[net.micro.amiga] Clipboard stuff

hadeishi@husc4.harvard.edu (mitsuharu hadeishi) (10/05/86)

In article <93500041@convex> Dan Wallach writes:
>So, when are programs going to show up that use the clipboard?

	AmigaBasic, Textcraft 2.0, and TxEd are three programs I know
of that use the clipboard.  I've run two copies of AmigaBasic, cut
from one copy and pasted into another with no problems.  The only
problem is the lack of a data standard.  I assume that AmigaBasic, etc.
are using plain text;  I know there's a way to flag whether or not
you have plain text or image data in the clipboard.  To support the
programs already using the clipboard plain text should be maintained
as a standard clipboard data format.  Perhaps even console output
text (i.e. with underlining, tabs, italics, reverse video, and boldface)
should be included in an "extended plain text format."  This is to
maintain simplicity for simple text transfers.  However IFF should
be the standard for image transfer, complicated (hypertext) text
transfer, typeset stuff (is FTXT powerful enough for typesetting?
I.e., as much information as LaTeX?  With extensions it should be.
Could LaTeX be modified to use FTXT so we can start adhering to
some sort of standard?  And WHAT ABOUT MIXED TEXT AND GRAPHICS!!!)


				-Mitsu

andy@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (Andy Finkel) (10/06/86)

In article <330@husc6.HARVARD.EDU> hadeishi@husc4.UUCP (mitsuharu hadeishi) writes:
>
>In article <93500041@convex> Dan Wallach writes:
>>So, when are programs going to show up that use the clipboard?
>
>	AmigaBasic, Textcraft 2.0, and TxEd are three programs I know
>of that use the clipboard.  I've run two copies of AmigaBasic, cut
>from one copy and pasted into another with no problems.  The only
>problem is the lack of a data standard.  
<.......>
>				-Mitsu


Well, the suggestions on a standard data format for the clipboard
are all fine; they are also redundant...the clipboard.device requireds
IFF data only.

I quote from the Rom Kernal Reference Manual, Libraries and Devices,
chapter 16, "Clipboard Device", page 441.

"Data on the clipboard is self-identifying.  It must be a correct IFF
(Interchange Format Files) file;"  "See the appendices of the Amiga Rom
Kernal Reference Manual: Exec for a complete description of IFF. 
If the top-level chunk is of type CAT or LIST with an identifier of CLIP, that
indicates that the contained chunks are different representations of the same 
data. in decreasing order of preference on the part of the producer of the 
clip.  Any other data is as defined elsewhere (probably a single 
representation of the cut data produced by an application)."

There is also a sample program in that chapter.

So, the answer to the standards question, identification, mixed text and
graphics on the clipboard is this:  Data *must* be in IFF format.

BTW, the notepad in V1.2 supports the clipboard (using FTXT clips).

			andy finkel
-- 

			andy finkel
			Commodore(Amiga)
			{ihnp4|seismo|allegra}!cbmvax!andy
		or	 pyramid!amiga!andy

Any expressed opinions are mine; but feel free to share.

I disclaim all responsibilities, all shapes, all sizes, all colors.

"Remember, no matter where you grow, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonsai.

dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) (10/07/86)

>I quote from the Rom Kernal Reference Manual, Libraries and Devices,
>chapter 16, "Clipboard Device", page 441.
>
>"Data on the clipboard is self-identifying.  It must be a correct IFF
>(Interchange Format Files) file;"  "See the appendices of the Amiga Rom
>		...

	Yahhhhhh.  I'll send away for my IFF docs right away.  Perhaps this
fact should be publicized a bit more as I certainly didn't know about it.

				-Matt