Comments on: Common Mistakes http://www.clipboardextender.com Clipboard resources for end-users and developers. Sat, 09 Oct 2010 02:23:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: Josh Straub http://www.clipboardextender.com/developing-clipboard-aware-programs-for-windows/common-general-clipboard-mistakes#comment-39608 Josh Straub Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:15:51 +0000 http://www.clipboardextender.com/?page_id=7#comment-39608 This site really is the ultimate Clipboard resource. By far my favorite section of this page is: "Programmer Short-Cut - “Programs should not transfer data into our out of the clipboard without an explicit instruction from the user.” — Charles Petzold, Programming Windows 3.1, Microsoft Press, 1992 If you use the clipboard to move card faces, toolbar icons, or bits of text within a program, or between programs, without the user performing an explicit cut/copy or paste, then you are using the clipboard as a crutch. Remember - the clipboard is there for the convenience of the user, not the programmer. Do not do this! [...]Any time a program puts data onto the clipboard, without the user’s knowledge or consent, that’s an abuse. And it’s documented on the The n Habits of Highly Defective Windows Applications page. http://www.flounder.com/badprogram.htm#clipboard " Quoting Petzold's "Programming Windows" and Habits of Highly Defective Windows Applications... now THAT'S telling 'em!! Sir, I would definitely nominate you for President of Worldwide Application Standards. I wish all software was written with as much concern for the user as you show in these articles!! You hit the nail on the head when you talked about how there is nothing worse than a program that violates the trust of the user and destroys his data or interferes with another program improperly. This site really is the ultimate Clipboard resource. By far my favorite section of this page is:

“Programmer Short-Cut – “Programs should not transfer data into our out of the clipboard without an explicit instruction from the user.” — Charles Petzold, Programming Windows 3.1, Microsoft Press, 1992
If you use the clipboard to move card faces, toolbar icons, or bits of text within a program, or between programs, without the user performing an explicit cut/copy or paste, then you are using the clipboard as a crutch. Remember – the clipboard is there for the convenience of the user, not the programmer. Do not do this! [...]Any time a program puts data onto the clipboard, without the user’s knowledge or consent, that’s an abuse. And it’s documented on the The n Habits of Highly Defective Windows Applications page. http://www.flounder.com/badprogram.htm#clipboard ”

Quoting Petzold’s “Programming Windows” and Habits of Highly Defective Windows Applications… now THAT’S telling ‘em!! Sir, I would definitely nominate you for President of Worldwide Application Standards.

I wish all software was written with as much concern for the user as you show in these articles!! You hit the nail on the head when you talked about how there is nothing worse than a program that violates the trust of the user and destroys his data or interferes with another program improperly.

]]> By: Tej http://www.clipboardextender.com/developing-clipboard-aware-programs-for-windows/common-general-clipboard-mistakes#comment-28768 Tej Fri, 08 May 2009 11:50:01 +0000 http://www.clipboardextender.com/?page_id=7#comment-28768 Hi in my case i had a problem while doing files copy paste, the description will be bit lengthy, sorry for that. I have two folders: say 1 and 2. in 1 I have some no. of files. One application processes these files present in 1 and then paste it to 2. This is defined in process itself. Now after some time I copied and paste processed files from folder 2 to my commonly used folder let us say folder 3 then it copied the files from 1 instead of 2, though I copied from folder 2. Is this problem anyhow related with clipboard's any limitation? Reply is warmly welcome... Hi in my case i had a problem while doing files copy paste, the description will be bit lengthy, sorry for that. I have two folders: say 1 and 2. in 1 I have some no. of files. One application processes these files present in 1 and then paste it to 2. This is defined in process itself. Now after some time I copied and paste processed files from folder 2 to my commonly used folder let us say folder 3 then it copied the files from 1 instead of 2, though I copied from folder 2. Is this problem anyhow related with clipboard’s any limitation? Reply is warmly welcome…

]]> By: Paras Sagarawat http://www.clipboardextender.com/developing-clipboard-aware-programs-for-windows/common-general-clipboard-mistakes#comment-20779 Paras Sagarawat Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:56:32 +0000 http://www.clipboardextender.com/?page_id=7#comment-20779 My requirement is to "Add to Clipboard" mean i need to copy "A" object to clipboard from some program, then add "B" object to clipboard (given "A" and "B" are the same type data objects) then paste them to a place resulting in "A B". There may be some different keyboard shortcut like 'Ctrl-Alt-C' or 'Ctrl-Shift-C' for the same. My requirement is to “Add to Clipboard” mean i need to copy “A” object to clipboard from some program, then add “B” object to clipboard (given “A” and “B” are the same type data objects) then paste them to a place resulting in “A B”. There may be some different keyboard shortcut like ‘Ctrl-Alt-C’ or ‘Ctrl-Shift-C’ for the same.

]]> By: Marius Z http://www.clipboardextender.com/developing-clipboard-aware-programs-for-windows/common-general-clipboard-mistakes#comment-10417 Marius Z Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:06:10 +0000 http://www.clipboardextender.com/?page_id=7#comment-10417 Nice articles you have here about clipboard. Nice. Could you please spare with me knowledge about how to overcome, that MS Ex*el "cannot empty the clipboard" erorr? Seems like your ClipMate catches this and ignores it, making some sound. It occurs when you try to move any text from one cell to another in that app. Well I made my own viewer and only need to catch any simple text, everything seems to work in windows, except that Ex*l . :(. It's making me mad. By the way, I will implement IGNORE_CLIPBOARD message in my viewer. Thank you. Nice articles you have here about clipboard. Nice.
Could you please spare with me knowledge about how to overcome, that MS Ex*el “cannot empty the clipboard” erorr? Seems like your ClipMate catches this and ignores it, making some sound. It occurs when you try to move any text from one cell to another in that app. Well I made my own viewer and only need to catch any simple text, everything seems to work in windows, except that Ex*l . :( . It’s making me mad.
By the way, I will implement IGNORE_CLIPBOARD message in my viewer. Thank you.

]]> By: admin http://www.clipboardextender.com/developing-clipboard-aware-programs-for-windows/common-general-clipboard-mistakes#comment-6380 admin Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:40:59 +0000 http://www.clipboardextender.com/?page_id=7#comment-6380 Hi Larry, Unless you're running a clipboard manager such as ClipMate, your data is gone. The windows clipboard only holds one item, which is why I invented ClipMate back in 1991, to hold ALL data that has been copied. Hi Larry,
Unless you’re running a clipboard manager such as ClipMate, your data is gone. The windows clipboard only holds one item, which is why I invented ClipMate back in 1991, to hold ALL data that has been copied.

]]> By: Larry http://www.clipboardextender.com/developing-clipboard-aware-programs-for-windows/common-general-clipboard-mistakes#comment-5288 Larry Sat, 22 Dec 2007 05:18:58 +0000 http://www.clipboardextender.com/?page_id=7#comment-5288 Is there any way to pull an "old clip" back? I created a long clip by copying some text I was entering as a journal entry on a web site. I then clipped something else to add to my entry. The next thing I knew I was "timed out of the site" and my long journal entry was gone. When I of course went to the "clip" it was not the long one of the journal entry which I had copied just in case something like that were to hapen; instead, it was the susequent one. Anywhere on my computer where that older clip would be? Is there any way to pull an “old clip” back? I created a long clip by copying some text I was entering as a journal entry on a web site. I then clipped something else to add to my entry. The next thing I knew I was “timed out of the site” and my long journal entry was gone. When I of course went to the “clip” it was not the long one of the journal entry which I had copied just in case something like that were to hapen; instead, it was the susequent one. Anywhere on my computer where that older clip would be?

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