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# QClipboard Class Reference

The QClipboard class provides access to the window system clipboard. More...

    #include <QClipboard>

Part of the QtGui module.

Inherits QObject.

- List of all members, including inherited members
- Qt 3 support members

### Public Types

- enum Mode { Clipboard, Selection }

### Public Functions

- void clear ( Mode mode = Clipboard )
- QImage image ( Mode mode = Clipboard ) const
- const QMimeData * mimeData ( Mode mode = Clipboard ) const
- bool ownsClipboard () const
- bool ownsSelection () const
- QPixmap pixmap ( Mode mode = Clipboard ) const
- void setImage ( const QImage & image, Mode mode = Clipboard )
- void setMimeData ( QMimeData * src, Mode mode = Clipboard )
- void setPixmap ( const QPixmap & pixmap, Mode mode = Clipboard )
- void setText ( const QString & text, Mode mode = Clipboard )
- bool supportsSelection () const
- QString text ( Mode mode = Clipboard ) const
- QString text ( QString & subtype, Mode mode = Clipboard ) const

- 28 public functions inherited from QObject

### Signals

- void dataChanged ()
- void selectionChanged ()

- 1 signal inherited from QObject

### Additional Inherited Members

- 1 property inherited from QObject
- 1 public slot inherited from QObject
- 4 static public members inherited from QObject
- 7 protected functions inherited from QObject

## Detailed Description

The QClipboard class provides access to the window system clipboard.

The clipboard offers a simple mechanism to copy and paste data between applications.

QClipboard supports the same data types that QDrag does, and uses similar mechanisms. For advanced clipboard usage read the drag-and-drop documentation.

There is a single QClipboard object in an application, and you can access it using QApplication::clipboard().

Example:

        QClipboard *cb = QApplication::clipboard();

        // Copy text from the clipboard (paste)
        QString text = cb->text(QClipboard::Clipboard);
        if (!text.isNull())
            qDebug("The clipboard contains: " + text);

        // Copy text into the clipboard
        cb->setText("This text can be pasted by other programs",
                     QClipboard::Clipboard);

QClipboard features some convenience functions to access common data types: setText() allows the exchange of Unicode text and setPixmap() and setImage() allows the exchange of QPixmaps and QImages between applications. The setMimeData() function is the ultimate in flexibility: it allows you to add any QMimeData into the clipboard. There are corresponding getters for each of these, e.g. text(), image() and pixmap().

You can clear the clipboard by calling clear().

### Platform Specific Information

#### X11

- The X11 Window System has the concept of a separate selection and clipboard. When text is selected, it is immediately available as the global mouse selection. The global mouse selection may later be copied to the clipboard. By convention, the middle mouse button is used to paste the global mouse selection.
- X11 also has the concept of ownership; if you change the selection within a window, X11 will only notify the owner and the previous owner of the change, i.e. it will not notify all applications that the selection or clipboard data changed.
- Lastly, the X11 clipboard is event driven, i.e. the clipboard will not function properly if the event loop is not running. Similarly, it is recommended that the contents of the clipboard are stored or retrieved in direct response to user-input events, e.g. mouse button or key presses and releases. You should not store or retrieve the clipboard contents in response to timer or non-user-input events.

#### Windows

- Microsoft Windows does not support the global mouse selection; it only supports the global clipboard, e.g. Windows only adds text to the clipboard when an explicit copy or cut is made.
- Windows does not have the concept of ownership; the clipboard is a fully global resource so all applications are notified of changes.

See the multiclip example in the Qt Designer examples directory for an example of a cross-platform clipboard application that also demonstrates selection handling.

## Member Type Documentation

### enum QClipboard::Mode

This enum type is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used by QClipboard::data(), QClipboard::setData() and related functions.

Constant | Value | Description
--- | --- | ---
`QClipboard::Clipboard` | `0` | indicates that data should be stored and retrieved from the global clipboard.
`QClipboard::Selection` | `1` | indicates that data should be stored and retrieved from the global mouse selection.

Note: Support for `Selection` is provided only on systems with a global mouse selection (e.g. X11).

See also QClipboard::supportsSelection().

## Member Function Documentation

### void QClipboard::clear ( Mode mode = Clipboard )

Clear the clipboard contents.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, this function clears the the global clipboard contents. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, this function clears the global mouse selection contents.

See also QClipboard::Mode and supportsSelection().

### void QClipboard::dataChanged () `[signal]`

This signal is emitted when the clipboard data is changed.

### QImage QClipboard::image ( Mode mode = Clipboard ) const

Returns the clipboard image, or returns a null image if the clipboard does not contain an image or if it contains an image in an unsupported image format.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the image is retrieved from the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the image is retrieved from the global mouse selection.

See also setImage(), pixmap(), data(), and QImage::isNull().

### const QMimeData * QClipboard::mimeData ( Mode mode = Clipboard ) const

Returns a reference to a QMimeData representation of the current clipboard data.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the data is retrieved from the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the data is retrieved from the global mouse selection.

The text(), image(), and pixmap() functions are simpler wrappers for retrieving text, image, and pixmap data.

See also setMimeData().

### bool QClipboard::ownsClipboard () const

Returns true if this clipboard object owns the clipboard data; otherwise returns false.

### bool QClipboard::ownsSelection () const

Returns true if this clipboard object owns the mouse selection data; otherwise returns false.

### QPixmap QClipboard::pixmap ( Mode mode = Clipboard ) const

Returns the clipboard pixmap, or null if the clipboard does not contain a pixmap. Note that this can lose information. For example, if the image is 24-bit and the display is 8-bit, the result is converted to 8 bits, and if the image has an alpha channel, the result just has a mask.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the pixmap is retrieved from the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the pixmap is retrieved from the global mouse selection.

See also setPixmap(), image(), data(), QPixmap::convertFromImage(), and ..

### void QClipboard::selectionChanged () `[signal]`

This signal is emitted when the selection is changed. This only applies to windowing systems that support selections, e.g. X11. Windows doesn't support selections.

### void QClipboard::setImage ( const QImage & image, Mode mode = Clipboard )

Copies the image into the clipboard.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the image is stored in the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the data is stored in the global mouse selection.

This is shorthand for:

        QMimeData *data = new QMimeData;
        data->setPixmap(image);
        setMimeData(data, mode);

See also image(), setPixmap(), and setData().

### void QClipboard::setMimeData ( QMimeData * src, Mode mode = Clipboard )

Sets the clipboard data to src. Ownership of the data is transferred to the clipboard. If you want to remove the data either call clear() or call setData() again with new data.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the data is retrieved from the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the data is retrieved from the global mouse selection.

The setText(), setImage() and setPixmap() functions are simpler wrappers for setting text, image and pixmap data respectively.

See also data().

### void QClipboard::setPixmap ( const QPixmap & pixmap, Mode mode = Clipboard )

Copies pixmap into the clipboard. Note that this is slower than setImage() because it needs to convert the QPixmap to a QImage first.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the pixmap is stored in the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the pixmap is stored in the global mouse selection.

See also pixmap(), setImage(), and setData().

### void QClipboard::setText ( const QString & text, Mode mode = Clipboard )

Copies text into the clipboard as plain text.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the text is stored in the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the text is stored in the global mouse selection.

See also text() and setData().

### bool QClipboard::supportsSelection () const

Returns true if the clipboard supports mouse selection; otherwise returns false.

### QString QClipboard::text ( Mode mode = Clipboard ) const

Returns the clipboard text as plain text, or a null string if the clipboard does not contain any text.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the text is retrieved from the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the text is retrieved from the global mouse selection.

See also setText() and data().

### QString QClipboard::text ( QString & subtype, Mode mode = Clipboard ) const

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience. It behaves essentially like the above function.

Returns the clipboard text in subtype subtype, or a null string if the clipboard does not contain any text. If subtype is null, any subtype is acceptable, and subtype is set to the chosen subtype.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the text is retrieved from the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the text is retrieved from the global mouse selection.

Common values for subtype are "plain" and "html".

See also setText() and data().