About Copying and Pasting

Exceed onDemand supports data copying and pasting between X applications, and the operating system's native clipboard and applications. Pasting from X applications to printers is also supported. The copy and paste process uses a temporary buffer to hold data. A snapshot of the data stays in the buffer until it is cleared or replaced. The buffer which holds the data differs depending on whether you are using applications native to the operating system (for example, Windows).

Applications native to an operating system typically use a buffer called the clipboard to perform the copy/paste function. In the X Window environment, copy/paste data is stored in an X selection buffer with a specific name.

The X application performing a copy/paste operation determines which X selection(s) to use and how to use it. You need to determine which X selection your X application uses to copy data and which X selection it uses to paste data.

Most X applications use the PRIMARY X selection for both the copy and paste operations, but other selections, such as SECONDARY, CLIPBOARD, and CUT_BUFFER0 to CUT_BUFFER7, are also defined. You also need to determine how to copy data displayed in your X application window into the X selection buffer and how to paste data from the X selection buffer into your X application window.

Most X applications copy any data you select with your mouse into the X selection buffer associated with the copy operation. Some X applications require you to enter a keystroke combination or to select a copy menu command before copying the currently selected data into the X selection buffer. Pasting usually occurs at the insertion point when you click your middle-mouse button in the window, select a paste menu command, or enter a paste keystroke combination.

Related Topics

About Text Selections

About Active Client Window Selections