Tab control API

Open, navigate, focus, and list controlled tabs.
Docs updated: 2026-03-24

openTab

openTab creates a controlled tab (or reuses an existing one) and associates it with your tabKey.

7.13.0 behavior
Keep one stable tabKey per workflow. openTab is now serialized per key, so two near-simultaneous calls with the same tabKey no longer race into duplicate tabs. 
// Open (or reuse) a controlled tab
await RTOForm.openTab(
  {
    "tabKey": "billing",
    "url": "https://example.com/billing",
    "focus": true,
    "newTab": true
  },
  { "timeoutMs": 20000 }
);

focusTab / closeTab

// Focus a tab
await RTOForm.focusTab({ "tabKey": "billing" });

// Close a tab
await RTOForm.closeTab({ "tabKey": "billing" });

listTabs

Useful for dashboards and UI lists. If you want a normalized response shape, use RTO_tabsList.js.

<script src="../RTO_helpers/RTO_form_api.js"></script>
<script src="../RTO_helpers/RTO_tabsList.js"></script>
<script>
(async function(){
  // List controlled tabs (raw)
  const res = await RTOForm.listTabs({}, { timeoutMs: 4000 });
  console.log("raw:", res);

  // Easier: use RTOTabsList (normalizes the response)
  const snap = await RTOTabsList.requestNow(4000);
  console.log("items:", snap.items);
  console.log("byKey:", snap.byKey);
})();
</script>

UI helpers

If you do not want to write click handlers, RTO_openTab_button.js can bind buttons with data-attributes.

When the target tab is already open, the helper prefers focusTab and does not announce a fake “open” state too early. 

<!-- Button that opens (or focuses) a tab -->
<button
  data-rto-url="https://example.com/billing"
  data-rto-tabKey="billing"
  data-rto-open-focus="1"
  data-rto-when-open="focus"
>
  Open billing
</button>

<script src="../RTO_helpers/RTO_form_api.js"></script>
<script src="../RTO_helpers/RTO_connector.js"></script>
<script src="../RTO_helpers/RTO_openTab_button.js"></script>
<script>
RTOconnectOnce(1500).then(function(){
  RTObindTabButtons();
});
</script>

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