a very popular article about how to copy text to clipboard out of HTML with javascript in firefox/mozilla/netscape and IE

this is a javascript that i built out of several sources so that it is possible to copy text out of HTML in firefox/mozilla/netscape and in Internet Explorer

large parts of that script are copied from other sources, thats why there are dutch comments

this script only works in mozilla if you sign the javascript or if you change some settings in firefox… see notes below…

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"><!--

// Copyright (C) krikkit - krikkit@gmx.net// --> http://www.krikkit.net///// This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or// modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License// as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2// of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

function copy_clip(meintext){ if (window.clipboardData)    {

   // the IE-manier   window.clipboardData.setData("Text", meintext);

   // waarschijnlijk niet de beste manier om Moz/NS te detecteren;   // het is mij echter onbekend vanaf welke versie dit precies werkt:   }   else if (window.netscape)    { 

   // dit is belangrijk maar staat nergens duidelijk vermeld:   // you have to sign the code to enable this, or see notes below    netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege('UniversalXPConnect');

   // maak een interface naar het clipboard   var clip = Components.classes['@mozilla.org/widget/clipboard;1']                 .createInstance(Components.interfaces.nsIClipboard);   if (!clip) return;

   // maak een transferable   var trans = Components.classes['@mozilla.org/widget/transferable;1']                  .createInstance(Components.interfaces.nsITransferable);   if (!trans) return;

   // specificeer wat voor soort data we op willen halen; text in dit geval   trans.addDataFlavor('text/unicode');

   // om de data uit de transferable te halen hebben we 2 nieuwe objecten    // nodig om het in op te slaan   var str = new Object();   var len = new Object();

   var str = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/supports-string;1"]                .createInstance(Components.interfaces.nsISupportsString);

   var copytext=meintext;

   str.data=copytext;

   trans.setTransferData("text/unicode",str,copytext.length*2);

   var clipid=Components.interfaces.nsIClipboard;

   if (!clip) return false;

   clip.setData(trans,null,clipid.kGlobalClipboard);

   }   alert("Following info was copied to your clipboard:nn" + meintext);   return false;}//--></script>      

to call that script out of your HTML use e.g. this code:

<span onclick='return copy_clip("this is your personal text")'>

test this script:

click somewhere on this line to copy some text to your clipboard (you should have the text “Hello World, from www.krikkit.net!” in your clipboard afterwards)

notes about security:

a cause of the tight security settings in mozilla you have to sign the javascript to make it work another way is to change your firefox/mozilla settings

to do this add this line to your prefs.js file in your firefox/mozilla user profile directory

user_pref("signed.applets.codebase_principal_support", true);

or change it from within the browser with calling the “about:config” page

huge parts of the script are directly copied from the following sources:

http://www.xulplanet.com/tutorials/xultu/clipboard.html
http://www.codebase.nl/index.php/command/viewcode/id/174