How to: Send Information to the Clipboard

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Use the RunCommand Method

You can use the RunCommand method with the acCmdCopy constant to copy the contents of the active control on a form or report to the Clipboard. The following example illustrates how to copy the contents of a text box named txtNotes to the Clipboard.

  Private Sub cmdCopy_Click()
   Me!txtNotes.SetFocus
   DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdCopy
End Sub

Use the Windows API

To use Windows API calls to send information to the Clipboard, paste the following code into the Declarations section of a standard module.

  Declare Function GlobalUnlock Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hMem As Long) _
   As Long
Declare Function GlobalLock Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hMem As Long) _
   As Long
Declare Function GlobalAlloc Lib "kernel32" (ByVal wFlags As Long, _
   ByVal dwBytes As Long) As Long
Declare Function CloseClipboard Lib "User32" () As Long
Declare Function OpenClipboard Lib "User32" (ByVal hwnd As Long) _
   As Long
Declare Function EmptyClipboard Lib "User32" () As Long
Declare Function lstrcpy Lib "kernel32" (ByVal lpString1 As Any, _
   ByVal lpString2 As Any) As Long
Declare Function SetClipboardData Lib "User32" (ByVal wFormat _
   As Long, ByVal hMem As Long) As Long

Public Const GHND = &H42
Public Const CF_TEXT = 1
Public Const MAXSIZE = 4096

The following procedure illusrtrates how to send information to the Clipboard.

  Function ClipBoard_SetData(MyString As String)
   Dim hGlobalMemory As Long, lpGlobalMemory As Long
   Dim hClipMemory As Long, X As Long

' Allocate moveable global memory.
'-------------------------------------------
hGlobalMemory = GlobalAlloc(GHND, Len(MyString) + 1)


' Lock the block to get a far pointer
' to this memory.
lpGlobalMemory = GlobalLock(hGlobalMemory)


' Copy the string to this global memory.
lpGlobalMemory = lstrcpy(lpGlobalMemory, MyString)


' Unlock the memory.
If GlobalUnlock(hGlobalMemory) <> 0 Then
MsgBox "Could not unlock memory location. Copy aborted."
GoTo OutOfHere2
End If


' Open the Clipboard to copy data to.
If OpenClipboard(0&) = 0 Then
MsgBox "Could not open the Clipboard. Copy aborted."
Exit Function
End If


' Clear the Clipboard.
X = EmptyClipboard()


' Copy the data to the Clipboard.
hClipMemory = SetClipboardData(CF_TEXT, hGlobalMemory)


OutOfHere2:


If CloseClipboard() = 0 Then
MsgBox "Could not close Clipboard."
End If


End Function