Get text from clipboard using GetText - avoid error on empty clipboard

Question

I'm using code like this to get text from off the Clipboard.

Dim DataObj As New MSForms.DataObject DataObj.GetFromClipboard myString = DataObj.GetText 

I use error handling to get the past the case where the Clipboard is empty, and everything is fine as long as I keep Error Trapping set to Break on Unhandled Errors.

However, for unrelated reasons I want to set Error Trapping to Break on All Errors, and this throws an error at DataObj.GetText when it finds the empty Clipboard. Is there any kind of test I can apply further upstream to avoid trying to process an empty Clipboard?

Answer 1

Handle the errors with On Error GoTo as shown here:

Sub GetClipBoardText()    Dim DataObj As MSForms.DataObject    Set DataObj = New MsForms.DataObject '<~~ Amended as per jp's suggestion     On Error GoTo Whoa     '~~> Get data from the clipboard.    DataObj.GetFromClipboard     '~~> Get clipboard contents    myString = DataObj.GetText(1)    MsgBox myString     Exit Sub Whoa:    If Err <> 0 Then MsgBox "Data on clipboard is not text or is empty" End Sub 

You will notice that it will handle an empty clipboard as well.

NB: to make the code work, you must have a reference to "Microsoft Forms 2.0 Object Library" (this file can be found at C:\windows\system32\FM20.dll on 32-bit machines, or at C:\Windows\sysWOW64\FM20.dll on 64-bit machines), otherwise you'd get the error "User-Defined type not defined".

You can empty the clipboard before testing the above code by using the code below. Please paste it in a module.

Private Declare Function OpenClipboard Lib "User32.dll" _ (ByVal hWndNewOwner As Long) As Long    Private Declare Function EmptyClipboard Lib "User32.dll" () As Long   Private Declare Function CloseClipboard Lib "User32.dll" () As Long   Public Sub ClearClipboard()     Dim Ret        Ret = OpenClipboard(0&)     If Ret <> 0 Then Ret = EmptyClipboard     CloseClipboard End Sub 

EDIT: you may also determine if the clipboard is empty by using this code:

Private Declare Function CountClipboardFormats Lib "user32" () As Long  Sub Sample()     If (CountClipboardFormats() = 0) = True Then         MsgBox "Clipboard is empty"     Else         MsgBox "Clipboard is not empty"     End If End Sub