github.com/willy-kimura/sharpclipboard

SharpClipboard

SharpClipboard is a clipboard-monitoring library for .NET that listens to the system's clipboard entries, allowing developers to tap into the rich capabilities of determining the clipboard's contents at runtime.

Here's a screenshot and below a usage-preview of the library's features:

Installation

To install via the NuGet Package Manager Console, type:

Install-Package SharpClipboard -Version 2.0.7

You can also download the assembly and add it to Visual Studio's Toolbox; plus not forgetting its documentation.

Features

Here's a comprehensive list of the features available:

• Built as a component making it accessible in Design Mode.
• Silently monitors the system clipboard uninterrupted; can also be disabled while running.
• Ability to detect clipboard content in various formats, namely text, images, files, and other complex types.
• Option to control the type of content to be monitored, e.g. text only, text and images only.
• Ability to capture the background application's details from where the clipboard's contents were cut/copied. For example:

  private void ClipboardChanged(Object sender, SharpClipboard.ClipboardChangedEventArgs e)
  {
      // Gets the application's executable name.
      Debug.WriteLine(e.SourceApplication.Name);
      // Gets the application's window title.
      Debug.WriteLine(e.SourceApplication.Title);
      // Gets the application's process ID.
      Debug.WriteLine(e.SourceApplication.ID.ToString());
      // Gets the application's executable path.
      Debug.WriteLine(e.SourceApplication.Path);
  }
  

Usage

If you prefer working with the Designer, simply add the library to Visual Studio's Toolbox and use the Properties window to change its options:

To use it in code, first import WK.Libraries.SharpClipboardNS - the code below will then assist you:

    var clipboard = new SharpClipboard();

    // Attach your code to the ClipboardChanged event to listen to cuts/copies.
    clipboard.ClipboardChanged += ClipboardChanged;
    
    private void ClipboardChanged(Object sender, ClipboardChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        // Is the content copied of text type?
        if (e.ContentType == SharpClipboard.ContentTypes.Text)
        {
            // Get the cut/copied text.
            Debug.WriteLine(clipboard.ClipboardText);
        }

        // Is the content copied of image type?
        else if (e.ContentType == SharpClipboard.ContentTypes.Image)
        {
            // Get the cut/copied image.
            Image img = clipboard.ClipboardImage;
        }

        // Is the content copied of file type?
        else if (e.ContentType == SharpClipboard.ContentTypes.Files)
        {
            // Get the cut/copied file/files.
            Debug.WriteLine(clipboard.ClipboardFiles.ToArray());

            // ...or use 'ClipboardFile' to get a single copied file.
            Debug.WriteLine(clipboard.ClipboardFile);
        }

        // If the cut/copied content is complex, use 'Other'.
        else if (e.ContentType == SharpClipboard.ContentTypes.Other)
        {
            // Do something with 'e.Content' here...
        }
    }

You can also get the details of the application from where the clipboard's contents were cut/copied from using the ClipboardChanged argument property SourceApplication:

    private void ClipboardChanged(Object sender, SharpClipboard.ClipboardChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        // Gets the application's executable name.
        Debug.WriteLine(e.SourceApplication.Name);
        // Gets the application's window title.
        Debug.WriteLine(e.SourceApplication.Title);
        // Gets the application's process ID.
        Debug.WriteLine(e.SourceApplication.ID.ToString());
        // Gets the application's executable path.
        Debug.WriteLine(e.SourceApplication.Path);
    }

This option could come in handy especially when you're building a clipboard-monitoring application where users may feel the need to know where every recorded cut/copy action occurred.

To manually parse the content after a cut/copy has been detected, you can use the argument property e.Content in the ClipboardChanged event:

    private void ClipboardChanged(Object sender, ClipboardChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        // For texts...
        string text = e.Content.ToString();

        // or images...
        Image img = (Image)e.Content;

        // or files...
        List<string> files = (List<string>)e.Content;

        // or other complex types too.
    }

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