Copying text to the clipboardThe clipboard is the main data-exchange feature of the Microsoft Windows operating system. It is a common area for storing data handles through which applications can exchange formatted data. The clipboard holds any number of different data formats and corresponding data handles, all representing the same data, but in as many different formats as an application is able to supply. For example, a pie chart might be held in the clipboard as both a metafile picture and a bitmap. An application pasting the pie chart would have to choose which representation matched its requirements. In general, the format that provides the most information is the most desirable, as long as the application understands that format.
This chapter covers the following topics:
Copying text to the clipboard
Pasting text from the clipboard
Pasting a bitmap from the clipboard
Using special clipboard features such as private data formats
This chapter also explains how to build a sample Windows 3.1 application, ClipText, that illustrates many of the concepts explained in the chapter.