5 ms·

I've found the clipboard to be a highly flexible tool, that seems under-used. As an example, I've extended my game engine editor to draw any position in 3d that

I've found the clipboard to be a highly flexible tool, that seems under-used. As an example, I've extended my game engine editor to draw any position in 3d that I have in the clipboard. So when problems happen and are displayed in the logs, I select the log, copy to clipboard, boom, position drawn. This idea has a lot of legs IMO.

dragontamer 4y ago
There was a browser based game called "Utopia" in the 00s that was reasonably popular. Someone wrote a tool where you'd copy/paste your kingdom homescreen, and get all sorts of calculations / predictions. It was one of the easiest-to-use calculators I've ever seen. Just enter your webpage to play the game, Ctrl-A (select-all), Ctrl-C (copy), and bam, the Utopia-program would instantly analyze your kingdom and provide advice. Just all off of the HTML-copy that Clipboard supports. ------------ Windows developers "know" the clipboard is one of the most important inter-process communication structures of the entire system, and have known for years. Its probably one of the Win32 API's biggest advantages, no joke. The shear amount of creative solutions I've seen from clipboard manipulations is outstanding.
- RajT88 4y ago
  Since Windows 7 or so, I've noticed more and more instances where you ctrl+C and the clipboard doesn't update. I had a chat with a Windows PM on it opportunistically a while back. It turns out, more and more applications are locking the clipboard and holding onto the lock inappropriately. Enough that there's a particular telemetry watcher for this condition for MSFT to get an idea on who the guilty parties are. Everyone has had it happen - I notice it when colleagues are in a rush and send me something they didn't mean to send (because their clipboard didn't update). I don't know who the guilty parties are (since that telemetry is encrypted, and can't be inspected), but I sure hope someone is knocking down some doors to address the problem.
  - RedShift1 4y ago
    Oooh so that's what that is. I've had it happen numerous times where I was absolutely sure I pressed CTRL+C yet the clipboard was empty. I now use CTRL+X and CTRL+Z just because of that.
    - RajT88 4y ago
      That's interesting - that Ctrl+X behaves differently. It shouldn't right? But you have found that it helps?
      - RedShift1 4y ago
        It helps because there is visual feedback so you're sure you don't have to go back to the original program and do the copy again. Plus sometimes your original program forgets your selection, with CTRL+X you're sure it's on the clipboard and won't have to return.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - formerly_proven 4y ago
    One guilty party: some versions of the RealVNC client randomly lock the clipboard.
  - bennysomething 4y ago
    Genuine question, why is it even possible to lock the clip board?
    - RajT88 4y ago
      I have tried to track this down - it seems like at some point it was not possible. My guess is Vista is when the lock was implemented. I've come up blank repeatedly. I am sure Raymond Chen knows. Looks like comments are allowed on his blog too!
    - ectopod 4y ago
jwandborg 4y ago
IIRC factorio's blueprints are represented, or have one representation, as base64-encoded gzipped JSON on the clipboard (with a version byte as prefix in the b64 form, double-IIRC), meaning you can copy/paste blueprints between the game and anything other that accepts text.
- bombcar 4y ago
  Hearthstone added something similar for decks (even made it human readable): ### Starting Party # # Cariel Roame # - Tome of Light 4 # Xyrella # - Robes of Purity 2 # Rokara # - Helm of Inspiration 1 # Murky # - Time to Krill 3 # Millhouse Manastorm # - Arcane Powder 1 # Deathwing # - Heart of Unliving 3 # CO+cmQQSDlN0YXJ0aW5nIFBhcnR5GAEiRQoJCBIQiwEYICAACgkIExDKARgjIAAKCQgLEIgBGAsgAAoLCLgCEOMCGLIEIAAKCAgOEB8YFCAACgsIqgIQygIYkgQgACgA # # To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

dragontamer 4y ago

There was a browser based game called "Utopia" in the 00s that was reasonably popular. Someone wrote a tool where you'd copy/paste your kingdom homescreen, and get all sorts of calculations / predictions. It was one of the easiest-to-use calculators I've ever seen. Just enter your webpage to play the game, Ctrl-A (select-all), Ctrl-C (copy), and bam, the Utopia-program would instantly analyze your kingdom and provide advice. Just all off of the HTML-copy that Clipboard supports. ------------ Windows developers "know" the clipboard is one of the most important inter-process communication structures of the entire system, and have known for years. Its probably one of the Win32 API's biggest advantages, no joke. The shear amount of creative solutions I've seen from clipboard manipulations is outstanding.

RajT88 4y ago
Since Windows 7 or so, I've noticed more and more instances where you ctrl+C and the clipboard doesn't update. I had a chat with a Windows PM on it opportunistically a while back. It turns out, more and more applications are locking the clipboard and holding onto the lock inappropriately. Enough that there's a particular telemetry watcher for this condition for MSFT to get an idea on who the guilty parties are. Everyone has had it happen - I notice it when colleagues are in a rush and send me something they didn't mean to send (because their clipboard didn't update). I don't know who the guilty parties are (since that telemetry is encrypted, and can't be inspected), but I sure hope someone is knocking down some doors to address the problem.
- RedShift1 4y ago
  Oooh so that's what that is. I've had it happen numerous times where I was absolutely sure I pressed CTRL+C yet the clipboard was empty. I now use CTRL+X and CTRL+Z just because of that.
  - RajT88 4y ago
    That's interesting - that Ctrl+X behaves differently. It shouldn't right? But you have found that it helps?
    - RedShift1 4y ago
      It helps because there is visual feedback so you're sure you don't have to go back to the original program and do the copy again. Plus sometimes your original program forgets your selection, with CTRL+X you're sure it's on the clipboard and won't have to return.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- formerly_proven 4y ago
  One guilty party: some versions of the RealVNC client randomly lock the clipboard.
- bennysomething 4y ago
  Genuine question, why is it even possible to lock the clip board?
  - RajT88 4y ago
    I have tried to track this down - it seems like at some point it was not possible. My guess is Vista is when the lock was implemented. I've come up blank repeatedly. I am sure Raymond Chen knows. Looks like comments are allowed on his blog too!
  - ectopod 4y ago

jwandborg 4y ago

IIRC factorio's blueprints are represented, or have one representation, as base64-encoded gzipped JSON on the clipboard (with a version byte as prefix in the b64 form, double-IIRC), meaning you can copy/paste blueprints between the game and anything other that accepts text.

bombcar 4y ago
Hearthstone added something similar for decks (even made it human readable): ### Starting Party # # Cariel Roame # - Tome of Light 4 # Xyrella # - Robes of Purity 2 # Rokara # - Helm of Inspiration 1 # Murky # - Time to Krill 3 # Millhouse Manastorm # - Arcane Powder 1 # Deathwing # - Heart of Unliving 3 # CO+cmQQSDlN0YXJ0aW5nIFBhcnR5GAEiRQoJCBIQiwEYICAACgkIExDKARgjIAAKCQgLEIgBGAsgAAoLCLgCEOMCGLIEIAAKCAgOEB8YFCAACgsIqgIQygIYkgQgACgA # # To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone