NSPasteboard Class Reference

Inherits from
NSObject
Conforms to
NSObject (NSObject)
Framework
/System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework
Availability
Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
Declared in
NSPasteboard.h
Companion guides
Pasteboard Programming Guide
Drag and Drop Programming Topics
Services Implementation Guide
Related sample code

Overview

NSPasteboard objects transfer data to and from the pasteboard server. The server is shared by all running applications. It contains data that the user has cut or copied, as well as other data that one application wants to transfer to another. NSPasteboard objects are an application’s sole interface to the server and to all pasteboard operations.

An NSPasteboard object is also used to transfer data between applications and service providers listed in each application’s Services menu. The drag pasteboard (NSDragPboard) is used to transfer data that is being dragged by the user.

On OS X v10.6 and later, a pasteboard can contain multiple items. You can directly write or read any object that implements the NSPasteboardWriting Protocol Reference or NSPasteboardReading Protocol Reference  protocol respectively. This allows you to write and read common items such as URLs, colors, images, strings, attributed strings, and sounds without an intermediary object. Your custom classes can also implement these protocols for use with the pasteboard.

The writing methods available on OS X v10.5 and earlier all operate on what is conceptually the first item on the pasteboard. They accept UTIs and pboard type strings. In a future release they may take only UTIs. On OS X v10.6 and later, the writing methods such as setData:forType: still provide a convenient means of writing to the first pasteboard item, without having to create the first pasteboard item. For example, instead of 

[pboard clearContents];
NSPasteboardItem *item = [[[NSPasteboardItem alloc] init] autorelease];
[item setData:data forType:type];
[pboard writeObjects:[NSArray arrayWithObject:item]];

you can write:

[pboard clearContents];
[pboard setData:data forType:type];

In addition to being more compact, this is also a little more efficient—it avoids the need to create a separate pasteboard item and array.

Tasks

Creating and Releasing a Pasteboard

Writing Data

Reading Data

Validating Contents

Getting Information About a Pasteboard

Writing Data (OS X v10.5 and Earlier)

These methods all operate on what is conceptually the first item on the pasteboard. They accept UTIs and pboard type strings. In a future release they may take only UTIs.

Reading Data (OS X v10.5 and Earlier)

These methods all operate on what is conceptually the first item on the pasteboard. They accept UTIs and pboard type strings. In a future release they may take only UTIs.

Class Methods

generalPasteboard

Returns the general NSPasteboard object.

+ (NSPasteboard *)generalPasteboard
Return Value

The general pasteboard.

Discussion

Invokes pasteboardWithName: to obtain the pasteboard.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

pasteboardByFilteringData:ofType:

Creates and returns a new pasteboard with a unique name that supplies the specified data in as many types as possible given the available filter services.

+ (NSPasteboard *)pasteboardByFilteringData:(NSData *)data ofType:(NSString *)type
Parameters
data

The data to be placed on the pasteboard.

type

The type of data in the data parameter.

Return Value

The new pasteboard object.

Discussion

The returned pasteboard also declares data of the supplied type.

No filter service is invoked until the data is actually requested, so invoking this method is reasonably inexpensive.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

pasteboardByFilteringFile:

Creates and returns a new pasteboard with a unique name that supplies the specified file data in as many types as possible given the available filter services.

+ (NSPasteboard *)pasteboardByFilteringFile:(NSString *)filename
Parameters
filename

The filename to put on the pasteboard.

Return Value

The new pasteboard object.

Discussion

No filter service is invoked until the data is actually requested, so invoking this method is reasonably inexpensive.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

pasteboardByFilteringTypesInPasteboard:

Creates and returns a new pasteboard with a unique name that supplies the specified pasteboard data in as many types as possible given the available filter services.

+ (NSPasteboard *)pasteboardByFilteringTypesInPasteboard:(NSPasteboard *)pasteboard
Parameters
pasteboard

The original pasteboard object.

Return Value

The new pasteboard object. This method returns the object in the pasteboard parameter if the pasteboard was returned by one of the pasteboardByFiltering... methods. This prevents a pasteboard from being expanded multiple times.

Discussion

This process can be thought of as expanding the pasteboard, because the new pasteboard generally contains more representations of the data than pasteboard.

This method only returns the original types and the types that can be created as a result of a single filter; the pasteboard does not have defined types that are the result of translation by multiple filters.

No filter service is invoked until the data is actually requested, so invoking this method is reasonably inexpensive.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

pasteboardWithName:

Returns the pasteboard with the specified name.

+ (NSPasteboard *)pasteboardWithName:(NSString *)name
Parameters
name

The name of the pasteboard. The names of standard pasteboards are given in “Pasteboard Names.”

Return Value

The pasteboard associated with the given name, or a new NSPasteboard object if the application does not yet have a pasteboard object for the specified name.

Discussion

Other names can be assigned to create private pasteboards for other purposes.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

pasteboardWithUniqueName

Creates and returns a new pasteboard with a name that is guaranteed to be unique with respect to other pasteboards on the computer.

+ (NSPasteboard *)pasteboardWithUniqueName
Return Value

The new pasteboard object.

Discussion

This method is useful for applications that implement their own interprocess communication using pasteboards.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

typesFilterableTo:

Returns the data types that can be converted to the specified type using the available filter services.

+ (NSArray *)typesFilterableTo:(NSString *)type
Parameters
type

The target data type.

Return Value

An array of NSString objects containing the types that can be converted to the target data type.

Discussion

The array also contains the original type.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

Instance Methods

addTypes:owner:

Adds promises for the specified types to the first pasteboard item.

- (NSInteger)addTypes:(NSArray *)newTypes owner:(id)newOwner
Parameters
newTypes

An array of NSString objects, each of which specifies a type of data that can be provided to the pasteboard.

newOwner

The object that provides the data for the specified types.

If the data for those types is provided immediately, the owner can be nil. If the data for the added types will be provided lazily when requested from the pasteboard, an owner object must be provided that implements the -pasteboard:provideDataForType: method of the NSPasteboardOwner informal protocol.

Return Value

The new change count, or 0 if there was an error adding the types.

Discussion

This method adds promises for the specified types to the first pasteboard item.

You use this methods to declare additional types of data for the first pasteboard item in the receiver. You can also use it to replace existing types added by a previous declareTypes:owner: or addTypes:owner: message.

The newTypes parameter specifies the types of data you are promising to the pasteboard. The types should be ordered according to the preference of the source application, with the most preferred type coming first (typically, the richest representation). New types are added to the end of the list containing any existing types, if any.

If you specify a type that has already been declared, this method replaces the owner of that type with the value in newOwner. In addition, any data already already written to the pasteboard for that type is removed.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

availableTypeFromArray:

Scans the specified types for a type that the receiver supports.

- (NSString *)availableTypeFromArray:(NSArray *)types
Parameters
types

An array of NSString objects specifying the pasteboard types your application supports, in preferred order.

Return Value

The first pasteboard type in types that is available on the pasteboard, or nil if the receiver does not contain any of the types in types.

Discussion

You use this method to determine the best representation available on the pasteboard. For example, if your application supports RTFD, RTF, and string data, then you might invoke the method as follows:

NSArray *supportedTypes =
    [NSArray arrayWithObjects: NSRTFDPboardType, NSRTFPboardType, NSStringPboardType, nil];
NSString *bestType = [[NSPasteboard generalPasteboard]
    availableTypeFromArray:supportedTypes];

If the pasteboard contains RTF and string data, then bestType would contain NSRTFPboardType. If the pasteboard contains none of the types in supportedTypes, then bestType would be nil.

You must send a types or availableTypeFromArray: message before reading any data from an NSPasteboard object. If you need to see if a type in the returned array matches a type string you have stored locally, use the isEqualToString: method to perform the comparison.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

canReadItemWithDataConformingToTypes:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the receiver contains any items that conform to the specified UTIs.

- (BOOL)canReadItemWithDataConformingToTypes:(NSArray *)types
Parameters
types

An array of NSString objects containing UTIs.

Return Value

YES if the receiver contains any items that conform to the UTIs specified in types, otherwise NO.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.6 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

canReadObjectForClasses:options:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the receiver contains any items that can be represented as an instance of any class in a given array.

- (BOOL)canReadObjectForClasses:(NSArray *)classArray options:(NSDictionary *)options
Parameters
classArray

An array of class objects.

Classes in the array must conform to the NSPasteboardReading Protocol Reference protocol.

options

A dictionary that specifies options to refine the search for pasteboard items, for example to restrict the search to file URLs with particular content types. For valid dictionary keys, see “Pasteboard Reading Options.”

Return Value

YES if the receiver contains any items that can be represented as an instance of a class specified in classArray, otherwise NO.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.6 and later.
See Also
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

changeCount

Returns the receiver’s change count.

- (NSInteger)changeCount
Return Value

The change count of the receiver.

Discussion

The change count starts at zero when a client creates the receiver and becomes the first owner. The change count subsequently increments each time the pasteboard ownership changes.

The change count is also returned from clearContents and declareTypes:owner:. You can therefore record the change count at the time that you take ownership of the pasteboard and later compare it with the value returned from changeCount to determine whether you still have ownership.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

clearContents

Clears the existing contents of the pasteboard

- (NSInteger)clearContents
Return Value

The change count of the receiver.

Discussion

Clears the existing contents of the pasteboard, preparing it for new contents. This is the first step in providing data on the pasteboard.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.6 and later.
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

dataForType:

Returns the data for the specified type from the first item in the receiver that contains the type.

- (NSData *)dataForType:(NSString *)dataType
Parameters
dataType

The type of data you want to read from the pasteboard. This value should be one of the types returned by types or availableTypeFromArray:.

Return Value

A data object containing the data for the specified type from the first item in the receiver that contains the type, or nil if the contents of the pasteboard changed since they were last checked.

This method may also return nil if the pasteboard server cannot supply the data in time—for example, if the pasteboard’s owner is slow in responding to a pasteboard:provideDataForType: message and the interprocess communication times out.

Discussion

Errors other than a timeout raise a NSPasteboardCommunicationException.

If nil is returned, the application should put up a panel informing the user that it was unable to carry out the paste operation.

Special Considerations

For standard text data types such as string, RTF, and RTFD, the text data from each item is returned as one combined result separated by newlines.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

declareTypes:owner:

Prepares the receiver for a change in its contents by declaring the new types of data it will contain and a new owner.

- (NSInteger)declareTypes:(NSArray *)newTypes owner:(id)newOwner
Parameters
newTypes

An array of NSString objects that specify the types of data that may be added to the new pasteboard. The types should be ordered according to the preference of the source application, with the most preferred type coming first (typically, the richest representation).

newOwner

The object responsible for writing data to the pasteboard, or nil if you provide data for all types immediately. If you specify a newOwner object, it must support all of the types declared in the newTypes parameter and must remain valid for as long as the data is promised on the pasteboard.

Return Value

The receiver's new change count.

Discussion

This method is the equivalent of invoking clearContents, implicitly writing the first pasteboard item, and then callingaddTypes:owner: to promise types for the first pasteboard item.

Special Considerations

In general, you should not use this method with writeObjects:, since writeObjects: will always write additional items to the pasteboard, and will not affect items already on the pasteboard, including the item implicitly created by this method.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

indexOfPasteboardItem:

Returns the index of the specified pasteboard item.

- (NSUInteger)indexOfPasteboardItem:(NSPasteboardItem *)pasteboardItem
Parameters
pasteboardItem

A pasteboard item.

Return Value

The index of the specified pasteboard item. If pasteboardItem has not been added to any pasteboard, or is owned by another pasteboard, returns NSNotFound.

Discussion

An item’s index in the pasteboard is useful for a pasteboard item data provider that has promised data for multiple items, to be able to easily match the pasteboard item to an array of source data from which to derive the promised data.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.6 and later.
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

name

Returns the receiver’s name.

- (NSString *)name
Return Value

The name of the receiver.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

pasteboardItems

Returns all the items held by the receiver.

- (NSArray *)pasteboardItems
Return Value

Returns all the items held by the receiver, or nil if there is an error retrieving pasteboard items.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.6 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

propertyListForType:

Returns the property list for the specified type from the first item in the receiver that contains the type.

- (id)propertyListForType:(NSString *)dataType
Parameters
dataType

The pasteboard data type containing the property-list data.

Return Value

The property list for the specified type from the first item in the receiver that contains the type. This object consists of NSArray, NSData, NSDictionary, or NSString objects—or any combination thereof.

Discussion

This method invokes the dataForType: method.

Special Considerations

You must send types or availableTypeFromArray: before invoking propertyListForType:.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

readFileContentsType:toFile:

Reads data representing a file’s contents from the receiver and writes it to the specified file.

- (NSString *)readFileContentsType:(NSString *)type toFile:(NSString *)filename
Parameters
type

The pasteboard data type to read. You should generally specify a value for this parameter. If you specify nil, the filename extension (in combination with the NSCreateFileContentsPboardType function) is used to determine the type.

filename

The file to receive the pasteboard data.

Return Value

The name of the file into which the data was actually written.

Discussion

Data of any file contents type should only be read using this method. If data matching the specified type is not found on the pasteboard, data of type NSFileContentsPboardType is requested.

Special Considerations

You must send an availableTypeFromArray: or types message before invoking readFileContentsType:toFile:.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

readFileWrapper

Reads data representing a file’s contents from the receiver and returns it as a file wrapper.

- (NSFileWrapper *)readFileWrapper
Return Value

A file wrapper containing the pasteboard data, or nil if the receiver contained no data of type NSFileContentsPboardType.

Discussion

In OS X v10.5 and earlier, the file contents pboard type allowed you to synthesize a pboard type for a file's contents based on the file's extension. In OS X v10.5 and later, using the UTI of a file to represent its contents now replaces this functionality.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

readObjectsForClasses:options:

Reads from the receiver objects that best match the specified array of classes.

- (NSArray *)readObjectsForClasses:(NSArray *)classArray options:(NSDictionary *)options
Parameters
classArray

An array of class objects.

The classes should appear in the array in the order the preferred order of representation. Classes in the array must conform to the NSPasteboardReading Protocol Reference protocol.

options

A dictionary that specifies options to refine the search for pasteboard items, for example to restrict the search to file URLs with particular content types. For valid dictionary keys, see “Pasteboard Reading Options.”

Return Value

An array containing the best match (if any) for each of the items on the receiver that can be represented by a class specified in classArray. Returns nil if there is an error in retrieving the requested items from the pasteboard, or if no objects of the specified classes can be created.

Discussion

Classes in classArray must implement the NSPasteboardReading protocol. Cocoa classes that implement this protocol include NSImage, NSString, NSURL, NSColor, NSAttributedString, and NSPasteboardItem. For every item on the pasteboard, each class in the provided array will be queried for the types it can read using readableTypesForPasteboard:. An instance is created of the first class found in the provided array whose readable types match a conforming type contained in that pasteboard item. Any instances that could be created from pasteboard item data is returned to the caller. Additional options, such as restricting the search to file URLs with particular content types, can be specified with an options dictionary.

Only objects of the requested classes are returned. You can always ensure to receive one object per item on the pasteboard by including the NSPasteboardItem class in the array of classes.

Consider the following example: there are five items on the pasteboard, two contain TIFF data, two contain RTF data, one contains a private data type. The following table shows what objects you get back in the returned array for different classes in classArray

Classes in classArray

Returned objects

NSImage

Two NSImage objects.

NSAttributedString

Two NSAttributedString objects.

NSImage, NSAttributedString

Two NSImage objects, and two NSAttributedString objects.

NSImage, NSAttributedString, NSPasteboardItem

Two NSImage objects, two NSAttributedString objects, and one NSPasteboardItem object containing the private data type.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.6 and later.
See Also
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

releaseGlobally

Releases the receiver’s resources in the pasteboard server.

- (void)releaseGlobally
Discussion

After this method is invoked, no other application can use the receiver.

Special Considerations

A temporary, privately named pasteboard can be released this way when it is no longer needed, but a standard pasteboard should never be released globally.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

setData:forType:

Sets the given data as the representation for the specified type for the first item on the receiver.

- (BOOL)setData:(NSData *)data forType:(NSString *)dataType
Parameters
data

The data to write to the pasteboard.

dataType

The type of data in the data parameter. The type must have been declared by a previous declareTypes:owner: message.

Return Value

YES if the data was written successfully, otherwise NO if ownership of the pasteboard has changed. Any other error raises an NSPasteboardCommunicationException.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

setPropertyList:forType:

Sets the given property list as the representation for the specified type for the first item on the receiver.

- (BOOL)setPropertyList:(id)propertyList forType:(NSString *)dataType
Parameters
propertyList

The property list data to write to the pasteboard.

dataType

The type of property-list data in the propertyList parameter. The type must have been declared by a previous declareTypes:owner: message.

Return Value

YES if the data was written successfully, otherwise NO if ownership of the pasteboard has changed. Any other error raises an NSPasteboardCommunicationException.

Discussion

This method invokes setData:forType: with a serialized property list parameter.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

setString:forType:

Sets the given string as the representation for the specified type for the first item on the receiver.

- (BOOL)setString:(NSString *)string forType:(NSString *)dataType
Parameters
string

The string to write to the pasteboard.

dataType

The type of string data. The type must have been declared by a previous declareTypes:owner: message.

Return Value

YES if the data was written successfully, otherwise NO if ownership of the pasteboard has changed. Any other error raises an NSPasteboardCommunicationException.

Discussion

This method invokes setData:forType: to perform the write.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

stringForType:

Returns a concatenation of the strings for the specified type from all the items in the receiver that contain the type.

- (NSString *)stringForType:(NSString *)dataType
Parameters
dataType

The pasteboard data type to read.

Return Value

A concatenation of the strings for the specified type from all the items in the receiver that contain the type, or nil if none of the items contain strings of the specified type.

Discussion

This method invokes dataForType: to obtain the string. If the string cannot be obtained, stringForType: returns nil. See dataForType: for a description of what will cause nil to be returned.

In OS X v10.6 and later, if the receiver contains multiple items that can provide string, RTF, or RTFD data, the text data from each item is returned as a combined result separated by newlines.

Special Considerations

You must send types or availableTypeFromArray: before invoking stringForType:.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

types

Returns an array of the receiver’s supported data types.

- (NSArray *)types
Return Value

An array of NSString objects containing the union of the types of data declared for all the pasteboard items on the receiver. The returned types are listed in the order they were declared.

Discussion

You must send a types or availableTypeFromArray: message before reading any data from an NSPasteboard object. If you need to see if a type in the returned array matches a type string you have stored locally, use the isEqualToString: method to perform the comparison.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

writeFileContents:

Writes the contents of the specified file to the pasteboard.

- (BOOL)writeFileContents:(NSString *)filename
Parameters
filename

The name of the file to write to the pasteboard.

Return Value

YES if the data was successfully written, otherwise NO.

Discussion

Writes the contents of the file filename to the receiver and declares the data to be of type NSFileContentsPboardType and also of a type appropriate for the file’s extension (as returned by the NSCreateFileContentsPboardType function when passed the files extension), if it has one.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

writeFileWrapper:

Writes the serialized contents of the specified file wrapper to the pasteboard.

- (BOOL)writeFileWrapper:(NSFileWrapper *)wrapper
Parameters
wrapper

The file wrapper to write to the pasteboard.

Return Value

YES if the data was successfully written, otherwise NO.

Discussion

Writes the serialized contents of the file wrapper wrapper to the receiver and declares the data to be of type NSFileContentsPboardType and also of a type appropriate for the file’s extension (as returned by the NSCreateFileContentsPboardType function when passed the files extension), if it has one. If wrapper does not have a preferred filename, this method raises an exception.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

writeObjects:

Writes an array of objects to the receiver.

- (BOOL)writeObjects:(NSArray *)objects
Parameters
objects

An array of objects that implement the NSPasteboardWriting Protocol Reference protocol (including instances of NSPasteboardItem).

Return Value

YES if the array was successfully added, otherwise NO.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.6 and later.
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSPasteboard.h

Constants

Pasteboard Names

The NSPasteboard class defines the following named pasteboards.

NSString *NSGeneralPboard;
NSString *NSFontPboard;
NSString *NSRulerPboard;
NSString *NSFindPboard;
NSString *NSDragPboard;
Constants
NSGeneralPboard

The pasteboard that’s used for ordinary cut, copy, and paste operations.

This pasteboard holds the contents of the last selection that’s been cut or copied.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSFontPboard

The pasteboard that holds font and character information and supports Copy Font and Paste Font commands that may be implemented in a text editor.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSRulerPboard

The pasteboard that holds information about paragraph formats in support of the Copy Ruler and Paste Ruler commands that may be implemented in a text editor.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSFindPboard

The pasteboard that holds information about the current state of the active application’s find panel.

This information permits users to enter a search string into the find panel, then switch to another application to conduct another search.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSDragPboard

The pasteboard that stores data to be moved as the result of a drag operation.

For additional information on working with the drag pasteboard, see Drag and Drop Programming Topics.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

Declared In
AppKit/NSPasteboard.h

Types for Standard Data (OS X v10.6 and later)

The NSPasteboard class uses the following constants to define UTIs for common pasteboard data types.

NSString *const NSPasteboardTypeString;
NSString *const NSPasteboardTypePDF;
NSString *const NSPasteboardTypeTIFF;
NSString *const NSPasteboardTypePNG;
NSString *const NSPasteboardTypeRTF;
NSString *const NSPasteboardTypeRTFD;
NSString *const NSPasteboardTypeHTML;
NSString *const NSPasteboardTypeTabularText;
NSString *const NSPasteboardTypeFont;
NSString *const NSPasteboardTypeRuler;
NSString *const NSPasteboardTypeColor;
NSString *const NSPasteboardTypeSound;
NSString *const NSPasteboardTypeMultipleTextSelection;
NSString *const NSPasteboardTypeFindPanelSearchOptions;
Constants
NSPasteboardTypeString

String data.

Important: Files passed by path cannot be accessed by sandboxed applications. For this reason, you should avoid putting paths on the pasteboard using the NSPasteboardTypeString type in OS X v10.7 and later. Instead, use an NSURL, a bookmark, or a filename pasteboard type.

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardTypePDF

PDF data.

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardTypeTIFF

Tag Image File Format (TIFF) data.

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardTypePNG

PNG image data.

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardTypeRTF

Rich Text Format (RTF) data.

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardTypeRTFD

RTFD formatted file contents.

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardTypeHTML

HTML data.

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardTypeTabularText

An NSString object containing tab-separated fields of text.

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardTypeFont

Font and character information.

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardTypeRuler

Paragraph formatting information.

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardTypeColor

Color data (an NSColor object).

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardTypeSound

Sound data (an NSSound object).

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardTypeMultipleTextSelection

Multiple text selection.

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardTypeFindPanelSearchOptions

Type for the Find panel metadata property list.

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

Types for Standard Data (OS X v10.5 and earlier)

The NSPasteboard class uses the following common pasteboard data types.

NSString *NSStringPboardType;
NSString *NSFilenamesPboardType;
NSString *NSPostScriptPboardType;
NSString *NSTIFFPboardType;
NSString *NSRTFPboardType;
NSString *NSTabularTextPboardType;
NSString *NSFontPboardType;
NSString *NSRulerPboardType;
NSString *NSFileContentsPboardType;
NSString *NSColorPboardType;
NSString *NSRTFDPboardType;
NSString *NSHTMLPboardType;
NSString *NSPICTPboardType;
NSString *NSURLPboardType;
NSString *NSPDFPboardType;
NSString *NSVCardPboardType;
NSString *NSFilesPromisePboardType;
NSString *NSMultipleTextSelectionPboardType;
Constants
NSColorPboardType

NSColor data.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use NSPasteboardTypeColor (and you read and write colors directly to and from the pasteboard).

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSFileContentsPboardType

A representation of a file’s contents.

The file contents pboard type allowed you to synthesize a pboard type for a file's contents based on the file's extension.

On OS X v10.6 and later, you should use the UTI of a file to represent its contents instead.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSFilenamesPboardType

An array of NSString objects designating one or more filenames.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use writeObjects: to write file URLs to the pasteboard.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSFontPboardType

Font and character information.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use NSPasteboardTypeFont instead.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSHTMLPboardType

HTML (which an NSTextView object can read from, but not write to).

On OS X v10.6 and later, use NSPasteboardTypeHTML instead.

Available in OS X v10.1 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPDFPboardType

PDF data.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use NSPasteboardTypePDF instead.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPICTPboardType

QuickDraw picture data.

The PICT format was formally deprecated in OS X v10.4 along with QuickDraw. You should not be explicitly providing or looking for PICT data on the pasteboard.

To aid in this deprecation, if PICT is the only image type on the pasteboard, as is sometimes the case when copying images from 32-bit Carbon applications, a translated image type will be automatically reported and provided by NSPasteboard. The translated type is added to the types array ahead of PICT so that the deprecated PICT format is not the preferred format. In addition, when an application provides image data to NSPasteboard, the Carbon Pasteboard Manager will automatically make a PICT translation available to 32-bit Carbon applications.

Although NSPICTPboardType, and its UTI equivalent kUTTypePICT, will appear in a pasteboard's type array retrieved from the existing NSPasteboard API, it may cease to be reported in future releases.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Deprecated in OS X v10.6.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPostScriptPboardType

Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) code.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use @"com.adobe.encapsulated-postscript" instead.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSRulerPboardType

Paragraph formatting information.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use NSPasteboardTypeRuler instead.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSRTFPboardType

Rich Text Format (RTF) data.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use NSPasteboardTypeRTF instead.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSRTFDPboardType

RTFD formatted file contents.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use NSPasteboardTypeRTFD instead.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSStringPboardType

NSString data. (Deprecated. On OS X v10.6 and later, use NSPasteboardTypeString instead. Also, files passed by path cannot be accessed by sandboxed applications. For this reason, you should avoid putting paths on the pasteboard using the NSStringPboardType type in OS X v10.7 and later. Instead, use an NSURL, a bookmark, or a filename pasteboard type.)

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSTabularTextPboardType

An NSString object containing tab-separated fields of text.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use NSPasteboardTypeTabularText instead.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSTIFFPboardType

Tag Image File Format (TIFF) data.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use NSPasteboardTypeTIFF instead.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSURLPboardType

NSURL data for one file or resource.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use writeObjects: to write URLs directly to the pasteboard instead.

On OS X v10.5 and earlier: to write an URL to a pasteboard you use writeToPasteboard: (NSURL); to get an URL from a pasteboard you use URLFromPasteboard: (NSURL).

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSVCardPboardType

VCard data.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use (NSString *)kUTTypeVCard instead.

Available in OS X v10.2 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSFilesPromisePboardType

Promised files.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use (NSString *)kPasteboardTypeFileURLPromise instead.

For information on promised files, see Dragging Files in Drag and Drop Programming Topics.

Available in OS X v10.2 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSInkTextPboardType

Ink text data.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use (NSString *)kUTTypeInkText instead.

For information on ink text objects, see Using Ink Services in Your Application.

Available in OS X v10.4 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSMultipleTextSelectionPboardType

Multiple text selection.

On OS X v10.6 and later, use NSPasteboardTypeMultipleTextSelection instead.

Available in OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardTypeTextFinderOptions

Type for the Find panel metadata property list..

Available in OS X v10.7 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

Discussion

See also NSSoundPboardType (NSSound).

Version Notes

Pboard types will be deprecated in a future release. On OS X 10.6 and later you should replace any use of pboard types with UTIs, including the constants described in “Types for Standard Data (OS X v10.6 and later).”

Pasteboard Reading Options

These options can be used for both the readObjectsForClasses:options: and canReadObjectForClasses:options: methods, unless otherwise specified. The currently available options allow for customization of how URLS are read from the pasteboard.

NSString *NSPasteboardURLReadingFileURLsOnlyKey;
NSString *NSPasteboardURLReadingContentsConformToTypesKey;
Constants
NSPasteboardURLReadingFileURLsOnlyKey

Option for reading URLs to restrict the results to file URLs only.

The value for this key is an NSNumber object with a boolean value.

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.

NSPasteboardURLReadingContentsConformToTypesKey

Option for reading URLs to restrict the results to URLs with contents that conform to any of the provided UTI types.

If the content type of a URL cannot be determined, it will not be considered to match. The value for this key is an array of UTI type strings.

Available in OS X v10.6 and later.

Declared in NSPasteboard.h.



© 2012 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Last updated: 2012-05-14)

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