problem with Clipboard.SetText

[Adam Sandler]

Hello,

I have a richtextbox and a method which copies the contents of the
richtextbox to the clipboard -- like so:

Clipboard.SetText(this.richTextBox1.Text);

The problem is if there are any returns, and the user pastes the
clipboard contents into notepad, all the data appears on one line --
with a bunch of non printing characters (which show up as boxes) where
the returns should be. It works okay in wordpad though

So the desired paste operation in notepad yields this:

! 6/28/2008 10:15:58 PM netadmin<<box>>! Enable multicast
routing.<<box>>ip multicast-routing distributed<<box>>ip multicast
route-limit 1000

When I want it to yield this:

! 6/28/2008 10:15:58 PM netadmin

! Enable multicast routing.

ip multicast-routing distributed
ip multicast route-limit 1000

In the source code, the returns are put in with "\n". I tried
replacing that with Environment.NewLine and that doesn't help.

So, how can I get the contents of the clipboard copy to paste into a
text editor where returns aren't treated as special characters and the
text is formatted vertically instead of appearing all on one line?

Suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Adam Sandler]

Are you sure?

Yes I'm sure... I'd attach a screen shot if I could showing you the
non printing characters which show up using notepad.

In the meantime, in a new project, I threw a richtextbox and a button
on a form -- try this code out for yourself:

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
richTextBox1.AppendText("test");
richTextBox1.AppendText(Environment.NewLine);
richTextBox1.AppendText("to");
richTextBox1.AppendText(Environment.NewLine);
richTextBox1.AppendText("copy");
richTextBox1.AppendText(Environment.NewLine);
richTextBox1.AppendText("clipboard");

Clipboard.SetText(richTextBox1.Text);
}

Now, open notepad and paste... the output is all on a single line.
Where the returns should be there are the same non-printing characters
I mentioned in the original post.

 

[Family Tree Mike]

I am seeing the same behaviour that you are in Notepad, but not Notepad++, a
freeware tool I prefer. When I change your code to use a string builder to
build up the string, then put that into the clipboard, all goes well in
Notepad. I suspect "somehow" what you get back from RichTextBox1.Text is
not what you put into it.

Are you sure?

Yes I'm sure... I'd attach a screen shot if I could showing you the
non printing characters which show up using notepad.

In the meantime, in a new project, I threw a richtextbox and a button
on a form -- try this code out for yourself:

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
richTextBox1.AppendText("test");
richTextBox1.AppendText(Environment.NewLine);
richTextBox1.AppendText("to");
richTextBox1.AppendText(Environment.NewLine);
richTextBox1.AppendText("copy");
richTextBox1.AppendText(Environment.NewLine);
richTextBox1.AppendText("clipboard");

Clipboard.SetText(richTextBox1.Text);
}

Now, open notepad and paste... the output is all on a single line.
Where the returns should be there are the same non-printing characters
I mentioned in the original post.

 

[Adam Sandler]

I am seeing the same behaviour that you are in Notepad, but not Notepad++, a
freeware tool I prefer.  When I change your code to use a string builder to
build up the string, then put that into the clipboard, all goes well in
Notepad.  I suspect "somehow" what you get back from RichTextBox1.Text is
not what you put into it.

Not everyone has Notepad++ and I have to account for that.

The code I posted was an example -- NOT what is in the actual
application. I too am using a stringbuilder in the app. But I could
have sworn that when I tried to use richTextBox1.AppendText(), it
threw an error when trying to use a stringbuilder as a parameter. So
my code converts the stringbuilder to a string and then sends it to
AppendText.

How did you put a stringbuilder directly in a richtextbox?

 

[Family Tree Mike]

I believe that my command to set the richtextbox was (for example):

RichTextBox1.Text = StringBuilder1.ToString();

I am seeing the same behaviour that you are in Notepad, but not Notepad++,
a
freeware tool I prefer. When I change your code to use a string builder to
build up the string, then put that into the clipboard, all goes well in
Notepad. I suspect "somehow" what you get back from RichTextBox1.Text is
not what you put into it.

Not everyone has Notepad++ and I have to account for that.

The code I posted was an example -- NOT what is in the actual
application. I too am using a stringbuilder in the app. But I could
have sworn that when I tried to use richTextBox1.AppendText(), it
threw an error when trying to use a stringbuilder as a parameter. So
my code converts the stringbuilder to a string and then sends it to
AppendText.

How did you put a stringbuilder directly in a richtextbox?