In using text and bitmaps, you've seen that transferring data to the clipboard requires four calls after the data has been prepared:
OpenClipboard (hwnd) ;
EmptyClipboard () ;
SetClipboardData (wFormat, hHandle) ;
CloseClipboard () ;
Getting access to this data requires three calls:
OpenClipboard (hwnd) ;
hHandle = GetClipboardData (wFormat) ;
[other program lines]
CloseClipboard () ;
You can make a copy of the clipboard data or use it in some other manner between the GetClipboardData and CloseClipboard calls. That approach may be all you'll need for most purposes, but you can also use the clipboard in more sophisticated ways.