Add Clipboard change event to clipboard API #2280

gratmann · 2015-07-20T17:09:57Z

I'd like to write a clipboard manager that monitors the systems' clipboard. Searching for an event in the clipboard I didn't found one.

I know there exists the HTML5 clipboard API, but my application needs to monitor the clipboard when it does not have focus.

I mean like QClipboard's void selectionChanged() and void dataChanged() or like GTK's owner-changed.

Currently I'm retrieving the contents of the clipboard and look manually whether the content has changed every 20ms, which should not be the preferred way. It works but I really shouldn't resort to a busy polling loop...

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afc163 · 2015-08-11T05:07:55Z

Need that too

destan · 2015-09-09T10:52:30Z

👍

mikesurowiec · 2015-09-24T17:05:02Z

👍 would be useful for me too

alejandroSuch · 2015-10-06T15:59:58Z

senior-sigan · 2015-10-07T10:01:44Z

👍

johnRivs · 2015-11-11T18:14:46Z

+1

edokeh · 2015-11-17T16:22:16Z

+1
I need this!

anaisbetts · 2015-11-17T20:25:34Z

This isn't possible on OS X, you have to poll. It works on Windows, and miiiight work on Linux?

destan · 2016-01-05T08:47:52Z

@paulcbetts what do you mean by isn't possible? Did you take a look into how Qt implements this functionality?

destan · 2016-02-24T12:27:41Z

@zcbenz any plans in roadmap to implement this?

anaisbetts · 2016-02-24T16:33:03Z

@destan As far as I can see from https://github.com/qtproject/qtbase/blob/dev/src/plugins/platforms/cocoa/qmacclipboard.mm, it doesn't implement it at all, the event just doesn't fire.

destan · 2016-03-24T07:34:16Z

@paulcbetts I don't know about mac but it works on windows and linux (currently I am using it). Moreover you may be misinterpreting the source code because if it wasn't available on mac it would have been stated here http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qclipboard.html#changed

nwestbury · 2016-05-11T02:53:44Z

+1, I could use this

zcbenz · 2016-06-22T04:34:49Z

Chromium is going to add this feature, we will be able to use it Electron after it gets finished:
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=460610

anaisbetts · 2016-06-22T21:48:05Z

I'm not so sure, it looks like only X11 and ChromeOS get it

wangxiexe · 2016-06-29T06:47:55Z

want it badly! thx.

destan · 2016-11-03T11:35:43Z

@zcbenz https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=460610 seems fixed, do you have time to check it out?

iDaN5x · 2017-01-02T06:01:19Z

@zcbenz any updates?

toaco · 2017-01-19T04:11:26Z

+1

anaisbetts · 2017-01-19T04:15:01Z

@destan Still only implemented for X11 and ChromeOS

zh99998 · 2017-01-22T08:09:34Z

+1 for this request

@joshwnj

End: Make the workflow more natural. Means: Remove the Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+C shortcut. Electron's clipboard API doesn't expose a change event or observable event stream (see electron/electron#2280). Until it does, we're forced to busy wait, checking the contents of the clipboard every N ms. Fortunately, electron-clipboard-watcher already implements this. However, it's API isn't ideal. It's as important to start a conversation with that module's author, @joshwnj, as it is to meet the stated end. With the above in mind, add the observable-clipboard module, which uses the wraps the electron-clipboard-watcher with zen-observable, an implementation of the Observable spec (see https://tc39.github.io/proposal-observable/).

twang2218 · 2017-02-09T16:02:37Z

Blocking issue https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=460610#c22 has been fixed, but in chromium stable 56, I think that is why this issue hasn't been fixed yet, as libchromiumcontent hadn't been upgraded to Chromium 56 back then.

But now it's upgraded to 56 via PR electron/libchromiumcontent#258. This issue might be able to be fixed this time.

ping @zcbenz

kevinsawicki · 2017-02-09T21:55:26Z

@twang2218 this is still only implemented on Linux in Chromium.

https://cs.chromium.org/search/?q=NotifyClipboardDataChanged&type=cs

LewdEwe-ErikWallace · 2017-02-10T14:33:37Z

I'm also wishing Electron had clipboard events. 👍

twang2218 · 2017-02-11T03:00:20Z

Oh, that's unfortunately. For my case, I got performance hit of keep checking for new clipboard on Linux, which is 10-20 times slower than macOS. It would be great even if only implemented this feature on Linux.

LewdEwe-ErikWallace · 2017-02-11T15:46:59Z

For now I've simply used some preload code in a frameless hidden window as a kind of clipboard manager utility. I'm using an interval timer of 250ms to read the clipboard and compare it to the last value; if it has changed I send an IPC message to the main Node Electron process, which decides if it's relevant and if it is then sends an IPC message to the visible UI window to update the display. It suits my needs and is very responsive, as soon as I copy text in another application it immediately appears in my Electron app. I don't have access to a Mac so I've only tested this on linux.

JonasGroeger · 2017-02-24T08:26:42Z

@LewdEwe-ErikWallace Do you have that code somewhere?

iDaN5x · 2017-03-07T13:41:56Z

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it should be possible to write a native node add-on to support this.

Native add-ons are written in C/C++ and compiled by node-gyp;
Using conditional preprocessor directives, we can have cross-platform support.

The add-on would subscribe to the system's native clipboard events & call stored callback JS functions when en event rises.

LewdEwe-ErikWallace · 2017-08-25T14:58:42Z

@JonasGroeger

Sorry I didn't see your comment sooner. Here is an example extracted from my project:

https://gist.github.com/LewdEwe-ErikWallace/d6e36f899a77a4f05e46388c254d014f

dsantratlock · 2018-10-23T20:27:42Z

This would also be very useful to an electron application I am working on.

LewdEwe-ErikWallace · 2018-10-23T20:55:37Z

@dsantratlock
Feel free to copy anything in the gist if it helps you.

codebytere · 2018-11-01T14:54:48Z

As this is still only implemented in Chromium for Linux, I also believe this is better as a native addon rather then implemented in such a platform-specific capacity. As such, i'm labeling this a wontfix, but should something change on the Chromium side we can revisit this!

PovarovDenis · 2019-06-06T10:42:33Z

Hey folks, any updates?

sudhakar3697 · 2020-04-07T14:24:31Z

Hey folks, check my npm module (node-clipboard-event) out.
Thank you.

318097 · 2021-04-01T15:54:46Z

I need this tooo

akash07k · 2021-06-28T20:03:22Z

I too need this badly. any update on this?
@hokein
@zcbenz

akash07k · 2021-06-28T20:04:14Z

Hey bro, your module is awesome, is there any way to get the data/text which has been changed?

Hey folks, check my npm module (node-clipboard-event) out.
Thank you.

akash07k · 2021-08-11T18:27:41Z

@hokein
@zcbenz
any update on it guys?

felipecrs · 2021-10-25T02:11:06Z

Hey bro, your module is awesome, is there any way to get the data/text which has been changed?

https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/main/docs/api/clipboard.md#clipboard

felipecrs · 2024-01-12T17:25:16Z

For anyone interested in this feature, I suggest you star this crbug: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=933608

akash07k · 2024-01-14T18:46:27Z

starred.

For anyone interested in this feature, I suggest you star this crbug: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=933608

zcbenz added the enhancement ✨ label Jul 21, 2015

hokein mentioned this issue Oct 7, 2015

How to listen on clipboard data changed? #3013

Closed

zcbenz added the component/clipboard label May 11, 2016

codebytere closed this as completed Nov 1, 2018

codebytere added the status/wontfix 🚫 label Nov 1, 2018

Prinzhorn mentioned this issue Jul 26, 2022

[Feature Request]: Electron Clipboard onChange eventListener #35060

Closed

3 tasks

Add Clipboard change event to clipboard API #2280

Add Clipboard change event to clipboard API #2280

Comments

gratmann commented Jul 20, 2015

afc163 commented Aug 11, 2015

destan commented Sep 9, 2015

mikesurowiec commented Sep 24, 2015

alejandroSuch commented Oct 6, 2015

senior-sigan commented Oct 7, 2015

johnRivs commented Nov 11, 2015

edokeh commented Nov 17, 2015

anaisbetts commented Nov 17, 2015

destan commented Jan 5, 2016

destan commented Feb 24, 2016

anaisbetts commented Feb 24, 2016

destan commented Mar 24, 2016

nwestbury commented May 11, 2016

zcbenz commented Jun 22, 2016

anaisbetts commented Jun 22, 2016

wangxiexe commented Jun 29, 2016

destan commented Nov 3, 2016

iDaN5x commented Jan 2, 2017

toaco commented Jan 19, 2017

anaisbetts commented Jan 19, 2017 • edited

zh99998 commented Jan 22, 2017

twang2218 commented Feb 9, 2017

kevinsawicki commented Feb 9, 2017 • edited

LewdEwe-ErikWallace commented Feb 10, 2017

twang2218 commented Feb 11, 2017

LewdEwe-ErikWallace commented Feb 11, 2017 • edited

JonasGroeger commented Feb 24, 2017

iDaN5x commented Mar 7, 2017 • edited

LewdEwe-ErikWallace commented Aug 25, 2017

dsantratlock commented Oct 23, 2018

LewdEwe-ErikWallace commented Oct 23, 2018

codebytere commented Nov 1, 2018

PovarovDenis commented Jun 6, 2019

sudhakar3697 commented Apr 7, 2020

318097 commented Apr 1, 2021

akash07k commented Jun 28, 2021

akash07k commented Jun 28, 2021

akash07k commented Aug 11, 2021

felipecrs commented Oct 25, 2021

felipecrs commented Jan 12, 2024

akash07k commented Jan 14, 2024

anaisbetts commented Jan 19, 2017 •

edited

kevinsawicki commented Feb 9, 2017 •

edited

LewdEwe-ErikWallace commented Feb 11, 2017 •

edited

iDaN5x commented Mar 7, 2017 •

edited