javascript - Copy / Put text on the clipboard with FireFox, Safari and Chrome

Question

In Internet Explorer I can use the clipboardData object to access the clipboard. How can I do that in FireFox, Safari and/or Chrome?

Answer 1

For security reasons, Firefox doesn't allow you to place text on the clipboard. However, there is a workaround available using Flash.

function copyIntoClipboard(text) {

    var flashId = 'flashId-HKxmj5';

    /* Replace this with your clipboard.swf location */
    var clipboardSWF = 'http://appengine.bravo9.com/copy-into-clipboard/clipboard.swf';

    if(!document.getElementById(flashId)) {
        var div = document.createElement('div');
        div.id = flashId;
        document.body.appendChild(div);
    }
    document.getElementById(flashId).innerHTML = '';
    var content = '<embed src="' +
        clipboardSWF +
        '" FlashVars="clipboard=' + encodeURIComponent(text) +
        '" width="0" height="0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>';
    document.getElementById(flashId).innerHTML = content;
}

The only disadvantage is that this requires Flash to be enabled.

The source is currently dead: http://bravo9.com/journal/copying-text-into-the-clipboard-with-javascript-in-firefox-safari-ie-opera-292559a2-cc6c-4ebf-9724-d23e8bc5ad8a/ (and so is its Google cache)