13.2.3 Registering a Private Format

In addition, an application can create and use private formats, or even new public ones. To create and use a new data-interchange format, an application must do the following:

1.Call the RegisterClipboardFormat function to register the name of the new format.

2.Use the value returned by RegisterClipboardFormat as the code for the new format when calling the SetClipboardData function.

Registering the format name ensures that the application is using a unique format number. In addition, it allows Clipboard to display the correct name of the data being held in the clipboard. For more information about displaying private data types in Clipboard, see Section 13.2.4, “Controlling Data Display in the Clipboard.”

If two or more applications register formats that have the same name, the applications will all receive the same format code. This allows applications to create their own public data types. If two or more applications register a format called WORKSHEET, for example, they will all have the same format number when calling the SetClipboardData and GetClipboardData functions, and will have a common basis for transferring WORKSHEET data between them.