How do I save a copy of the clipboard and then revert back to it?

Question

I'm reading words in a text box by simulating the key presses required to highligh and copy the text. When I'm done, I want the clipboard to be exactly how I found it.

I was hoping I'd be able to do something like this:

IDataObject clipboardBackup = Clipboard.GetDataObject();
Clipboard.Clear();
//Save other things into the clipboard here, etc//
Clipboard.SetDataObject(clipboardBackup);

But that doesn't seem to work. It looks like you can go the route of specifically trying for text, audio, pictures, etc. and then saving them accordingly. (I guess 'data object' is specialized like that in my example too, I was hoping it was generic.)

I'd prefer not to use cases for every possible type of clipboard data, both to be more concise and to make sure I never lose the data regardless of format.

Any tips for grabbing any and all of the clipboard and then restoring it?

Answer 1

Do not use the clipboard unless directly instructed to do so by the logged-on user. It's not for general application storage - it's for the user to use for what they want to clip.

If you want to get text from an arbitrary textbox, locate the window (in the Win32) sense and send an EM_GETTEXT Win32 message.