Change default active tab on page load based on field value?

same here, any suggestions>

For regular quicktabs instances you can use hook_quicktabs_alter, see http://drupalcode.org/project/quicktabs.git/blob/refs/heads/7.x-3.x:/qui...

Example:

/**
 * Alter the Quicktabs instance before it gets rendered.
 *
 * @param &$quicktabs
 *   A loaded Quicktabs object, either from the database or from code.
 */
function MYMODULE_quicktabs_alter(&$quicktabs) {
  // Choose quicktabs instance
  if ($quicktabs->machine_name == 'NAME_OF_YOUR_QT_INSTANCE') {
    // Choose second tab as default (first = 0)
    $default_delta = 1;
    // Make sure tab exists
    if ($default_delta >= 0 && count($quicktabs->tabs) - 1 <= $default_delta) {
      $quicktabs->default_tab = $default_delta;
    }
  }

The only thing left is to replace $default_delta = 1; with your logic. $quicktabs->tabs should contain some more info you can grab on.

Oh, the thing is, that hook_quicktabs_alter does not fire when quicktabs are used as views style plugin becouse drupal_alter('quicktabs', $info); is inside if ($info = quicktabs_load($name)) { which is NULL for views...

Marking it as bug because ability to alter quicktabs is broken in this case.

That's exactly the case I am trying to find a solution for! To alter the quicktabs used as a views plugin.

I've been wanting to do this for the last couple of years, but have been unable to. Luckily I've had decent workaround using jQuery cookie. What I did was included the jQuery cookie library (https://github.com/carhartl/jquery-cookie) and added the following script to all pages.

// enable quicktabs memory
(function ($) {
  Drupal.behaviors.quicktabsHistory = {
    attach: function(context, settings) {

      $('.quicktabs-wrapper', context).each(function() {
        var id = $(this).attr('id');
        var tab = $.cookie(id);

        if (tab != '') {
          $(this).find('ul.quicktabs-tabs a#' + tab).click();
        }
        $(this).find('ul.quicktabs-tabs a').click(function() {
          $.removeCookie(id, {path: '/'});
          $.cookie(id, $(this).attr('id'), {path: '/'});
        });
      });
    }
  };
})(jQuery); 

Some similar notions & tricks recorded here, in case they inspire you: http://allabouttodd.com/tags/quicktabs

With D7 EOL approaching in a month I'm starting to triage the D7 side of quicktabs queue.

If still an issue or needed for 4.0.x (latest branch) feel free to reopen