[UPDATED: 8/10/2003] Copy and Paste software v1.1

[Guest maxh2003]

EDIT: Version 1.1 - hopefully this tweak will fix the problem with not copying properly... reports of success/failure welcomed ;)

= v1.1 - README.TXT =

Anyone who wanted to use text copy-and-paste on Smartphone (without using a fabric keyboard)?

Well if anyone does then the attached program might work as well for you as it seems to for me. It works just about anywhere - Internet Explorer, Orneta Notepad, etc.

Note that it's *totally* dependent on the excellent Xbar (http://www.xetranet.com/spv/xbar/). Just extract the zip file into IPSMProgram FilesX-Bar. There are three tiny executables and three shortcuts for the executables, to map them to X-Bar shortcuts 4, 5 and 6.

Once you've extracted the files, you can go to any text or numeric field and copy the entire contents to memory. Just press Voice to call up X-Bar, then press 4.

You can then go to any other application, and paste the memory contents. Call up X-Bar, then press 6.

If you want to copy part of a field, but not all of it, you can try the five-second mode. Move the cursor to the start of the text you want to copy, then call up X-Bar, and press 5. You now have 5 seconds to select text (the text is highlighted on-screen). An alert warns you when the five seconds are up. The text is then automatically copied to the clipboard so you can paste it elsewhere. Note that if five seconds isn't enough, simply 'OK' the warning, then press X-Bar, then 5, again. This gives you 5 more seconds to highlight text.

Revision History

================

version 1.1 08/10/2003 maxh2003

Now copies three times (invisibly) with slight pauses between, because sometimes, some attempts to copy didn't work.

version 1.0 06/10/2003

copy v1.1.zip

[Guest yoos]

Awesome!! Thanks!!

[Guest gpcarreon (MVP)]

...you can go to any text or numeric field and copy the entire contents to memory.  Just press Voice to call up X-Bar, then press 4.

You can then go to any other application, and paste the memory contents.  Call up X-Bar, then press 6.

COMMENT: I opened a .txt file via Orneta notepad, copied the entire text then attempted to paste this on the field where you compose your SMS...but I failed. It can only transfer text on the same application. Transfer of text characters from Orneta to the text field of SMS not possible?

Still a nice post maxh2003! ;) FUN-TASTIC!

[Guest Xetra]

Excellent !!!

First and best Xbar plugin ;)

Can i put on my web site ?

I can give you acces to another key if you want ?

up, down, take a call, hang up.

Xetra

[Guest maxh2003]

Pzee - it does seem temperamental. Seems to work a lot better if you make sure that you don't quit Orneta Notepad in between copying and pasting. It certainly *does* let you copy-and-paste *between* applications though - for instance, copying from SMS to Orneta Notepad seems to work every time.

Note that it's easier to leave Orneta Notepad running in the background if you turn on its Display Character Count and Display Filename options - otherwise it doesn't appear in Xbar and you can't bring it back to the front, in order to close it after completing the paste operation.

If anyone spots a pattern to copy-in-orneta-then-paste-in-sms not working, post here. Maybe I can change the keys that the copy-and-paste apps use so that it works better.

[Guest maxh2003]

Xetra - glad you like it ;) - though you should like it given how *totally* dependant on Xbar it is! Glad to take this opportunity to say that Xbar is about the best thing on my phone, makes the thing so much more useable when you can swap between apps at will :-D

Anyway you're welcome to take the apps and put them on your site, put them in the Xbar zip file, whatever you like really. Wouldn't mind a credit in a text file somewhere though :wink:

FWIW if anyone wants the source code they're quite welcome to it. It would be quite possible to build more Xbar plugins in this manner. I did wonder if 'HOME' might be useful, for scrolling to the top of enormous web pages. Anyone have any other ideas?

:edit: Anyone have any views on which keys the functions should be mapped to? I think 4, 5 and 6 work pretty well because all three functions are in a nice straight line, plus the '5' reminds you (or me, at least) of the five-second select-what-you-like mode. But if anyone has a better idea?

Xetra - you know how pressing causes Xbar to load - do you think there's any chance of getting Xbar to also load when (+) is pressed? If we could get that to work then I could replace copy-all and copy-for-5-seconds with copy-as-long-as-you-want-then-use-Xbar-to-copy.

The problem is that if my app leaves the SHIFT key held down and quits, then the user can select as much text or as little text as they like - but they can't pop Xbar, because SHIFT is still held down! Had to reboot my phone upon realising this, because I couldn't release the virtual SHIFT key without getting at Xbar or File Manager, and I couldn't get at Xbar or File Manager without releasing the virtual SHIFT key first... :x

[Guest gpcarreon (MVP)]

maxh2003

kindly ignore my PM. I was able to paste now. yehey!!! ;) :D :lol:

Thanks a lot for this program! 8)

[Guest maxh2003]

Good stuff, pzee; do ignore the PM I sent you ;)

Seems there *is* some kind of problem when copying from Orneta Notepad to SMS, but it works a lot better if you leave Orneta running until the paste is completed (verified on my own phone).

Xetra - writing this tiny app revealed a small bug, either in Xbar or in Orneta Notepad. If you run Orneta Notepad with the "Show size in the title bar" and "Show name in title bar" options *DISABLED*, then the window title becomes null. If you then call up Xbar, you can't see that Orneta Notepad is running. The workaround, of course, is to enable either "Show size..." or "Show name..." - then the window has a proper title and it *does* appear as a running app in Xbar.

So the question is: can Xbar be tweaked to display running applications which have no title bar? I note that SP Task Manager shows the same "bug". Maybe this really is a flaw in Orneta Notepad - if they tweaked it so that when both "Show..." options are turned off, the window took a default title of (say) "Orneta Notepad", then there would be no problem at all.

[Guest madu]

This is well sound! Good work. Awaiting more XBar plugins ;)

[Guest HelloDave]

OK, being thick here but could someone spell out for me how to use the 5 second mode? At the moment, I use Xbar-5 and highlight some text, then OK the "Text copied" dialog, but if I then try XBar-6 to paste, the text isn't there (whatever was on the clipboard previously is pasted) ;)

EDIT: It now seems to work when it feels like it ](*,)

[Guest James]

what about copy and paste pictures or files from ie!? anyone working on this?

WE NEED A RIGHT CLICK!

[Guest maxh2003]

HelloDave: what programs are you copying and pasting between, out of interest? Trying to work out where the problem lies. I (and pzee, at the top of this thread) have seen this behaviour before, it usually seems to work on a second attempt.

The trick with this app is just that it simulates keypresses for buttons that aren't physically present on the SPV. So for copy all, it's pressing something like - - . Try that in a notepad window on your PC and you'll see what I mean. I have a couple of theories as to how to fix it - theory 1 is put a (say) 50-millisecond delay between and , in case the keypresses are being generated out of order. Theory 2 is to simulate not once, but three or four times. I'll give them a try so stay tuned...

jlowap: if you're viewing a given web page, then there's a copy of that file held in the Temporary Internet Files directory - so it *ought* to be possible to just copy that file to a new destination. Finding the file would be the difficult (note - not impossible) bit, because the filenames aren't very helpful. But I've tried this before, using Smart Explorer to find and copy the html file - try it and you'll see what I mean...

[Guest HelloDave]

HelloDave: what programs are you copying and pasting between, out of interest? Trying to work out where the problem lies. I (and pzee, at the top of this thread) have seen this behaviour before, it usually seems to work on a second attempt.

It was between Orneta Notepad and the SMS editor and copying and pasting to and from the same SMS window. Using the "copy all" function works perfectly, and copying half a number from a contact to the SMS editor (using 5 sec delay) worked perfectly too :?

[Guest maxh2003]

Can anyone report a failure like this when using the Copy All function? - i.e. am I fixing two EXEs here, or only one? ;)

EDIT: Fixed them both anyway :D

[Guest madu]

CTRL+A usually does Select ALL nicely, then Ctrl+C ;)

[Guest maxh2003]

CTRL+A usually does Select ALL nicely, then Ctrl+C

Tried it already ;)

CTRL-A didn't work somewhere important - can't remember where (Orneta Notepad? IE URL field?)

[Guest fozzie]

Only just picked up on this thread. Excellent util maxh2003 8)

I use Xbar all the time so this is a great addition. Thanks.

[Guest adamos168]

can i have the link for the Xbar? thanks

[Guest fozzie]

can i have the link for the Xbar? thanks

www.monolithix.org (as well as lots of other freeware).

[Guest Xetra]

can i have the link for the Xbar? thanks

also :

http://www.xetranet.com/spv

[Guest blewer]

I can't get this app to work. I use x-bar (which is fantastic) and have placed all files in IPSMProgam FilesX-bar.

All I get when I try and copy anything is the below screen

Any ideas????

1.jpg

[Guest maxh2003]

That's pretty odd, to say the least. Is the copy.exe definitely present in IPSMProgam FilesX-bar ? (Check using SmartExplorer, or using your PC).

Obviously your phone is unlocked else XBar wouldn't work. What happens when you press 5 or 6, from Xbar - do you get a similar "cannot find..." popup?

[Guest blewer]

Yes, copy.exe, shortcuts and all the others are in IPSMProgram FilesX-bar.

If I try 5 or 6 I still get a similar error message. I can't work it out?

[Guest lspatricio]

Yes, copy.exe, shortcuts  and all the others are in IPSMProgram FilesX-bar.

If I try 5 or 6 I still get a similar error message.  I can't work it out?

blewer> please look at your shortcuts 4.lnk, 5.lnk and 6.lnk

i had the same problem at first. i discovered that i don't have the correct shortcuts. What i did is to create new shortcuts for copy.exe, 5 second copy.exe, paste.exe and renamed them 4.lnk,5.lnk and 6.lnk in the XBar directory.

(Note: the included in the zip file shortcuts refer to IPSMProgram FilesX-bar. Whereas, i named my Xbar folder XBar, without the hyphen. Maybe you also had the same problem.)

I hope this will solve your problem. XBar is a GREAT app. Copy&Paste plug-in makes it even totally more useful and functional!

:)

[Guest yoos]

Yep, I had the same problem too... I didn't have a hyphen (X-Bar). After I added that it worked fine...