Copyright: ® Thornton Software Solutions


Help Contents
Table of Contents

Introduction to ClipMate

Overview

Features new to version 2.0

Installation & Configuration

Basic Installation

Advanced Installation

Main Window

Main Window Overview

Layout - Full vs. Brief

Clip Item Selection List Box

Toolbar

Menus

Help Menu

Magnification Window

Magnification Overview

Magnification Controls

Editing

ThumbNail Window

Visual Selection by ThumbNail

Working With Clipboard Formats

Clipboard Formats

Filtering Clip Items

Troubleshooting

Memory Management with "Load On Demand"

Service & Support

Support Policy

ASP

Tips, Hints, Q&A

Tips for the Power User

Questions & Answers


Overview

ClipMate™ is designed to enhance the native capability of the Windows clipboard.  From a functional standpoint, the Windows Clipboard works exactly as it should: allowing the user to transfer an item of data within an application, or between applications.   In practice, however, the Clipboard falls short in that it can only hold one item of data at a time.  Multiple formats yes, but still the same item of data.  When you perform a CUT or PASTE, the clipboard is emptied, and your new piece of data is now the sole occupant of the clipboard.  There is no ability to append new data onto the existing clipboard data, no UNDO capability, and no long-term memory.  That's where ClipMate steps in!

ClipMate adds several value-added enhancements to the operation of the Windows Clipboard.  It allows you to keep many generations of previous Clipboard occupants, (Clip Items) for later retrieval.  If there is a particular piece of data that you use often, it can be stored indefinitely in ClipMate's SAFE LIST.  You can append multiple CLIP ITEMS into a single piece of data for pasting into an application, through a process called Gluing.  You can browse and edit the CLIP ITEMS in ClipMate's MAGNIFICATION WINDOW.  There is a function to remove unwanted line breaks in your text, and you can print with the press of a button.

With ClipMate 2.0, you can now use ClipMate to collect additional data types, such as BITMAP, PICTURE, RTF, and OLE objects.  The new PowerPaste™ feature allows you to paste data into your applications quickly and easily.  Once activated, ClipMate enters a kind of "auto pilot", sensing when you've pasted data, and automatically advancing to the next clip item for you.

Related Topics:

Here's how ClipMate operates


Here's how ClipMate operates

ClipMate sits idle most of the time, waiting for any activity in the Windows Clipboard.  Whenever you put anything on the Clipboard (by CUTting or COPYing), ClipMate gets a message from Windows.  ClipMate checks to see if the Clipboard is holding any desirable formats.  If there is, ClipMate automatically makes of copy of the data for itself.  It places the new data in one of its lists, creates a title, and displays the title in the text window at the top of the Clip Item Selection List Box.  If the Magnification Window is active, the new Clip Item is displayed within it.

Access to the ClipMate's data is easily obtained through the use of a drop-down list, or a graphical grid, showing thumbnail sketches of the data.  After you make a selection, ClipMate automatically copies that item to the clipboard.  It is then ready for your use in any application that offers clipboard support for the data formats contained within the item.


Features new to version 2.0

Support for Graphics, and other Large Datatypes

ClipMate now supports non-textual datatypes, such as BITMAP, PICTURE, RTF, and even OLE objects.  ClipMate's advanced memory management and filtration facilities allow you to collect these large datatypes without draining your system memory and resources.

For more information see: Clipboard Formats.

PowerPaste

ClipMate has always had the ability to automatically collect data in the background, as you work within your application.  PowerPaste lets you use your data just as easily.  Simply turn PowerPaste on, go to your application, and start pasting.  When ClipMate detects that you've pasted data, it automatically advances to the next clip item.  Paste again, and you get the second item of data.  Paste once more, and you get the third item.  You have the option of working your way up the clip list (toward newer data) or down the clip list (toward older data).

This feature is particularly powerful when working with applications that won't accept Glued data, such as an order-entry screen.

For more information see: PowerPaste™.

Filtration

ClipMate's FILTER facility allows you to pre-determine which datatypes will be collected by ClipMate.  This will save resources, and time, as ClipMate won't be asking the clipboard to provide data that you don't need.

For more information see: Filtering Clip Items.

Filter Wizard

V2.01 introduces a "Wizard" to assist in the understanding and creation of filters.

For more information, see: Filter Wizard

Load On Demand

Large data types such as BITMAP, PICTURE, RTF, and OLE, require a lot of memory.  ClipMate normally stores these large items on disk, until needed.  When you access a Clip Item, ClipMate checks to see if it is in memory, or on disk.  If it is on disk, it automatically re-loads it for you.

For more information see: Memory Management with "Load On Demand".

Thumbnail View

There is a new way to select Clip Items.  Using the ThumbNail View Window, you can see a grid of thumbnail sketches of BITMAPs, PICTUREs, or even text.  The grid is configurable to show from 2x2 to 8x8 images.  with an option to show graphics, text, or both.  When viewing thumbnails of text items, you can use a very small font, so that you can visually select text items by their appearance.

For more information see: Visual Selection by ThumbNail.

Drag and Drop

You can use the File Manager to drag and drop BITMAP files (.BMP) onto ClipMate.  They will then be available to paste into other applications, without the work of copying them from another application, such as Paintbrush.  They behave like regular clip items, except that the actual .BMP files will NOT be deleted by ClipMate when the clip item is deleted by the user, or during the normal purge process of the recyclable list.

Magnification Window

There have been several enhancements to the popular Magnification Window.  Most importantly, it can display graphics as well as text.  The browse << >> buttons have been altered to indicate UP/DOWN, to better accommodate the vertical nature of the clip lists.  There are some new informational fields, that display the data/time of creation, the name of the application that created the data, and the serial number of the clip item.  The Item Size field has been enhanced to show different measurements, according to the nature of the data displayed.  There's also a DONE button for convenience.

For more information see: Magnification Overview.


Basic Installation

System Requirements

Installation


System Requirements

To run ClipMate, you will need the following.

Microsoft Windows 3.1 or later.

VGA (or better) video.

Minimum 500K disk space (for the program and typical collection of data).

Minimum 4MB of RAM, if you wish to collect large data types, such as Bitmaps.


Installation

Note: You can install directly from a floppy, or from a hard drive.  These directions assume that you're installing from the A: floppy, and that the files are de-compressed.  Make appropriate substitutions if you are using the B: drive, a CD ROM, or have already copied the files to a directory on your hard drive.

1.	From the Program Manager's FILE menu, choose the RUN command.

2.	Enter A:Setup

3.	You will be presented with the INSTALL.TXT file, from within Notepad.  Be sure to read, any WARNINGS that are present.  Quit out of Notepad, by selecting FILE | EXIT.

4.	You will then be presented with the installation dialog box.  By default, ClipMate will be installed into C:\ClipMate.  If you wish to override this, just highlight and overtype the directory in the "Install to Directory" field.  Press OK to continue.

5.	The files will now be copied.  Note that if the source and target directories are the same, then no files will actually be copied.  Also, if you are installing on top of a previous version of ClipMate, then you may be prompted to approve replacement of files with the same name.

6.	The next prompt will ask you whether or not the ClipMate icon should be added to the Program Manager.  If you answer OK, then the setup program will create a ClipMate group, and place the ClipMate icon in it, along with icons for various documentation files.  It is strongly suggested that you move or copy the ClipMate icon to the STARTUP group, so that it will run automatically, every time that you start Windows.

If you are installing over a previous version of ClipMate, your data will be converted to the new format when you first run ClipMate.  If you have multiple files, you'll have to open and save each one separately.  By default, ClipMate will try to store all new data files in the \CLIPMATE\DATA subdirectory.

If you're a new ClipMate user, please see:Overview, and Features new to version 2.0.


Advanced Installation

Windows 3.1 users can take advantage of the HOTKEY, RUN MINIMIZED, and STARTUP GROUP features that are inherent to Windows 3.1 (and presumably any future releases of Windows).

Related Topics:

Hotkey

Run Minimized

Startup Group

Specifying Data Files

De-Installation

Distribution Files

ClipMate.INI

What ClipMate Does to Your System

Known Problems


Hotkey

You can set a hotkey combination to activate ClipMate (once it's running) and bring it to the top of all other windows.  To use, highlight the ClipMate icon in the Program Manager (the one that's actually on the Program Manager, NOT the one that represents the running application.)  Select FILE | PROPERTIES from the Program Manager's menu.  You will be presented with the Properties dialog box for ClipMate.  Click your mouse in the Hotkey field.  Give it a hotkey, probably some combination of Ctrl + Alt + whatever you want.  We use Ctrl+Alt+C (C as in ClipMate!).


Run Minimized

If you normally wish ClipMate to be iconified when run, you can set the properties of the ClipMate icon to cause ClipMate to start as an icon.  To use, highlight the ClipMate icon in the Program Manager (the one that's actually on the Program Manager, NOT the one that represents the running application.)  Select FILE | PROPERTIES from the Program Manager's menu.  You will be presented with the Properties dialog box for ClipMate.  Check the Run Minimized check box.  That's it!


Startup Group

The Startup Group is a Windows 3.1 feature that lets you easily determine which programs will automatically execute when Windows is loaded.  You will probably want to put ClipMate in your startup group.


Specifying Data Files

If you wish to use a filename for your data, other than DEFAULT.CLM, you can specify your filename as a parameter to ClipMate.  In this case the Command Line in the Program Manager would be:

C:\ClipMate\ClipMate.exe myfile.clm


De-Installation

In the event that you need to de-install ClipMate, there is a short write-up in the CLMREAD.TXT file.


Distribution Files

The following files are provided with ClipMate, and constitute a complete ClipMate package:

CLIPMATE.EXE	The executable program - requires Windows 3.1

CLIPMATE.HLP	Help file

CLMICONS.DLL	Dynamic Link Library to support the Toolbar.

CLMREAD.TXT	README file with any special considerations or installation notes

CLMREG.TXT	Registration form

SITELIC.TXT	Registration form for Site Licenses, Multi-User Licenses

VENDOR.DOC	Vendor Description for Shareware vendor or BBS Sysop

FILE_ID.DIZ	BBS Standard Description File

SETUP.EXE	Installation Program

SETUP.INF	Installation Program


ClipMate.INI

The ClipMate.INI file holds various settings and preferences, and is saved every time that ClipMate is shut down, whether or not a change has actually taken place.  It has nothing to do with the ASK USER vs. ALWAYS SAVE option, found in the CONFIG screen.  Currently, there is a seperate section for the Thumbnail Configuration, called GraphConfig.  Both sections are listed here:

[ClipMate] AlwaysSave=1 AskUser=0 RecyclableList=1 ActiveList=0 KeepOnTop=0 MaxView=1 BeepOk=0 RecyclableLength=100 X=0 Y=0 magX=100 magY=100 magW=490 magH=300 graphX=10 graphY=10 graphW=310 graphH=310 SerialNumber=1 WizFilterEnabled=1 Registered Name=Not Registered Registered Number= ;Optional - Delay during PowerPaste  PPDelay=100   ;(100 miliseconds)	[GraphConfig] Cfg_Text=1 Cfg_Graphics=1 Cfg_Bitmap=0 Cfg_PICT=1 Cfg_Font_Size=12 Cfg_Dimension=4 ThumbW=74 ThumbH=62


What ClipMate Does to Your System

The first time that you run ClipMate, it will create \Windows\ClipMate.ini.  WIN.INI is not altered in any way, nor are any of your other system files.

ClipMate will create a |ClipMate\data directory, where it will store the data that it collects.  You will be prompted for permission to create this directory, when ClipMate is run for the first time.

ClipMate will save the clipboard data into DEFAULT.CLM, or another .CLM file that you specify.


Known Problems

Norton Desktop for Windows users will need to upgrade to Norton Desktop version 2.0 in order to use ClipMate.


Main Window Overview

ClipMate's Main Window contains a drop-down Combo Box, showing the title of the currently-selected clip item, a toolbar, and pull-down menus.  Buttons and menus provide access to other ClipMate windows, and functions.  Often, the buttons will change their appearance, to indicate a particular mode of operation, or they may be grayed-out, to indicate the inability to access a particular function.

For More Information See:

Clip Item Selection List Box, and

Toolbar.


Layout - Full vs. Brief

ClipMate gives you the option of displaying all of its graphical controls, along with the Menu (Full Layout), or just showing some of the graphical controls, with no Menu (Brief Layout).

Why would you want to turn this option off?

Sometimes, you don't need the full functionality of ClipMate, and would gladly trade some functionality for valuable screen space.  This is especially true when you are using the "Keep Window On Top" option, found in the CONFIG dialog box.  Thus, the Brief View was created to fill this need.

The Brief Layout gives you the PowerPaste, Delete, Print, Glue and Magnify buttons, along with the Config, Multi Select, and About buttons.

Trade-Off:

When in Brief Layout, not all features are accessible.  In particular, you lose the ability to switch back and forth between the Recyclable List  and the Safe List.  In the Full Layout, you have access to all features, but ClipMate takes up more screen space.


Clip Item Selection List Box

The Clip Item Selection List Box is your primary method for recalling data back onto the clipboard.  You will use the mouse to activate it, and then make your selection from it's scrolling list of Clip Item Titles.  Once you've made your selection, the selected Clip Item is copied onto the Clipboard.

Related Topics:

Using the Mouse

Using The Keyboard

Rules of Thumb


Using the Mouse

The Clip Item Selection List is used to copy CLIP ITEMS from one of the Clip Item Lists back onto the Clipboard.  You can accomplish this by simply selecting the title of a stored Clip Item from the Clip Item Selection List.

The Clip Item Selection List is a standard Windows Combo Box, which incorporates a static text window with a drop-down list.  By clicking the down arrow icon to the right of the text window, you will see a scrolling list, by title, of the Clip Items in the active list.  When you have made your selection, the list will go away, the title of the selected Clip Item will appear in the text window, and the item will be copied to the Clipboard.


Using The Keyboard

Alternatively, you can use the up and down arrows on the keyboard to make the selection.  This sometimes has an advantage, such as when you are browsing the list through the magnification window.  It is very easy to sequentially zip through each Clip Item by hitting the down-arrow cursor key.  In order to use the cursor key, you must first give input focus to the list box, or the text window at the top of the list box.  To do this, simply click on the text window itself with the mouse, and it will appear as reverse video, indicating that it has the input focus.  You should learn to use both methods, as they each have advantages.


Rules of Thumb

•	Whenever either of the Clip Item Lists becomes active, the top entry of the active list will be shown in the text window, and therefore will also be copied to the Clipboard.  This includes the initial activation of the Recyclable List, upon startup.

•	Whenever the Clipboard contents are erased by an application, or it contains only formats that are filtered out by the user-definable filter, the selection list will display a message stating that the clipboard is empty, or invalid.

•	During certain operations where there is no single current selection, such as Multi-Select, the selection list box may display messages, stating that such an operation is taking place.


Toolbar

Multiple Selection List Dialog Box

ThumbNail Select

PowerPaste™

Delete

Print Text Item

Glue Text

Magnify Button

Copy to Safe List

Activate Recyclable List

Activate Safe List


_Multiple Selection List Dialog Box
Multiple Selection List Dialog Box

This option consists of a dialog box that allows you to select more than one Clip Item at a time, as compared to the Clip Item Selection List Box, which will select only one Clip Item at a time.  There are several operations that take advantage of the multiple selection, such as Delete, Print, Glue, and Copy to Safe List.

The Multiple Selection Dialog Box consists of two List Boxes:

The Selection List in on your left.  This is where you make your selections.

The Confirmation List is on your right.  This shows your selections in the order in which you made them.  It is for your reference only, and can't be manipulated.

Here's how to use the Multiple Selection Dialog Box:

1)	If you will need to see the Magnification Window, activate it first before opening the Multiple Selection Dialog Box.  Use of the Magnification Window is highly recommended, because it makes it easy to see what you are selecting.

2)	Press the MS button to bring up the dialog box.  Once the dialog box is up, you can't go back to the rest of ClipMate without pressing either OK or CANCEL.

3)	If necessary, move and/or re-size the Magnification Window.

4)	The Selection List appears in the list box on the left.  With the mouse or spacebar, select the Titles of the Clip Items that you want to work with.  As you make each selection, the Clip Item you select is displayed in the Magnification Window.   The Magnification Window only holds one Clip Item at a time, so only the most recent selection will be shown.  To de-select, simply click again.

5)	In the Confirmation List (on the right), your selections will appear in the order that you selected them.  This READ ONLY window provides visual confirmation that you have selected the items in the order that you intended.  It is especially helpful when Gluing Clip Items, because it gives an outline of what you are composing.   For the Copy to Safe List operation, the order also comes into play.  The items will be copied to the Safe List in the order that you selected them, and therefore the order that they appear in the Confirmation Window.

6)	If you change your mind about a particular item, just click it again.  The highlighting will disappear, and it will be removed from the Confirmation List on the right.  You can select and de-select as many times as you want.

7)	When you are done with your selections, press OK.

8)	The Delete, Print, Glue, and possibly Copy to Safe (depending upon what list is currently active) buttons will now be enabled.  You can now perform any of these functions using the multiple selection.


_ThumbNail Select
ThumbNail Select

Availability: This button is only available in the  Full Layout.

Opens or closes the Graphic Selection Window

For more information see: Visual Selection by ThumbNail


_PowerPaste™
PowerPaste™

Availability: This button is available in both the Full Layout and the Brief Layout.

When activated, PowerPaste allows you to paste multiple items into an application, without having to continuously access ClipMate in order to select the next item.  This gives ClipMate a "hands-off" mode, and makes it quick and easy to use ClipMate's data.

As you paste data into an application, ClipMate senses that you've pasted the current item, and automatically advances to the next item.  Paste again, and you get the second item.  Paste once more, and you get the third item.  This process continues until you deactivate PowerPaste, or you reach the end of the clip list (in the chosen direction).

Related Topics:

Direction - Up or Down?

Selecting The Starting Position

Activating PowerPaste

Ending PowerPaste

Real-Life Example

Troubleshooting PowerPaste


Direction - Up or Down?

As PowerPaste advances its way through the current Clip List, it can either work its way UP (toward newer data) or DOWN (toward older data).  Once activated, you can keep pasting until you encounter either the top or bottom of the current list.  You select the direction by pressing one of the two "outlets" that form the PowerPaste button.

It is useful to note that when Power Pasting, there is nothing that prevents new data from being copied into ClipMate.  It will appear on top of the list, and not at the location of the PowerPaste pointer.  So, if you're Power Pasting UP, you can encounter this new data if you continue far enough.

In the following example, the user has set the Start Point at "Item W", and pressed the UP PowerPaste button.  Therefore, pasting data into an application will yield Item W, Item X, Item Y, and then the "Brand New Item Z", which enters ClipMate after the PowerPaste has been initiated.

There are many possibilities.  You could start with "Item A", and work your way up through all of the items, in their original sequence.  Or you could start at the top of the list, and work your way down, in reverse order.

Note: The direction of PowerPaste determines whether you get the data in the order that you copied, or in reverse.  UP will preserve the order, DOWN will reverse it.


Selecting The Starting Position

Power Paste will begin with the currently-selected Clip Item, which will be visible in the Clip Item Selection Box.  If you have made no selections, this will be the top of the current list, by default.  This is often suitable for Power Pasting DOWN.  If you want to PowerPaste UP, then you won't get very far, unless you select a starting point farther down the list.  Of course, if you plan on copying more data to ClipMate, then the top might be a fine place to start.


Activating PowerPaste

The PowerPaste button is actually two buttons, an upper outlet, and lower outlet, which correspond to PowerPaste (up) and PowerPaste (down) from the EDIT menu.

When you press either outlet, it "Glows" to show you that it is active.  If you press the other outlet, it will Glow, and the other one will return to normal.  In this way, it works much like a pair of Radio Buttons, as they are mutually exclusive.


Ending PowerPaste

Click on the active "outlet", and the operation will end.  Note that if you reach either end of the list, the operation will automatically terminate, with an audible Beep.


Real-Life Example

At Thornton Software Solutions, we use PowerPaste every time that we fill orders.  Many of our orders come by Compuserve's SWREG service, which is very popular with our customers.  While the electronic form was always readable and quick, it didn't really save us any time during order entry, as it isn't in a format that our order entry system can use.  Early versions of ClipMate helped somewhat, as we could copy the data fields, and then paste them (one at a time) into our order entry screen.  Unfortunately, this meant a lot of toggling back-and-forth between our order entry screen, and ClipMate.

PowerPaste solves this problem.  Now we just copy the individual fields from the order (Name, Company, Street1, Street2, City, State, Zip, Country, Quantity, CompuServe ID) into ClipMate.  We do all of the orders at once, so there could be a lot of data (the more, the better!)  Now, we pull down the Clip Item Selection List, to select the first item of data that we want to past (the customer name of the first order).  Then, we go to the order-entry screen and tab to the "Customer Name" field.  Paste the data, tab to "Company Name" field.  Paste the data, and tab to the next field.  Paste and tab, until the whole order is done.  Begin a new order, and repeat the paste-tab process.

As you can see, this is much easier than toggling back and forth to ClipMate, in order to retrieve the data.  And compared to keying-in all of this data, it's fantastic!

Note: In the above example, we used the TAB key a lot.  This has nothing to do with ClipMate, or PowerPaste.  It is just used to navigate from one field to another, in our order-entry screen.


Troubleshooting PowerPaste

There can be problems PowerPasting into certain applications that hold the clipboard open too long when pasting.  You will get a message from ClipMate saying that there is an "Error Opening Clipboard".  A possible work-around is to slow down the PowerPaste action, by adding the following line to the \WINDOWS\CLIPMATE.INI file, under the [CLIPMATE] heading:

PPDELAY=500

The delay interval is in milliseconds (1000 ms = 1 second).  The default is 100, which is nearly instantaneous.  Slowing it down will give your application more time to paste its data, but you need to keep this delay in mind when pasting, as you can get ahead of PowerPaste.


_Delete
Delete

Availability: This button is available in both the Full Layout and the Brief Layout.

This operation works with single or Multiple Selections.

Deletes the currently selected Clip Item or Items from the Active List.

The next item in line is then copied to the Clipboard, and that item is shown in the Clip Item Selection List Box.


_Print Text Item
Print Text Item

Availability: This button is available in both the Full Layout and the Brief Layout.

This operation works with single or Multiple Selections.

Prints the currently selected Clip Item or Items

This Function ONLY WORKS WITH TEXT

Shortcut: Ctrl+P

Printer support is very generic.  Output will appear in a font that is supported by your printer, such as Courier.  There are no options for fonts, margins, or such.  The purpose of this is so that ClipMate can give basic printer services to as many printers as possible.  Now, ClipMate users can print any text that they can get into the Clipboard - with only a mouse click!  If you need more sophisticated printing, just paste your data to any application that meets your needs!

Item(s) will be printed to the default Windows printer, unless you have specified a printer using the Print Setup option, found in the FILE menu.  Once you have chosen a printer with Print Setup, it stays that way until you change it to something else.  It is not reset upon shutdown.  This makes it very convenient for users with more than one printer.  Many ClipMate users direct their ClipMate output to their desktop (dot-matrix) printer, while leaving their shared network (laser) printer for other tasks, such as word processing.

NOTE:  The notion of retaining a printer selection from session to session is not typical practice in Windows.  However, it makes sense in this case.  If you use ClipMate to make 3270 emulation more bearable, I'm sure you'll agree.  There is a potential pitfall that could arise, if you were to delete the printer definition for the printer that you have chosen as ClipMate's printer.  If you do this, just select another printer with the Print Setup option of the File menu.


_Glue Text
Glue Text

Availability: This button is available in both the Full Layout and the Brief Layout.

This feature operates on text items only.  If you glue several items that contain multiple formats, only the text component will be Glued.

This feature was known as CONCATENATE in previous versions of ClipMate.

The Glue function concatenates (appends together) selected Clip Item(s) into one big Clip Item.  The resulting item is then copied back onto the Clipboard, for use by other applications.

There are two ways to use this feature.  The first method is to turn the "Glue Mode" on, and then copy data to the clipboard.  As each item enters the clipboard, ClipMate "Glues" it to the previous occupant of the Clipboard.  We'll call this "Auto Glue".  The second method is to glue existing clip items together within ClipMate.  We'll call this "Manual Glue".

Related Topics:

Auto Glue

Manual Glue (Formerly known as Concatenate)


Auto Glue

Auto Glue is a special mode of operation, where ClipMate appends each new text item directly to the end of it's predecessor, rather than creating new Clip Items for each new piece of text.  If you turn on the Glue mode, and then copy 10 paragraphs to the clipboard from other applications, you will have ONE Clip Item that is 10 paragraphs long.  In addition, the resulting Clip Item will always be on the Clipboard, and will be up-to-date (as long as Auto Glue is still on).  You won't even have to interact with ClipMate at all to use this new item.

To use, just click the Glue Button, or select Glue Together from the Edit menu.  You should NOT perform a Multiple Selection prior to entering Glue Mode.  Doing so would invoke a "Manual Glue", which is discussed on the next page.

When you enter Glue Mode, a fresh, empty Clip Item is created.  It will initially have a title stating <<Glue In Process...>>.  As you Copy text from other applications, the title will change to indicate the number of items that have been Glued together.  To finish, click on the Glue Button again.  The title will change to <<Glue Finished, (x) Items>>, and ClipMate exits Glue Mode.  At any time during the Glue operation, you can utilize the new item, in its current state.

The Auto-Glue Mode will end automatically if you try to use other ClipMate functions while it is active.  You may open or close the Magnification Window, but only to browse the data.  Any other action will terminate the current Glue operation, as if you had pressed the Glue Button to turn the Glue off.  Once stopped, you can't re-start a Glue.  however, you can perform a Multiple Selection, and use the Manual Glue to put several Glues (or single items) together.


Manual Glue (Formerly known as Concatenate)

This operation requires you to have previously performed a Multiple Selection.

The Manual Glue is useful for making one large Clip Item from several smaller items.  You select the items that you want by performing a Multiple Selection, and then pressing the Glue Button (or Glue Together from the Edit menu.)

One advantage that Manual Gluing has over Auto Gluing is that you don't have to plan it in advance.  Another is that it is easy to change the order of the result, as the Multiple Selection gives you the ability to select items in any order that you want.

Example of Manual Gluing in action:

Let's say that you need to buy a PC for your office at work.  You sign onto the on-line corporate catalog, and browse around to see what's out there.  Whenever you see something that you want, copy it to the clipboard.  When you're done shopping, use the Multiple Selection List Dialog to select the components of your new computer system, in whatever order you want.  Use the GLUE button to combine your Multiple Selection into one big Clip Item that you can then paste into the order form, or on-line order screen.  Painless!


_Magnify Button
Magnify Button

Availability: This button is available in both the Full Layout and the Brief Layout.

Also accessible from the View Menu.

Opens, or Closes the Magnification Window.

When the Magnification Window is open, the Magnify Button will appear to be Checked.  In this way, it functions like a standard Windows Check Box.  When you press it again, it pops up, and the Magnification Window closes.

For more information, see Magnification Overview.


_Copy to Safe List
Copy to Safe List

Availability: This button is not available in the Brief Layout.

Copies selected Clip Item(s) to the Safe List.

This operation is only available when the Recyclable List is the Active List.

This operation works with single or Multiple Selections.


_Activate Recyclable List
Activate Recyclable List

Availability: This button is not available in the Brief Layout.

Also accessible from the View Menu.

Causes the Recyclable List to become the Active List.

The Recyclable Button and Safe Button are bound together, and act like radio buttons.  When you press one, it takes on a depressed appearance, and the other button pops out.  This way, it is easy to see which list you're working with.


_Activate Safe List
Activate Safe List

Availability: This button is not available in the Brief Layout.

Also accessible from the View Menu.

Causes the Safe List to become the Active List.

The Recyclable Button and Safe Button are bound together, and act like radio buttons.  When you press one, it takes on a depressed appearance, and the other button pops out.  This way, it is easy to see which list you're working with.


MENUS

While ClipMate's most often-used features are represented by buttons on the toolbar, there are still more functions to be found in the menus.  The next several pages describe the functions that are found in the menus.  Full descriptions are given for functions that are unique to the menus.  Where a toolbar equivalent exists, a reference is made to that description.

Menus are not available in the Brief Layout.

Related Topics:

File Menu

Edit Menu

View Menu

Config Menu


File Menu

The File menu includes commands that enable you to open and save ClipMate files.

For the most part, it will not be necessary for you to ever choose any of these.  ClipMate will automatically open DEFAULT.CLM when it launches, or a file that you specify on the command line (of the icon that launches ClipMate).  Upon closing, ClipMate will attempt to save both of the Clip Item Lists into the current file.  Depending upon the option that you have selected in the CONFIG screen, you may be prompted before the file is saved.  Therefore, if you always use DEFAULT.CLM,  you will never need to use the FILE menu.

Here are the menu options:

·	New	Clears storage, creates a new file.

·	Open	Opens existing file.

·	Save	Saves current file.

·	Save As	Saves with new name.

·	Print Setup	Set printer  See: Print Text Item.bmchelp0008.bmp..PrintTextItem.43.

·	Print Item(s)	Prints current item, or multiple-selection of items  See: PRINT.

·	Exit	Ends ClipMate.  Alternatively, double-click on the control box (in the upper left hand corner) in the main window.

If Always Save is checked in the CONFIG screen, then the current file (usually Default.Clm) will automatically be saved.  Otherwise, you will be prompted to save changes, if either list has been added to or modified in any way.  The ClipMate.INI file in the Windows directory will be updated upon exiting from ClipMate.


Edit Menu

The Edit Menu allows you to manually alter the contents of either of the two lists.

Most commands are available on the Icon Bar, and are further described in the MAIN WINDOW section.

•	Edit Title	Changes the title of a Clip Item.

The Edit Title dialog box allows you to change the Title of a Clip Item.  Although the title is initially constructed from the first 50 characters of the Clip Item, changing the title will have no effect on the Clip Item.  It is provided for your reference only.

As an alternative to this dialog box, you can edit the title in the Magnification Window.

•	Delete Item	Remove Clip Item from active list See Delete.

•	Copy to Safe List	Puts a copy of the selected Clip Item on the Safe List. See Copy to Safe List.

•	Glue	Glues CLIP ITEMS together. See Glue Text.

•	PowerPaste 	Up/Down - Initiates/Terminates PowerPaste.  See: PowerPaste™.


View Menu

The View Menu allow you to change the Active List, open or close the Magnification Window, or perform word searches with the Find or Find Next commands.

Most commands are available on the Icon Bar, and are further described in the MAIN WINDOW section.

•	Activate Recyclable List	See: Activate Recyclable List.

•	Activate Safe List 	See: Activate Safe List.

•	Magnify 	See: Magnification Overview.

•	Find	See Find, Find Next.

•	Find Next	See Find, Find Next.

Related Topics:

Find, Find Next


Find, Find Next

You can use the accelerator keys, (CTRL+F and CTRL+N, respectively) even if the view menu is not visible (Brief Layout).

The Find command will prompt you for some text to search for, and then search the Active List for the first occurrence of the specified text.  It is NOT case sensitive, and you can use partial words.  Wild Cards are NOT supported.

If the string is found, the corresponding Clip Item is selected, and displayed in the Title Window of the Clip Item Selection List Box.  If not, then you will receive a notification message, and the Title Window will be blank.

If the Magnification Window is active, then it will also reflect results of the search, in the same way that the Title Window of the Clip Item Selection List Box does.


Config Menu

User Preference Dialog Box

FILTER


User Preference Dialog Box

Accessible from the CONFIG pull-down menu (when ClipMate is in the Full Layout) or the CFG Button (when ClipMate is in the Brief Layout).

The Config Dialog Box lets you change various settings of ClipMate's main window.  The settings are stored in the ClipMate.INI file for later retrieval.

Automatically Save Current File When Shutting Down?

When you close ClipMate, a check is made to see if the current file needs saving.  If so, then this value determines whether ClipMate will prompt you first before saving the file.  The "Current File" is the .CLM file that ClipMate is currently using to store the clipboard data.

Default: Always Save

Where to Put New Clipboard Items?

When ClipMate detects that there is a new Clip Item to retrieve from the Clipboard, it must decide which list to put it in. If the Recyclable List is currently active, then the new item will always go there.  If the Safe List is active, then it checks this value, and places the item accordingly.  This is useful in order to keep from cluttering up your Safe List with trivial items, if you happen to have the Safe List active.  On the other hand, you may want to turn on Current Active List, if you want to collect some items that you want to keep for a long time.

Default: Recyclable List

Length of Recyclable List

This allows you to control the length of the Recyclable List.  ClipMate will accumulate Clip Items in the Recyclable List, and allow the list to grow until this limit is reached.  When the list is at its limit, the oldest item will drop off from the bottom for every new item added to the top.

Trade-Off:

Increasing this value will cause ClipMate to keep more Clip Items, but the trade-off is that it will use more memory.

Default: 100 (Clip Items saved in the Recyclable List)

Keep Window on Top?

This allows ClipMate to "float" to the top of all other windows.  It is especially helpful when you have a lot of windows open, or if you are using an application that is running full-screen, such as a word processor.

If you find that the Full Layout takes up too much of your screen space, try the Brief Layout.

If it still takes up too much screen space, try minimizing it to an icon, which will also "float" on the screen.  You can position the icon anywhere that you want,  even in the same position that you want ClipMate to occupy.

Version 2.0 Enhancement

ClipMate now uses the new "floating window" feature of Windows 3.1, which eliminates some of the problems with the solution previously used.

Default: unchecked (no)

Full Layout?

ClipMate gives you the option to display all of its graphical controls, along with the Menu (Full Layout), or just show some of the graphical controls, with no Menu (Brief Layout).  This is where you make that choice.

Default: Full Layout

Beep When Clipboard is Updated?

ClipMate has the option of beeping every time that the clipboard is updated.  This is often a useful tool for learning how ClipMate works, or how various applications behave.

Default: unchecked (no)

Max Size for Clip Item

This setting applies only to version 1.x releases, and was eliminated in version 2.0.  The Load On Demand technology made this feature obsolete.


FILTER

This opens the FILTER dialog box, which allows you to determine which formats ClipMate will collect.

For more information on Filters, see: Filtering Clip Items


Help Menu

About

Accessible from the Help | About pull-down menu (when ClipMate is in the Full Layout) or the ? Button  (when ClipMate is in the Brief Layout).

In addition to displaying the "normal" about information, this Dialog Box gives you the opportunity to register ClipMate, and access the on-line help.  The HELP button is provided in order to give access to HELP when ClipMate is in the Brief Layout.

Help Info:

•	Release Date	If over 1 year old, get a new copy.

•	Number of Clip Items:	Total of both Recyclable and Safe Lists.

•	Registered To:	Hopefully You!


Magnification Overview

The Magnification Window displays the Clip Item that is currently selected in the Clip Item Selection List Box.  It is used to get a full look at what the Clip Item actually looks like, rather than just a glimpse of the title.  Also, you can edit either the Clip Item (text only), or the Title.  There is a powerful Flow Paragraph function that will reformat the Clip Item into paragraph format.   This makes the text more usable by word-processing applications.

For information on the controls in this window, see: Magnification Controls.

Related Topics:

Opening & Closing the Magnification Window


Opening & Closing the Magnification Window

The Magnification Window is opened by either selecting the Magnify option under the View menu, or by pressing the Magnify Button.  Upon opening it the button will display its "Depressed" state.

The Magnification Window is closed in the same way that it is opened.  Press the Magnify Button, and you will see it pop back up from its checked state as the Magnification Window closes.  Alternately, you can double-click on the control box in the upper-left of the window.


Magnification Controls

Browse Buttons

Make Title

Wrap Text Checkbox

Flow Paragraph Button


Magnification Window - Magnification Controls - Browse Buttons
Browse Buttons

The Browse Buttons will select the previous/next Clip Item in the Active List.

Moves you toward the top of the list (Newer Clip Items),

Moves toward the bottom of the list (Older Clip Items).

As items are selected, they are Copied to the Clipboard automatically.

If you try to browse past either end of the list, ClipMate will issue a short beep to let you know that there is nothing to browse in that direction.


Make Title

The Make Title button will form a new Clip Item Title from the selected text.  This is useful for when the Clip Item contains a text passage that you want to use as the title.

To use, just select some text (with your mouse), and then press the button.  ClipMate will make a new title out of the selected text, up to the first 50 characters.  The new title is immediately reflected in the title box, and the Clip Item Selection List Box.


Wrap Text Checkbox

The Wrap Text Checkbox is used to control whether or not the Magnification Window displays the Clip Item in a wrapping edit box, or not.  If the edit box doesn't wrap, then a horizontal scroll bar is provided.

It is set automatically when you perform a Flow Paragraph.  Each Clip Item knows whether or not it should wrap.  As you browse through Clip Items, the check box will change, to reflect the wrap state for the current item.  You can click it to change the setting for a given item.

The setting is embedded within the Clip Item, and is therefore stored to disk between sessions.


Flow Paragraph Button

The Flow-Paragraph button re-formats the Clip Item so that it may be easily used by word processors.  It removes all of the extra line breaks and spaces that often are embedded within text that is copied to the Clipboard.  Here's an example:

If your text looks like this when it gets into your word processor:

    This is some text that was taken

from DOS and

it doesn't fit very well into the

word processor.

I would rather let the word processor

make the important

decisions, such as where the margins should

go, and whether

the paragraph should be indented.  I hope I

don't have to

manually remove all of that junk!

You can use the Flow Paragraph button to make it look like this:

This is some text that was taken from DOS and it doesn't fit very well into the word processor.  I would rather let the word processor make the important decisions, such as where the margins should go, and whether the paragraph should be indented.  I hope I don't have to manually remove all of that junk!

The newly-formatted text only has line breaks that define the end of a paragraph, or breaks between paragraphs.  Individual lines flow together to form paragraphs.  You can then use your word processor to format the paragraph any way you want!

As most applications have their own quirks about how they put text on the Clipboard, ClipMate's conversion algorithm is pretty generic at this point.  It should cover most cases - if you find a shortcoming, please contact the author, and describe your particular situation and applications involved.  Here is a summary of the algorithm that ClipMate currently uses to convert paragraphs:

1.	Any blanks at the beginning of any line are removed.

2.	Any occurrence of multiple blanks is removed, with the following exception: Two blanks are allowed to follow a period.

3.	Any Line Break that is not immediately preceded or followed by another Line Break is removed.

You can convert more than one paragraph at a time, as long as there are at least two line breaks between them.  One of these terminates the last sentence of the first paragraph, and the other one splits the two.  More line breaks are ok.  If only one line break is used, then the paragraphs will be joined together.

Related Topics:

Displaying Wrapped Text:


Displaying Wrapped Text:

In order for the newly-formatted text to display properly in the window, the Wrap Text Checkbox is automatically turned on when you press the Re-Flow Paragraph button.  This is necessary, as the paragraphs are not broken up with line breaks, and won't display correctly on their own.  Keep this in mind when you are browsing through the Clip Items.  When you come across an item that has been re-formatted this way, you need to check this option.  Also, Clip Items that aren't formatted this way will look strange when forced to wrap in a narrow window.  However, if the window is wide enough, then the text won't get a chance to wrap anyway.


Editing

You may edit either the text of the Clip Item, or its title.   When you edit the title, it won't appear in the Clip Item Selection List immediately.  The Clip Item Selection List will be updated when another Clip Item is selected.  Editing the title has the same effect as Edit Title.

Related Topics:

Editor Hot Keys

Power Editing in the Magnification Window


Editor Hot Keys

The following standard Windows Accelerator keys (hot keys) can be used in the Magnification Window:

Key(s)	Function

Backspace	Deletes the character to the left of the insertion point.

Del	Deletes the character to the right of the insertion point.

Ctrl+X	CUT 	Deletes the selected text and places it on Clipboard.

Ctrl+C	COPY 	Makes a copy of the selected text and places it on Clipboard.

Ctrl+V	PASTE 	Inserts text from Clipboard to the active window.

Note: Cut/Copy/Paste cause the clipboard to be updated, and therefore cause the Magnification Window to display whatever you have just copied to or pasted from the Clipboard.  To use this effectively, see POWER EDITING on the next page.

Note: The Magnification Window remembers its size, and location, even from one session to the next,  because these values are stored in the ClipMate.INI file.


Power Editing in the Magnification Window

You can copy part or all of the Magnification Window to the Clipboard, and thus back into ClipMate by using the accelerator key for copy: Ctrl+C.  To do so, just select the text that you want to copy, and press Ctrl+C.  You are then presented with only the text that you have selected.  How is this?  Your new text was Copied to the Clipboard, and so ClipMate made itself a copy.  New Clip Items are always made the current selection, as they reflect the current Clipboard contents (unless the Safe List is currently active).


Visual Selection by ThumbNail

The ThumbNail Window is accessed by selecting "ThumbNail Select" from the VIEW menu, or by pressing the [image] button.

The Graphic Select window is used to select Clip Items visually from a grid, consisting of ThumbNail images.  The dimensions of the grid can range from 2x2 up to 8x8.  When a BITMAP image is too large to fit within the bounds of its square in the grid, it is scaled down to a ThumbNail sketch.  PICTURE images always scale up or down to fill their square, as PICTUREs are scalable, by nature.  Text items can be shown, as well.

This screen shot shows a 2x2 grid of 4 items.  The first is small enough that it doesn't require a ThumbNail.  The next is a scaled-down version of the original "arches.bmp".  Following that is a PICTURE image of the "ClipMate at Work" graphic.  It is automatically scaled to fit within its box.  The last is a text item, scaled down to a very small font.  Although the text can't be read, the distinct layout of the text often gives a visual cue as to the nature of the text, or the origin.  In this case, this data is from an electronic order for ClipMate, which has a distinct visual format, and can be easily recognized.

Selection of data is performed by clicking on a square with the mouse.  If you open the Magnification Window, you'll see your selection take place.

Sometimes you'll notice a green rectangle surrounding an item.  This is to let you know that this item doesn't yet have a ThumbNail.  This occurs when items are new, or if the grid has been made smaller since they were originally copied.

Note: After  the ThumbNail Window has been partially or completely covered by another window, it uses some shortcuts when re-drawing itself.  While this is usually a big time-saver, it may occasionally produce garbage within the ThumbNail Window.  To correct this, just re-size the window slightly with the mouse, by clicking and dragging on either of the borders.  The window will now be re-drawn correctly.

Related Topics:

ThumbNail Controls

ThumbNail Configuration Dialog Box


ThumbNail Controls

Each ThumbNail is a Button

Just click on a picture to load its larger counterpart into ClipMate, and make it the current clip item.

Browse Buttons

Let you page forward and back, a screenful at a time.

Done

Quit this Window.  Alternatively, you can double-click on the control box (the funny rectangle at the upper-left of the Window), or press the [image]  button.

Config

Opens the Graphic Configuration Dialog Box.

See: ThumbNail Configuration Dialog Box.

Mag

Opens or closes the Magnification Window.  Although there are several other ways to open/close the Magnification Window, this button is also added as a convenience.  Note that the two windows will be easiest to use when they do not overlap each other.  We suggest finding good "homes" for the Magnification Window, and the ThumbNail Window, and leaving them in the same place most of the time.

See: Magnification Overview.

Help

Summons Help for this window.


ThumbNail Configuration Dialog Box

This dialog allows you to configure the appearance of the ThumbNail Window.

Display Mode

You have the option of showing text, graphics, or both in the Graphic Select window.  Use the Display Mode to set your preference.

Text - allow text to display.

Graphics - allow graphics (BITMAP, PICTURE) to display.

Display Preference

If both BITMAP and Picture are present, which one is shown?

Font size for Text

The size that text items will be displayed in the grid.  This has absolutely no relationship to the font which the data was displayed in when it was originally copied, nor does it affect the data later on, when it is pasted to something else.  It is simply for purposes of display in the graphic selection window.

X*Y Dimension

Determines the dimension of the grid.  From 2x2 squares up to 8x8 squares.

Refresh Thumbnails On Save?

For the sake of speed, and convenience, the thumbnails are stored on disk, once the item that they represent has been saved.  As the window size is adjusted, they aren't re-sized, as they are often "close enough" to do the job.  You can force a re-generation of all thumbnails by checking this box, and then saving the clip file (from the Main Window's FILE | SAVE menu, or by shutting down ClipMate).


Clipboard Formats

The Windows clipboard can simultaneously hold the same data item in many different formats.  To ensure compatibility and interoperability with as many applications as possible, most software packages will provide data in several formats.  There are extreme examples, such as Microsoft Excel, which often provide as many as 17 clipboard formats, representing the same item of data!

Analysis shows that not all formats are viable, once the host application loses ownership of the clipboard.  Many of these formats simply evaporate, and others become invalid.

Furthermore, many of these data types become quite large, and can quickly become a drain on resources.  For example, if you copy a screenful of spreadsheet cells, you could end up with a 300-600K BITMAP, and a large PICTURE drawing of your cells, along with your data!

To top it off, many of these formats aren't usually provided at the time of the copy.  Instead, applications will simply inform the clipboard that they CAN provide these formats.  Think of it as a sort of "advertising".  When an application actually asks for the data in a particular format, then the clipboard informs the host application that the particular format is requested, and the host application then provides the data.  This process is known as "Delayed Rendering", and can cause ClipMate to appear to dramatically increase the time needed to copy data.

So far, it sounds like a lot of bad news.  Will ClipMate's new features bury you in data that you don't want, and make it take longer to copy data?  The answer is NO!  ClipMate's new FILTER facility allows you to determine what formats will be retained, and which formats will be ignored.  The filtration can be defined globally, or by application by application, to give you the flexibility that you need.

For more information on the use of Filters, see: "Filtering" Filtering Clip Items

Related Topics:

TEXT

OEMTEXT

OWNER DISPLAY

BITMAP

PICTURE (Metafile)

RTF

Private Formats

OLE (Object Linking and Embedding)


TEXT

An array of character data with a hard return terminating each line, with no associated font, size, margins, or other formatting.


OEMTEXT

Data is identical to TEXT format, but the Clipboard Viewer displays it with a proportional font.  Applications receiving data don't treat it any differently, so there is no value in capturing OEMTEXT when TEXT is available.  For that reason, ClipMate always ignores OEMTEXT.


OWNER DISPLAY

Also Known as Owner Draw.  This is not really a clipboard format at all, because it is just a method for a host application to display it's data within the window of another application, such as the Clipboard Viewer.  There is no data on the clipboard, so ClipMate will always ignore this transient format.


BITMAP

A graphic image, composed of individual pixels, or dots.  ClipMate can handle bitmaps of 2, 16, or 256 colors.  When displayed on a video adapter capable of displaying 256 colors, bitmaps are often accompanied by a palette, which optimizes the colors of the display to enhance the image.  When running 24-bit video cards, with the proper drivers, a palette is not needed, and is not usually present.

Bitmaps are often used for very complex images originating from the real world, such as photographs.

Bitmaps are common in Windows, and can be created by the Paintbrush program that comes with Windows.


PICTURE (Metafile)

The proper name for this format is actually METAFILE.  It is also called MetafilePICT, and Vector Drawing.

Metafiles are graphic images that consist of one or more common drawing objects, such as rectangles, circles, lines, and formatted text. Metafiles are most suited to human- or machine-generated images, such as architectural or engineering drawings, or clip art.  Metafiles are scalable, and they often look as good full-screen as they do when scaled down.  Metafiles often contain text, with font information.  This often makes them desirable for corporate logos.  When printed, the image is re-drawn at printer resolution.  If you have True Type fonts in a Metafile, they will look FANTASTIC when printed.

Most commercial drawing programs can generate Metafiles, and so can the OLE drawing module (DRAW) that comes with many of the Microsoft products.

The "ClipMate at Work" and "PowerPaste at Work" diagrams in this manual are Metafiles.


RTF

Rich Text Format (RTF) is a private clipboard format employed by Microsoft applications, to enable them to share formatted text.  Several non-Microsoft packages have adopted this format, as well.  RTF contains all of the formatting for text, such as font, size, color, margins, borders, etc..  It can even contain other items, such as graphics and OLE objects.

RTF is usually very large.  It is not unusual to see RTF clipboard items of 200 - 600K in size.  Also, it will usually take an application several seconds to produce the RTF format, and place it on the clipboard.  The reason that you might not notice the delay, is that RTF is a prime candidate for Delayed Rendering.


Private Formats

There is an established and publicized list of standard clipboard formats, which are known as public formats.  Most of the popular ones are listed above.  Applications may generate their own, private formats, at any time.  Public formats are the most useful, because they are usually supported by a wide variety of applications.  Examples are Text, BITMAP, and PICTURE.  Private formats, on the other hand, are generally useless to any application besides the application that created the data.  Sometimes several applications from the same vendor will share private formats, which makes them more useful.  Most often, the data is only useful to the application that created it.

Since most private formats are usually meant to be used only by the originating application, there is a potential hazard involved when using them.  Often, these formats are just pointers that refer to data structures residing within the original application, and don't actually contain the data at all.  These are transient formats. If ClipMate re-posts this format to the clipboard at a later time, the pointers are invalid.  This can cause a Run-Time Error or GPF in the original application.  If you find that this is the case, you'll have to remove the offending format(s) from the filter for that application.


OLE (Object Linking and Embedding)

ClipMate has the ability to store OLE objects.  Simply stated, OLE lets applications that use different data formats share data without converting the data to a common format.  For example, a sound object can be pasted into a word-processing document.  The sound can then be played back, by activating the object.  Your word processor doesn't have to know how to play sounds - it just has to follow the rules of OLE.  In many cases, the OLE object can be activated or edited by double-clicking on it.  In Microsoft Word for Windows, for example, the draw program is an OLE server.  Double-Click on a graphic, and it activates the Draw program to edit the object.  Within the Draw program, there is no option to save the file - instead, the option is to update the drawing in the Word for Windows document.  You can do the same thing with an Excel spreadsheet object.  You can actually embed a spreadsheet within a word processing document.  Don't like the numbers?  Double-click, to edit the object in Excel.  Instead of saving the Excel file, you update the Word document.  In these cases, the Word for Windows document is considered to be a Compound Document, because it contains other types of data within itself.

In the above examples, we have used Microsoft products to demonstrate OLE, because these are the tools that we use at Thornton Software Solutions.  Other vendors support OLE as well, and as this manual is being written, most of the industry is re-tooling to support OLE v2.0.

OLE is initiated by an OLE Server copying data to the clipboard, and then and OLE Client pasting that data into itself.  The OLE Client looks at the list of available formats, from top to bottom.  If it finds an acceptable format, it just uses that format, and doesn't bother with OLE.  Otherwise, it finds the series of formats that magically comprise an OLE object, and pastes them into itself, creating the object.  These magic formats that make OLE happen are:

1.	OBJECTLINK	Where did the data come from?

2.	OWNERLINK	Which application owns the data?

3.	NATIVE	The data itself.

4.	PICTURE, DIB, or BITMAP	The "Presentation Format".

The Presentation Format is a special case.  One of these formats is used to display the data in the client application.  The nature of this depends on the nature of the OLE object.  For a sound object, this would be an Icon of the sound recorder.  For a graphic object, this would be a picture or bitmap of the graphic itself.  Have you wondered why you get silly icons of certain applications, when you're copying formatted text?  This is because the application is conforming to OLE, and your filter is letting it.

Related Topics:

Using OLE in ClipMate


Using OLE in ClipMate

When defining your filter for any given OLE Server (such as the Sound Recorder), make sure that you include all of the necessary formats: OBJECTLINK, OWNERLINK, NATIVE, and a Presentation Format.  By your having done this, ClipMate will capture and preserve the OLE objects.  Beware, however, as OLE objects can get quite large.


Filtering Clip Items

As discussed in the section on Clipboard Formats, ClipMate would quickly become unusable if it automatically captured every item of data, in every format provided.  ClipMate's FILTER facility allows you to be selective about the data formats that ClipMate will capture, on an application-by-application basis.

ClipMate's filter facility operates in the following manner:

Every time that the clipboard is updated, ClipMate's filter performs the following:

1.	Find out which application just put data on the clipboard.  Is there a filter defined for that application?  If so, retrieve the filter which corresponds to that application.  Otherwise, retrieve the "OTHERS" filter, which is the default.

2.	Compare the list of data formats that are presently on the clipboard, with the list of formats on the currently-selected filter from step 1.  Where there's a match, collect the data in ClipMate.  Otherwise, ignore the data.

3.	While performing step (2), determine whether there are any advanced options defined for this filter.  If there are, apply the appropriate rules.  For more information on advanced options, see: Advanced Filtration Options.

To support this operation, ClipMate will maintain a list of FILTERS, which indicate which formats are to be collected, given the current clipboard owner.  Filters consist of the name of an application, along with a list of the desired data formats.  There can also be "Advanced Options", which define special handling for certain applications.

"OTHERS" Filter

As noted in step (2) above, the "OTHERS" filter is the default, if there is no filter defined for the application that currently owns the clipboard.  You can alter the list of formats included in the OTHERS filter, but you cannot delete the OTHERS filter itself.

Empty Filters

A powerful, but non-obvious aspect of filters is that you can use them to cause ClipMate to ignore certain applications.  To do so, just create an empty filter (a filter, with no formats) for an application.  When that application copies data to the clipboard, the filter will be retrieved, but no matches will occur.  So no data will be collected by ClipMate.

Related Topics:

Format Viability Test

Creating Filters

Advanced Filtration Options

Filter For TEXT Users

Filter Wizard


Format Viability Test

The Format Viability Test can help you to troubleshoot problems with the clipboard and determine whether an application does indeed provide any formats that are worth keeping.  Simply put, it involves using the clipboard viewer that comes with Windows (clipbrd.exe) to capture data, save it to a file, read the file back in, and paste it back into the originating application.  There are four likely results:

1.	A successful paste, with good-looking data.  This indicates that there is at least one format that has what you need.  All you need to do now is to figure out which format is the best, and create a filter for just that format, and maybe something that will show up in the Mag Window, such as Text.

2.	A successful paste, with strange-looking data.  In this case, the application is holding back the most useful format.  Microsoft Excel is an example of such an application.  None of its 17 clipboard formats are as good as an internal paste.  Try experimenting with different filters, to see which format comes closest.  Hopefully, something will be useful.

3.	A failure message.  The application tried to use one of the formats, but it was invalid.  The application was smart enough to recognize this.  Most likely, the offending format is a private format, used internally by the application.  It probably is a pointer to some data that is now invalid.  See if there are any special paste options, like Paste Special.  Perhaps one of the other formats will work better?  Try to use ClipMate's filter to eliminate the offending format.  Often, private formats will have a name that indicates the application.  You need to find the best format(s) to include, and absolutely need to eliminate the offending formats.

4.	A fatal error in the application.  The same case as (3) above, but the application wasn't smart enough to see the problem in time.  Use the same techniques to get out of trouble.

Conducting The Test:

1.	Close ClipMate, if it is running.  The test will be conducted without ClipMate, in order to avoid confusion.

2.	Open the Windows clipboard viewer (the one that comes with Microsoft Windows - clipbrd.exe)

3.	From AppXYZ (your application), copy some data.  If AppXYZ is a word processor, copy several paragraphs, preferably with different fonts.

4.	Click on the clipboard viewer.  Pull down the DISPLAY menu, and write down the list of the formats provided.

5.	Close AppXYZ.

6.	Click on the clipboard viewer AGAIN.  Pull down the DISPLAY menu, and write down the list of the formats provided.  Has the list changed?  What's missing?

7.	Save the clipboard to a file, using FILE | SAVE AS.  Call it AppXYZ.CLP

8.	Delete the clipboard contents, using EDIT Delete.

9.	Open AppXYZ.CLP, using clipboard's FILE, OPEN.

10.	Has the format list changed? (Use the DISPLAY Menu)

11.	Run AppXYZ again.

12.	Paste the data.  Does it look OK?  If so, then we're in business.  One of the formats on the clipboard is a winner.  Experiment with filters, and see what you can eliminate.  I recommend keeping TEXT, as it will help you to identify data, and see it in the Magnification Window.

For more information on the cause behind some of the problems outlined here, see: Unfortunate Clipboard Tricks.


Creating Filters

The process works like this:

1.	From the application that you wish to create a filter for, copy some data to the clipboard.

2.	Open the Filter Dialog Box, from ClipMate's CONFIG menu.  The name of the current clipboard owner should show up on the left, under "Current Clipboard Owner".  The available formats will be listed below the name of the owner.

3.	If a filter already exists for this application, it will show up on the right, under Existing Filters.  This is ok, because you can add to it.  Skip to step: 5.

4.	Press >>Create New Filter>> to make a new, blank filter.

5.	Highlight the formats that you want to include in the filter, and press >>Copy Format>>.  The formats should now show up in the "Desired Formats:" list.  If ClipMate detects that you've selected some particularly problematic formats, it may say so, and skip those formats.

6.	If you want to add more formats, just highlight, and copy.

7.	Press SAVE to save the filter.

If the application can work with several different types of data, such as formatted text, pictures, OLE objects, or graphs, then you might have to repeat steps 1 and 5, as necessary to get all of the formats that you want.  You can leave the filter dialog open while you do this.

NOTE:  If you will be using ClipMate to exclusively capture TEXT items, such as with previous versions of ClipMate, see: Filter For TEXT Users

Related Topics:

Filters vs. Filter Formats???

Deleting Filter Formats

Deleting Filters


Filters vs. Filter Formats???

Yes, it does get confusing.  A filter consists of the name of an Owner Application (one that puts data on the clipboard), and a list of allowable Formats that can pass through the filter, in to ClipMate.


Deleting Filter Formats

You can delete formats from any filter, by first selecting the filter into the "Existing Filters" list box, highlighting the undesired filter, and pressing "Delete Format".  This will leave the filter, but remove the unwanted formats.  Press SAVE to make this change permanent.


Deleting Filters

You can delete an entire filter by selecting the filter in the "Existing Filters" list box, and pressing "Delete Filter".  This will remove the filter from ClipMate's list of filters.  Press SAVE to make this change permanent.


Advanced Filtration Options

The Advanced Options facility is a way to inform ClipMate that it needs to apply certain application-specific processing rules, when handling data from particular applications.  For example, if ClipMate seems to be having trouble collecting data from application XYZ, there may be a timing problem, because XYZ is holding the clipboard open too long.  You can use the Advanced Options facility to let ClipMate know that it needs to delay data capture for 2/10th seconds, when XYZ owns the clipboard.

Currently, there are two Advanced Options defined in ClipMate.  As users identify more special situations, they will likely be added to this function.  Here are the current options:

Related Topics:

Delay When Capturing Data

Only use PICTURE from position:


Delay When Capturing Data

If applications seem to have trouble copying data to the clipboard when ClipMate is running, there may be a timing problem.  Use this option to initiate a small (1/10th second) delay, which will allow your application to finish the copy, before ClipMate interferes.  This may be especially helpful when using Auto Glue, or PowerPaste.


Only use PICTURE from position:

If you find that you end up with senseless pictures of an application's icon when copying non-pictorial data, you might be able to use this feature to help ClipMate to only grab "real" Metafiles (PICTURE) and leave the "icons" behind.  If you find that when copying "real" pictures, versus non-picture data, that the sequence of the formats change, then you might be able to use this option to distinguish between the two cases.

For example:  When copying pictures from Microsoft Word for Windows, the PICTURE shows up as the 3rd format in the "Available Formats" list.  When copying text, it also provides a PICTURE, but at position 7.  This is the one that you probably DO NOT want.  So set this option to copy only from position 3, and you'll keep the good pictures, and leave behind the "garbage" pictures.


Filter For TEXT Users

For those of you who use ClipMate strictly for text, and want to keep it that way, follow these simple steps:

1.	Select FILTER from the CONFIG menu (Full Layout).

2.	Turn off the Filter Wizard, with the checkbox at the bottom of the dialog.

3.	From the drop-down combo box on the right of the dialog box, select the OTHERS filter (OTHERS is the default).

4.	Highlight any non-text format that appears in the "Desired Formats" list.

5.	Press the "Delete Format" button.

6.	Repeat steps 3 & 4 until only TEXT remains.

7.	Press the SAVE button.

8.	Press the OK button.

9.	Now, ClipMate will only capture TEXT items, and will behave like previous (1.x) versions of ClipMate.


Working With Clipboard Formats - Filtering Clip Items - Filter Wizard
Filter Wizard

A feature introduced in v2.01, the FILTER WIZARD, will facilitate the creation and understanding of FILTERS, which are needed to filter out unwanted clipboard data.  The Filter Wizard will activate itself when it senses that a filter is needed, to deal with data coming from a particular application.  It will list the formats currently available on the clipboard, explain a little about them, and let you select the ones you want.  Once the filter is created, the Wizard will no longer be invoked in response to data coming from the application that you just copied data from, but may be invoked by data coming from other applications.

You can disable the Filter Wizard by unchecking a check box in the FILTER dialog box.  This is advisable, only if you wish to rely on the OTHERS format for everything.  Please note that under most circumstances, you shouldn't need to disable the wizard, as it will only appear when you are copying from an application that doesn't have a filter.  Once you've established a good set of filters, it shouldn't appear any more.

The Filter Wizard is not a replacement for the regular FILTER dialog, as it doesn't allow you to add formats to existing filters.  Many applications present a different list of formats, depending upon what you're copying.  Some of the formats that you want in your filter may not be available the first time that the Wizard appears.  So, don't let the Wizard short-change you - use the Wizard to make the "first-pass" at a filter, and then use the regular FILTER dialog to fine-tune your filters.

For more information see: Clipboard Formats.

For more information see: Filtering Clip Items.


Troubleshooting

Unfortunate Clipboard Tricks

Not all applications treat the clipboard the way that you would expect them too.  In many cases, software developers take "shortcuts" when dealing with clipboard operations.  These shortcuts can sometimes cause problems when using ClipMate, although they are not usually serious.  We have arbitrarily assigned names to these phenomena, such as "Local Clipboarding" and "Silent Clipboarding".

Related Topics:

Local Clipboarding

Silent Clipboarding

Transient Data


Local Clipboarding

Unfortunately, many applications prefer to use the clipboard only as a means of exchanging data with other applications.  When you perform a CUT or COPY with these applications, the clipboard is not necessarily updated with the "good stuff" that the application uses internally.  Instead, it creates formats that might be useful to other applications.  Subsequently, when you PASTE within the same application, it tends to use its LOCAL copy, rather than the data that is on the clipboard.  For this reason, data that is stored in ClipMate may not exactly match the data that was copied.


Silent Clipboarding

Some applications, such as the OLE DRAW module that comes with some Microsoft products, use this mode of operation.  If you use the DRAW package, and copy several items, you'll find that only the last one shows up in ClipMate.  But how is this?  The whole idea of ClipMate is that it holds more than one item!

That is all well and good, as long as applications actually update the clipboard when performing cuts or copies.  In order to save time, the DRAW module works locally, and bypasses the clipboard.  When it senses that the user has given focus to another window, either by closing DRAW, or by clicking outside of its borders, it then updates the clipboard.  Thus giving the illusion of clipboard support.  Unfortunately, ClipMate can't detect anything that DRAW is doing, until it updates the clipboard.

There is a clumsy, but effective work-around.  Keep ClipMate visible on the screen while you are working in DRAW.  If you're working full-screen, make ClipMate float on top, and iconify it.  Or use a hotkey to call it to the top.  The idea is that whenever you copy data with DRAW, jut click on ClipMate.  DRAW then loses focus, which forces the clipboard update.  ClipMate will then get the data.


Transient Data

Another trick that applications sometimes play with the clipboard is to provide TRANSIENT data, which isn't really data at all.  The most common form of transient data is the OWNER DISPLAY format.  When viewed in the clipboard viewer that comes with Windows, the Owner Display format seems to accurately represent the data that was copied.  The fonts are the right size, the pictures look great, and it seems to take no time at all to copy.  In reality, the data is not really there at all.  The host application is actually drawing the data in the window of the clipboard viewer.  This format is absolutely worthless to ClipMate, and is therefore ignored.


Memory Management with "Load On Demand"

ClipMate employs a sophisticated scheme called Load On Demand to manage memory and resources effectively.  This was made necessary by the additional capability to handle large data types, such as Bitmaps and OLE objects.  It is not unusual for bitmaps to occupy several hundred Kilobytes of memory.  OLE objects, and private data formats, such as RTF can easily exceed 1 megabyte in size.  Early prototypes of ClipMate v2.0 illustrated the resource constraints that the new capabilities imposed.  Given the fact that many ClipMate users like to store 25, 50, even hundreds of Clip Items, it was decided that ClipMate should only load data that was currently in use.  Once data has been saved to disk, it should stay there until needed.  So a Load On Demand feature was implemented for any text item over 1k in size, and any other format, no matter what size.

The Catch: Until a clip item has been saved at least once, it must be kept in main memory, and is not a candidate for offloading.  They will accumulate in memory until you save the file.  This will not normally create a problem, unless you are working heavily with large data items, such as large bitmaps, RTF, or OLE objects.  For example, if you are capturing full-size screen shots of 800x600 pixels, you won't want to capture more than 4 or 5 before saving the file.  If you are working with small bitmaps, such as 100x100 pixels, you can probably do as many as you'd like.

Related Topics:

The DATA Directory:


The DATA Directory:

ClipMate maintains a DATA directory beneath its home directory, to store all data files.  There is not a direct correlation between the number of Clip Items, and the number of files.  If you only use small text items, then there will only be the .CLM file (the main ClipMate data file).  If you use complex clip items, with several formats, there can be multiple files per clip item.  If you keep lots of clip items, there may be quite a few files here.  You'll find the following file types:

.AUX	Private formats, RTF, OLE objects, and large text items.  Prefixed with serial number of clip item.

.BAK	Backup of the .CLM file.  If you have a disaster, you can use this to recover to the last successful save.

.BMP	Bitmaps.  Prefixed with a serial number.  If the serial number begins with a "t", then they are thumbnail bitmaps.

.CLM	The main clipmate data file.  It holds text items smaller than 1K, and has pointers to other files for the other data types.

.WMF	Pictures.  Prefixed with serial number of clip Item.


Support Policy

Registered users of ClipMate are entitled to support for 90 days from the receipt of the registered copy.  If you have problems using ClipMate, we are here to help you.  You can reach us at any of the following:

CompuServe:	(70743,2546)

Phone:	(716) 227-6505

FAX (24 hrs):	(716) 227-1145.

Mail:	Thornton Software Solutions

Attn: Customer Service

PO Box 26263

Rochester, NY  14626

Please provide a description of the problem, as well as a description of your hardware and software that you're using.

If we can't resolve your problem to our mutual satisfaction, we will refund your money, as long as the problem is brought to our attention within the 90 day window.


ASP

Thornton Software Solutions is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals.  The ASP is an association for shareware authors and vendors with the general goals of educating shareware authors and distributors and the public, setting standards, sharing resources and information among members. Membership is open to programmers who are authors of at least one "nontrivial" product which is currently marketed and supported as shareware, who agree to abide by standards adopted by the association, and whose membership, in the judgment of the Membership Committee, will not be detrimental to the goals or reputation of the ASP. Also, Associate Membership is open to Vendors and Bulletin Board operators.

Whenever you see the ASP logo, or the ASP initials, you are assured that the associated product will be fully-functional, and of high quality.

Related Topics:

OMBUDSMAN


OMBUDSMAN

As an ASP member, we are required to display this statement:

This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP).  ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products.  Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.


Tips for the Power User

If you find a tip that you would like to share with other users, send it to us.  If we use it in the manual and on-line help, we will credit you as the source!

Related Topics:

ThumbNail Text

Fax Your Signature


ThumbNail Text

You may find it surprisingly easy to use the ThumbNail View to find text items.  The reason for this is that you probably have a good idea what certain items look like, whether or not you could quote any given word or phrase from it (needed for Word Search).  How many times have you thumbed through a magazine, looking for an article?  Often, data that you receive electronically will have a particular visual characteristic that you can identify with a glance.  ClipMate's ThumbNail View can help you find those items quickly.

Within the ThumbNail Window's Configuration Dialog Box, there is an option for font size.  Use a small font, so small that you might not even be able to read the data.

Place the ThumbNail Window and the Magnification Window side-by-side.

Don't try to read the thumbnails, look at them  If you see something that looks like it's what you're after, click on it, and then read it in the Magnification Window.

For more information, see: Visual Selection by ThumbNail, and  ThumbNail Configuration Dialog Box.


Fax Your Signature

Fax modems are handy items, especially for sending documents directly from your word processor.  Unfortunately, you normally can't sign a document that you're sending, like you can with a traditional fax machine.

ClipMate can't solve this problem all by itself, but it can be part of the solution.  Just sign your signature several times on a sheet of paper, and use someone else's traditional fax machine to fax your signature to your fax modem.  Assuming that your fax modem comes with capable viewer software, you can copy your signature to ClipMate.  Title the new item as "My Signature", and move it to ClipMate's Safe List.  Now, you'll always have your signature ready to paste into FAX documents.

This tip submitted by Chris Thornton


Questions & Answers

Can I delete multiple Clip Items?

Why do I lose the formatting of text?

When copying bitmaps, why does the ClipMate window flash?

What are  "serial numbers"?

Why can't I paste table cells back into a table (Word for Windows)?


Can I delete multiple Clip Items?

Certainly!  User the Multiple Selection Dialog Box to select all of the items that you want to delete, then press the Delete button.  Save the file, and they're gone for good.


Why do I lose the formatting of text?

You are probably filtering-out the format that your application needs, in order to properly format the data.  By default, ClipMate will accept TEXT and BITMAP, but will ignore everything else.  It sounds like you need to develop a good filter, to be used with your application.

For more information, see: Filtering Clip Items


When copying bitmaps, why does the ClipMate window flash?

This is necessary in order to properly adjust the palette, when copying bitmaps.


What are  "serial numbers"?

ClipMate uses serial numbers to name and keep track of the files that are related to a particular Clip Item.  When a complex, non-textual, item is created, the serial number becomes part of the title.  Other than that, it is of little use to you.


Why can't I paste table cells back into a table (Word for Windows)?

This is an example of where some applications, like Microsoft's Word for Windows, use local data when copy & pasting.  You can get table cells into ClipMate through the RTF format, but then WinWord thinks you're trying to paste one table into another, which is illegal.  When WinWord is working with local Cut & Pastes, it doesn't use the data on the clipboard.


Glossary of Terms

Delayed Rendering

Transient Formats

Title

Archived

Active List

Clip Item

Clip Item Lists

Clipboard

Filters

Layout


Delayed Rendering

A clipboard technique where the host application will "advertise" clipboard formats, without actually providing the data.  When another application requests the data, Windows instructs the host application to provide the data to the clipboard.  This makes the initial copy seem fast, since no real work is done.  This is why you need to be conservative when designing filters - you don't want to wait forever to get your data!


Transient Formats

Data items that depend on the originating application for their existence.


Title

Clip Items have titles that describe the data.  If there is a TEXT format present, then the first 50 characters are used to create the title.  Otherwise, the title is a combination of the name of the creator, the format(s), and the serial number.  You may change the title of any item.


Archived

BBS and Disk vendors often compress and group files together to save space, and keep all of the distribution files together.  If the file extension is .EXE, then it is a self-extracting archive.  Just execute it, and it will unpack itself.  If the extension is .ZIP, then you will need PKUNZIP version 2.0 or later to decompress.


Active List

Whichever of the two Clip Item Lists is currently shown in the Clip Item Selection List Box is the Active List.  Its corresponding button will appear to be depressed.  The button representing the other list will be sticking up, ready to be pushed.  The lists are mutually exclusive, as only one can be active.


Clip Item

When any application places text on the Clipboard, ClipMate makes a copy for itself.  This copy of the clipboard contents is considered to be a Clip Item, and is stored in a Clip Item List.

A Clip Item will have a Clip Item Title, that is initially constructed from the first 50 characters of the clip item.  You may edit this title in the Magnification Window, or by selecting Edit Title from the EDIT menu.

Clip Items are dynamically sized upon creation.  They will typically consume a byte of memory for each character in the text, plus 50 characters for the title, and a few extra bytes to keep track of everything.

You can edit the Clip Item in the Magnification Window.

New Clip Items will be placed on one of the Clip Item Lists, depending upon which list is the Active List, and the option chosen in the CONFIG screen.


Clip Item Lists

Clip Items are stored in Clip Item Lists as they are pasted from the Clipboard.  ClipMate supports two Clip Item Lists:

Recyclable List:	Maintains a user-defined number of Clip Items.  New Clip Items are at the top of the list, and work their way down as still newer items are added.  When the number of Clip Items in the list exceeds the user-specified limit, clip items are deleted from the list, thus freeing up space in the system.  Since the space is re-usable, the list is known as the Recyclable List.

Safe List:	Stores as many Clip Items as you would ever want to keep.  Like the Recyclable List, new Clip Items enter at the top of the list, and work their way down as still newer items are added.  But YOU are responsible for deleting obsolete clip items.  This is a handy way to keep track of "Boiler-Plate" items, such as letter templates, return-addresses, or even often-used chunks of code, if you happen to be a programmer.

New Clip Items will be placed on one of the Clip Item Lists, depending upon which list is the Active List, and the option chosen in the Config screen.


Clipboard

The Windows clipboard acts as a repository for data in a variety of formats.  Applications can place data into the Clipboard, through Copying or Cutting.  Applications can retrieve data from the Clipboard by Pasting.

In actuality, there is no Clipboard program.  At least not in the sense that you could point to a particular program, and declare it to be the clipboard.  The Clipboard Utility that comes with Windows is not the Clipboard, it is just a utility that can be used to display or delete the contents of the Clipboard.  It does not have to be open, or even on your hard disk in order to perform Clipboard functions.  In real terms, the Windows Clipboard is set of Windows functions that programs use to share data.

The Clipboard can be used to hold a variety of formats, usually simultaneously.  Some common formats are Bitmap, Symbolic Link, TIFF, etc.

This definition is partly based upon the definition of the Clipboard in Tom Swan's Turbo Pascal for Windows 3.0 Programming.


Filters

Filters allow you to pre-determine which datatypes will be collected by ClipMate.  This will save resources, and time, because ClipMate won't be asking the clipboard to provide data that you don't need.


Layout

ClipMate gives you the option of displaying all of its graphical controls, along with the Menu (Full Layout), or just showing a some of the graphical controls, with no Menu (Brief Layout).  See CONFIG for details on how to change the Layout.


Desirable Formats are those formats that: 1) are supported by ClipMate, and 2) the user wants to capture (determined by the FILTER).


To move an icon from one group to another, click on the icon, and drag it to the new group.  Holding the CTRL key, causes the icon to be copied, leaving the icon in both groups.


The Font Size displayed in the graphic grid is for local display purposes only, and has no relation to the font that was used in the originating application


Carriage Return + Line Feed