the nav and nav-tabs classes to the tab ul will apply the Bootstrap tab styling, while adding the nav and nav-pills classes will apply pill styling.

<ul class = "nav nav-tabs">
   <li><a href = "#identifier" data-toggle = "tab">Home</a></li>
   ...
</ul>

• Via JavaScript − you can enable tabs using Javscript as below −

$('#myTab a').click(function (e) {
   e.preventDefault()
   $(this).tab('show')
})

• Here’s an example of different ways to activate individual tabs −

// Select tab by name
$('#myTab a[href = "#profile"]').tab('show')
 
// Select first tab
$('#myTab a:first').tab('show') 

// Select last tab
$('#myTab a:last').tab('show') 

// Select third tab (0-indexed)
$('#myTab li:eq(2) a').tab('show') 

Fade Effect

To get a fade effect for tabs, add .fade to each .tab-pane. The first tab pane must also have .in to properly fade in initial content −

<div class = "tab-content">
   <div class = "tab-pane fade in active" id = "home">...</div>
   <div class = "tab-pane fade" id = "svn">...</div>
   <div class = "tab-pane fade" id = "ios">...</div>
   <div class = "tab-pane fade" id = "java">...</div>
</div>

Example

An example of tab plugin using data attributes and fade effect is as shown in the following example −

<ul id = "myTab" class = "nav nav-tabs">
   <li class = "active">
      <a href = "#home" data-toggle = "tab">
         Tutorial Point Home
      </a>
   </li>
   
   <li><a href = "#ios" data-toggle = "tab">iOS</a></li>
 
   <li class = "dropdown">
      <a href = "#" id = "myTabDrop1" class = "dropdown-toggle" data-toggle = "dropdown">
         Java 
         <b class = "caret"></b>
      </a>
      
      <ul class = "dropdown-menu" role = "menu" aria-labelledby = "myTabDrop1">
         <li><a href = "#jmeter" tabindex = "-1" data-toggle = "tab">jmeter</a></li>
         <li><a href = "#ejb" tabindex = "-1" data-toggle = "tab">ejb</a></li>
      </ul>
      
   </li>
 
</ul>

<div id = "myTabContent" class = "tab-content">

   <div class = "tab-pane fade in active" id = "home">
      <p>Tutorials Point is a place for beginners in all technical areas.
         This website covers most of the latest technologies and explains each of
         the technology with simple examples. You also have a 
         <b>tryit</b> editor, wherein you can edit your code and 
         try out different possibilities of the examples.</p>
   </div>
   
   <div class = "tab-pane fade" id = "ios">
      <p>iOS is a mobile operating system developed and distributed 
         by Apple Inc. Originally released in 2007 for the iPhone, iPod Touch,
         and Apple TV. iOS is derived from OS X, with which it shares the 
         Darwin foundation. iOS is Apple's mobile version of the OS X 
         operating system used on Apple computers.</p>
   </div>
   
   <div class = "tab-pane fade" id = "jmeter">
      <p>jMeter is an Open Source testing software. It is 100% pure Java 
         application for load and performance testing.</p>
   </div>
   
   <div class = "tab-pane fade" id = "ejb">
      <p>Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) is a development architecture for 
         building highly scalable and robust enterprise level applications to be 
         deployed on J2EE compliant Application Server such as JBOSS, Web Logic etc.</p>
   </div>
   
</div>

Methods

.$().tab − This method activates a tab element and content container. Tab should have either a data-target or an href targeting a container node in the DOM.

<ul class = "nav nav-tabs" id = "myTab">
   <li class = "active"><a href = "#identifier" data-toggle = "tab">Home</a></li>
   .....
</ul>

<div class = "tab-content">
   <div class = "tab-pane active" id = "home">...</div>
   .....
</div>

<script>
   $(function () {
      $('#myTab a:last').tab('show')
   })
</script>

Example

The following example shows the use of tab plugin method .tab. Here in the example the second tab iOS is activated −

<ul id = "myTab" class = "nav nav-tabs">
   <li class = "active">
      <a href = "#home" data-toggle = "tab">
         Tutorial Point Home
      </a>
   </li>
   
   <li><a href = "#ios" data-toggle = "tab">iOS</a></li>
 
   <li class = "dropdown">
 
      <a href = "#" id = "myTabDrop1" class = "dropdown-toggle" data-toggle = "dropdown">
         Java 
         <b class = "caret"></b>
      </a>
      
      <ul class = "dropdown-menu" role = "menu" aria-labelledby = "myTabDrop1">
         <li>
            <a href = "#jmeter" tabindex = "-1" data-toggle = "tab">
               jmeter
            </a>
         </li>
         
         <li>
            <a href = "#ejb" tabindex = "-1" data-toggle = "tab">
               ejb
            </a>
         </li>
      </ul>
      
   </li>
 
</ul>

<div id = "myTabContent" class = "tab-content">

   <div class = "tab-pane fade in active" id = "home">
      <p>Tutorials Point is a place for beginners in all technical areas. 
         This website covers most of the latest technologies and explains each of 
         the technology with simple examples. You also have a 
         <b>tryit</b> editor, wherein you can edit your code and try 
         out different possibilities of the examples.</p>
   </div>
   
   <div class = "tab-pane fade" id = "ios">
      <p>iOS is a mobile operating system developed and distributed by 
         Apple Inc. Originally released in 2007 for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and 
         Apple TV. iOS is derived from OS X, with which it shares the Darwin 
         foundation. iOS is Apple's mobile version of the OS X operating system 
         used on Apple computers.</p>
   </div>
   
   <div class = "tab-pane fade" id = "jmeter">
      <p>jMeter is an Open Source testing software. It is 100% pure Java 
         application for load and performance testing.</p>
   </div>
   
   <div class = "tab-pane fade" id = "ejb">
      <p>Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) is a development architecture for 
         building highly scalable and robust enterprise level applications to be 
         deployed on J2EE compliant Application Server such as JBOSS, 
         Web Logic etc.</p>
   </div>
   
</div>

<script>
   $(function () {
      $('#myTab li:eq(1) a').tab('show');
   });
</script>

Events

Following table lists the events to work with tab plugin. This event may be used to hook into the function.

Event	Description	Example
show.bs.tab	This event fires on tab show, but before the new tab has been shown. Use event.target and event.relatedTarget to target the active tab and the previous active tab (if available) respectively.	$('a[data-toggle = "tab"]').on('show.bs.tab', function (e) { e.target // activated tab e.relatedTarget // previous tab })
shown.bs.tab	This event fires on tab show after a tab has been shown. Use event.target and event.relatedTarget to target the active tab and the previous active tab (if available) respectively.	$('a[data-toggle = "tab"]').on('shown.bs.tab', function (e) { e.target // activated tab e.relatedTarget // previous tab })

Example

The following example shows use of tab plugin events. Here in the example we will display the current and previous visited tabs −

<hr>
<p class = "active-tab"><strong>Active Tab</strong>: <span></span></p>
<p class = "previous-tab"><strong>Previous Tab</strong>: <span></span></p>
<hr>

<ul id = "myTab" class = "nav nav-tabs">
   <li class = "active">
      <a href = "#home" data-toggle = "tab">
         Tutorial Point Home
      </a>
   </li>
   
   <li><a href = "#ios" data-toggle = "tab">iOS</a></li>
 
   <li class = "dropdown">
      <a href = "#" id = "myTabDrop1" class = "dropdown-toggle" data-toggle = "dropdown">
         Java 
         <b class = "caret"></b>
      </a>
      
      <ul class = "dropdown-menu" role = "menu" aria-labelledby = "myTabDrop1">
         <li>
            <a href = "#jmeter" tabindex = "-1" data-toggle = "tab">jmeter</a>
         </li>
         
         <li>
            <a href = "#ejb" tabindex = "-1" data-toggle = "tab">ejb</a>
         </li>
      </ul>
      
   </li>
</ul>

<div id = "myTabContent" class = "tab-content">

   <div class = "tab-pane fade in active" id = "home">
      <p>Tutorials Point is a place for beginners in all technical areas.
         This website covers most of the latest technologies and explains each of 
         the technology with simple examples. You also have a 
         <b>tryit</b> editor, wherein you can edit your code and try
         out different possibilities of the examples.</p>
   </div>
   
   <div class = "tab-pane fade" id = "ios">
      <p>iOS is a mobile operating system developed and distributed by 
         Apple Inc. Originally released in 2007 for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and 
         Apple TV. iOS is derived from OS X, with which it shares the Darwin
         foundation. iOS is Apple's mobile version of the OS X operating system
         used on Apple computers.</p>
   </div>
   
   <div class = "tab-pane fade" id = "jmeter">
      <p>jMeter is an Open Source testing software. It is 100% pure Java 
         application for load and performance testing.</p>
   </div>
   
   <div class = "tab-pane fade" id = "ejb">
      <p>Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) is a development architecture for
         building highly scalable and robust enterprise level applications to be 
         deployed on J2EE compliant Application Server such as JBOSS, Web Logic etc.</p>
   </div>
   
</div>

<script>
   $(function(){
      $('a[data-toggle = "tab"]').on('shown.bs.tab', function (e) {
         // Get the name of active tab
         var activeTab = $(e.target).text(); 
         
         // Get the name of previous tab
         var previousTab = $(e.relatedTarget).text(); 
         
         $(".active-tab span").html(activeTab);
         $(".previous-tab span").html(previousTab);
      });
   });
</script>