Javascript Copy Text To Clipboard

Posted by blogmeister on

August 28, 2008

Issues arise when you want to copy text to the clipboard using javascript. Firefox provides a security measure which prevents you from doing it so a workaround has to be made for it to happen. I am using IE7 for my IE testing and in this version, it also has a security feature although less strict than Firefox. Whenever you browse to a new page that has a copy to clipboard function, a popup window prompts you asking if you want to allow the webpage to access your clipboard. Normally, you would choose no. But instances may require you to like if the site you are accessing is yours or related to your needs and you have the utmost trust that the script won’t harm your PC or something. Anyway, to provide copy to clipboard functionality using Javascript, I found this function in this site does the job by using a little .SWF file. You can download the file there or if you want to use Google App Engine, the code function below will do. It also works in Safari, IE, and Opera.

function copyToClipboard(text) {
	var flashId = 'flashId-HKxmj5';
	/* Replace this with your clipboard.swf location */
	var clipboardSWF = 'http://appengine.bravo9.com/copy-into-clipboard/clipboard.swf';
	if (!document.getElementById(flashId)) {
		var div = document.createElement('div');
		div.id = flashId;
		document.body.appendChild(div);
	}
	document.getElementById(flashId).innerHTML = '';
	var content = '<embed src="' +
	clipboardSWF +
	'" FlashVars="clipboard=' + encodeURIComponent(text) +
	'" width="0" height="0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>';
	document.getElementById(flashId).innerHTML = content;
}

function copyToClipboard(text) {

var flashId = 'flashId-HKxmj5';

/* Replace this with your clipboard.swf location */

var clipboardSWF = 'http://appengine.bravo9.com/copy-into-clipboard/clipboard.swf';

if (!document.getElementById(flashId)) {

var div = document.createElement('div');

div.id = flashId;

document.body.appendChild(div);

}

document.getElementById(flashId).innerHTML = '';

var content = '<embed src="' +

clipboardSWF +

'" FlashVars="clipboard=' + encodeURIComponent(text) +

'" width="0" height="0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>';

document.getElementById(flashId).innerHTML = content;

}

tags: clipboard, firefox, ie, javascript, mozilla, opera

14 Responses to “Javascript Copy Text To Clipboard”
once I had questions about web coding, I know where to go.. Here on your website.. Thanks for the info.

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By anneberly on Aug 28, 2008
i want to learn java next time

By treen on Aug 28, 2008
another interesting post for programmers.. Thanks for the info…

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By anneberly on Aug 30, 2008
Thank’s for this code.
I think this code doesn’t work on vista. DO you have a workaround?

kind regards, Daniel

By Daniel on Oct 28, 2008
hi daniel, it’s not the os that’s the problem, it’s the browser. which browser are you using and what version? i tried this with ie7 and it was ok. i usually use firefox.

By tech on Oct 28, 2008
I’ve found recently that this little trick stopped working in Firefox. I am not sure yet if they have closed this “hole” in the recent releases or what the problem is. IE7 still works (w/ a one-time warning), but FF doesn’t.

By Brian on Oct 30, 2008
Doesn’t work for me.. I’m on Safari 3.1.2/Flash 9.. Too bad.. I’m desperately looking for a solution to this..

By Benjamin A. Wendelboe on Oct 30, 2008
this is odd, because in firefox 2 and 3, this works. i checked it again. perhaps you installed a flash swf blocker plugin? because that won’t work unless you start the flash plugin used to copy the text to clipboard.

i also checked this out in safari 3.1 (525.13). would be weird if a new version can’t support old ones.

IE6 works fine. i checked it again

By tech on Oct 30, 2008
This method is not working if you install Flash 10 due to some security changes.

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/fplayer10_security_changes_02.html#head31

Looking for a workaround

By Bill Beckelman on Nov 30, 2008
This is a very important post, I was looking for this information. Just so you know I found your blog when I was browsing for blogs like mine, so please check out my site sometime and leave me a comment to let me know what you think.

By Young Matros on Apr 10, 2010
Yes but that true

By Forum informatique on Jul 20, 2011