Re: Clipboard

[Michael ROGERS <M Rogers cs ucl ac uk>]

>Stuff like clipboards and such should be WM and DE independent.  For example 
>if you write a super powerful clipboard for GNOME, wouldn't only GNOME
>applications be able to use this functionality?  Cut & paste between KDE and
>GNOME applications would not work, between Netscape and GNOME, etc.
>
>I think maybe a team of developers as devoted to X as we are to GNOME should
>get together and improve all of X (or at least XFree86, at any rate) so that
>all applications, GNOME or not, can work together.  I mean, more than just
>clipboards.  A standard sound interface would be nice.  And maybe even an
>advanced input API.  Anything that makes X easier to use for developers AND
>users.
>
>Any volunteers?  I'm not an X expert, or even a GNOME expert, but I'd like to
>get involved.  Anything that makes all of X easier to use will make GNOME
>easier to use.  And that means more people can drop Windoze are start using a
>real desktop!  ;)

Hear hear  :)

At the moment, the clipboard is one area where Windows beats the pants off X,
and I don't know if X can be improved without breaking backwards
compatibility. However, if it is possible, what I'd like to see is this:

Instead of text-only copy-and-paste, the middle button should trigger a 
clipboard app which can be chosen by the user or sysadmin (just as the window 
manager is). One example of such an app would display a file-manager-like 
window under the mouse pointer, which would be a drop target for files 
or mime-tagged data selections, and which would be sticky. The user would
select the files or data she wanted to move, middle click to bring up the
scratch area/clipboard, and drag the data onto the clipboard. She could then
navigate to the destination and drag the data off the (sticky) clipboard, or 
close the clipboard and recall it later.

Could this be done (ie is the current clipboard code handled by the
application or the X server)?


Michael Rogers