When a Modal Form is Popped, Can I still Programmable Change the Detail View Tab in the Background?

I have a modal form that I am popping up that lists several accounts in a grid. When you click on one of those accounts, it changes the detail view in the background to display the detail of the selected account. However, because the modal form is open, you cannot click on the background detail view to change the tab displayed. I would like to do this programmatically so the user could have a drop down tab list on the modal form and when they select from this list the main view tab is changed in the background view. Is this possible? ...(read more)