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Basics of copy-and-paste

The copy-and-paste API contains the following classes.

Package

Classes

flash.desktop

The static Clipboard.generalClipboard property represents the operating system clipboard. The Clipboard class provides methods for reading and writing data to clipboard objects.

The HTMLLoader class (in AIR) and the TextField class implement default behavior for the normal copy and paste keyboard shortcuts. To implement copy and paste shortcut behavior for custom components, you can listen for these keystrokes directly. You can also use native menu commands along with key equivalents to respond to the keystrokes indirectly.

Different representations of the same information can be made available in a single Clipboard object to increase the ability of other applications to understand and use the data. For example, an image might be included as image data, a serialized Bitmap object, and as a file. Rendering of the data in a format can be deferred so that the format is not actually created until the data in that format is read.