Pasting Graphics from the Clipboard

Go Up to Using the Clipboard with Graphics

If the clipboard contains a bitmapped graphic, you can paste it into any image object, including image controls and the surface of a form.

To paste a graphic from the clipboard:

1. Call the clipboard's HasFormat method (VCL applications) to see whether the clipboard contains a graphic. HasFormat is a Boolean function. It returns True if the clipboard contains an item of the type specified in the parameter. To test for graphics on the Windows platform, you pass CF_BITMAP.
2. Assign the clipboard to the destination.

Note: The following VCL code shows how to paste a picture from the clipboard into an image control in response to a click on an Edit > Paste menu item:

procedure TForm1.PasteButtonClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  Bitmap: TBitmap;
begin
  if Clipboard.HasFormat(CF_BITMAP)
  then { is there a bitmap on the Windows clipboard? }
  begin
    Image1.Picture.Bitmap.Assign(Clipboard);
  end;
end;

void __fastcall TForm1::Paste1Click(TObject *Sender) {
    Graphics::TBitmap *Bitmap;
    if (Clipboard()->HasFormat(CF_BITMAP)) {
        Image1->Picture->Bitmap->Assign(Clipboard());
    }
}

The graphic on the clipboard could come from this application, or it could have been copied from another application, such as Microsoft Paint. You do not need to check the clipboard format in this case because the paste menu should be disabled when the clipboard does not contain a supported format.

See Also

• Copying Graphics to the Clipboard
• Cutting Graphics to the Clipboard