ImportClipboard

Description

Inserts data into a DataWindow control, DataStore object, or graph control from tab-separated, comma-separated, or XML data on the clipboard.

For DataWindow and DataStore syntax, see the ImportClipboard method for DataWindows in the DataWindow Reference or the online Help.

Applies to

Graph controls in windows and user objects. Does not apply to graphs within DataWindow objects, because their data comes directly from the DataWindow.

Syntax

graphname.ImportClipboard ( { importtype}, { startrow {, endrow {, startcolumn } } } )

Argument

Description

importtype (optional)

An enumerated value of the SaveAsType DataWindow constant. Valid type arguments for ImportClipboard are:

  • Text!

  • CSV!

  • XML!

If you want to generate an XML trace file, the XML! argument is required.

graphname

The name of the graph control to which you want to copy data from the clipboard.

startrow (optional)

The number of the first detail row in the clipboard that you want to copy. The default is 1.

For default XML import, if startrow is supplied, the first N (startrow -1) elements are skipped, where N is the DataWindow row size.

For template XML import, if startrow is supplied, the first (startrow -1) occurrences of the repetitive row mapping defined in the template are skipped.

endrow (optional)

The number of the last detail row in the clipboard that you want to copy. The default is the rest of the rows.

For default XML import, if endrow is supplied, import stops when N * endrow elements have been imported, where N is the DataWindow row size.

For template XML import, if endrow is supplied, import stops after endrow occurrences of the repetitive row mapping defined in the template have been imported.

startcolumn (optional)

The number of the first column in the clipboard that you want to copy. The default is 1.

For default XML import, if startcolumn is supplied, import skips the first (startcolumn - 1) elements in each row.

This argument has no effect on template XML import.

Returns

Returns the number of rows that were imported if it succeeds and one of the following negative integers if an error occurs:

If any argument’s value is null, ImportClipboard returns null. If the optional importtype argument is specified and is not a valid type, ImportClipboard returns -3.

Usage

The clipboard data must be formatted in tab-separated or comma-separated columns or in XML. The datatypes and order of the DataWindow object’s columns must match the data on the clipboard.

For graphs, ImportClipboard uses only three columns and ignores other columns. Each row of data must contain three pieces of information. The information depends on the type of graph:

If a series or category already exists in the graph, the data is assigned to it. Otherwise, the series and categories are added to the graph.

You can add data to more than one series by specifying different series names in the first column.

Examples

Example 1

If the clipboard contains the data shown below and the graph does not have any data yet, then the next statement produces a graph with two series and three categories. The clipboard data is:

Sales 94Jan3000

Sales 94Mar2200

Sales 94May2500

Sales 95Jan4000

Sales 95Mar3200

Sales 95May3500

Example 2

This statement copies all the data in the clipboard, as shown above, to gr_employee:

gr_employee.ImportClipboard()

Example 3

This statement copies the data from the clipboard starting with row 2 column 3 and copying to row 30 column 5 to the graph gr_employee:

gr_employee.ImportClipboard(2, 30, 3)

See also