tk_textPaste

tk_textPaste window

Pastes the contents of the clipboard to the insertion point in a text widget window. Deletes the current selection (except on X11).

This function is documented with text.

This command is called in response to the receipt of a <<Paste>> event.

The actual proc is defined as:

 proc ::tk_textPaste w {
   global tcl_platform
   if {![catch {::tk::GetSelection $w CLIPBOARD} sel]} {
     set oldSeparator [$w cget -autoseparators]
     if { $oldSeparator } {
       $w configure -autoseparators 0
       $w edit separator
     }
     if {[string compare [tk windowingsystem] "x11"]} {
       catch { $w delete sel.first sel.last }
     }
     $w insert insert $sel
     if { $oldSeparator } {
       $w edit separator
       $w configure -autoseparators 1
     }
   }
 }

which doesn't take into account the possibility of having multiple ranges with the sel tag. Here's a more complete version:

 proc ::tk_textPaste w {
   global tcl_platform
   array set range {}
   if { [catch {$w tag ranges sel} ranges] } { return }
   foreach {first last} $ranges {
     set range($first) $last
     puts "set range($first) \[$last\]"
   }

   if { [catch {::tk::GetSelection $w CLIPBOARD} sel] } { return }

   set oldSeparator [$w cget -autoseparators]
   if { $oldSeparator } {
     $w configure -autoseparators 0
     $w edit separator
   }
   if { ![string equal [tk windowingsystem] "x11"] } {
     foreach first [lsort -decreasing [array names range]] {
       $w delete $first $range($first)
     }
   }
   $w insert insert $sel
   if { $oldSeparator } {
     $w edit separator
     $w configure -autoseparators 1
   }
 }

See also:

• clipboard
• text
• tk_textCopy
• tk_textCut

WHD - 2009-10-27 12:19:49

Two questions:

• Why doesn't tk_textPaste delete the selection on X11? That might have been standard behavior at one time, but it certainly isn't standard behavior now.
• Regarding the "fixed" version above that allows the "sel" tag to have multiple ranges...why would it?

Donald Arseneau ... Because deleting the selection on X11 is evil! It makes me break things like keyboards when it happens unexpectedly in text editors.

WHD Seriously? (I'm not being flippant; I'm quite seriously surprised.)

wdb before or after trying <Ctrl-Z>?

Donald Arseneau Not _really_ ... I was around someone who got angry enough to smash the keyboard, and if I had ever followed that example it could have been when a chunk of text disappeared, from a region outside the editor's viewport, because it had remained selected until I started typing something else (this happened in nedit).

wdb Separate selection areas are imagineable if a text widget is programmed like OOo Write. -- On my unix machine, I am annoyed of non-deleting the selection on pasting, so here my slightly shorter version where multiple sel ranges are deleted in reverse order:

proc tk_textPaste w {
  global tcl_platform
  if {![catch {::tk::GetSelection $w CLIPBOARD} sel]} then {
    set oldSeparator [$w cget -autoseparators]
    if {$oldSeparator} then {
      $w configure -autoseparators 0
      $w edit separator
    }
    foreach {to from} [lreverse [$w tag ranges sel]] {
      $w delete $from $to
    }
    $w insert insert $sel
    if {$oldSeparator} then {
      $w edit separator
      $w configure -autoseparators 1
    }
  }
}

WHD Can you clarify how you can multiple selection areas in OpenOffice Write? I use Write, but I've never seen that happen.

wdb First input "one two one three one four", then open search dialog, for search text input "one", then "search all". All occurrences of "one" are selected. -- Another way is first select a word, then select another with ctrl+button1.