Clipboard inconsistencies when copy-pasting text #97245

New Issue

Demeter Dzadik · 2022-04-11T13:26:26+02:00

Demeter Dzadik commented

2022-04-11 13:26:26 +02:00

System Information
Operating system: Linux-5.16.15-76051615-generic-x86_64-with-glibc2.34 64 Bits
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080/PCIe/SSE2 NVIDIA Corporation 4.5.0 NVIDIA 470.86

Blender Version
Broken: version: 3.2.0 Alpha, branch: master, commit date: 2022-04-08 09:27, hash: a410cea291

Short-ish description of error

@ZedDB explained to me that, at least on Linux, there are two OS clipboards (and I might be inaccurate on the details here, feel free to correct):

Ctrl+C -> Ctrl+V on a selection, the one we're all familiar with.
The 2nd clipboard is filled with the user's last text selection, and pasted with Middle Mouse Button or Shift+Insert.
Additionally, we have a Blender clipboard, accessible from the PyAPI via context.window_manager.clipboard. From what I've tested, pressing Ctrl+C always behaves the same as setting this.

The way copying and pasting works from Blender into other running applications seems to be inconsistent, depending on the target application and which one of the copy-pasting methods are used.

Some use case examples, if that's needed:

Pasting quick scripts from Text Editor/PyConsole into a chat application (quick scripts for artists).
Making an operator in an add-on that can put an error message on the user's clipboard, to aid troubleshooting errors.

Situation on popOS

I expect these issues to have some variation across different systems, so if you have a different system and get different results, please post them.

The inconsistencies I found, sorted in my personal priority:

Ctrl+C -> Ctrl+V from Blender Text Editor and Properties works to VSC, but not to Firefox.
Ctrl+C -> Ctrl+V does work from one Blender instance to another ONLY IF the source Blender instance is not closed.
Selection -> Middle Mouse Paste works from Blender Text Editor to other software, UNLESS using the Ctrl+A "Select All" shortcut in the text editor.
Selection -> Middle Mouse Paste does not work from one Blender Text Editor to another.
Selection -> Middle Mouse Paste does not work from Blender Properties to anywhere else.

**System Information** Operating system: Linux-5.16.15-76051615-generic-x86_64-with-glibc2.34 64 Bits Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080/PCIe/SSE2 NVIDIA Corporation 4.5.0 NVIDIA 470.86 **Blender Version** Broken: version: 3.2.0 Alpha, branch: master, commit date: 2022-04-08 09:27, hash: `a410cea291` ### Short-ish description of error @ZedDB explained to me that, at least on Linux, there are two OS clipboards (and I might be inaccurate on the details here, feel free to correct): - Ctrl+C -> Ctrl+V on a selection, the one we're all familiar with. - The 2nd clipboard is filled with the user's last text selection, and pasted with Middle Mouse Button or Shift+Insert. - Additionally, we have a Blender clipboard, accessible from the PyAPI via `context.window_manager.clipboard`. From what I've tested, pressing Ctrl+C always behaves the same as setting this. The way copying and pasting works from Blender into other running applications seems to be inconsistent, depending on the target application and which one of the copy-pasting methods are used. **Some use case examples, if that's needed**: 1) Pasting quick scripts from Text Editor/PyConsole into a chat application (quick scripts for artists). 2) Making an operator in an add-on that can put an error message on the user's clipboard, to aid troubleshooting errors. ### Situation on popOS I expect these issues to have some variation across different systems, so if you have a different system and get different results, please post them. The inconsistencies I found, sorted in my personal priority: - Ctrl+C -> Ctrl+V from Blender Text Editor and Properties works to VSC, but not to Firefox. - Ctrl+C -> Ctrl+V does work from one Blender instance to another ONLY IF the source Blender instance is not closed. - Selection -> Middle Mouse Paste works from Blender Text Editor to other software, UNLESS using the Ctrl+A "Select All" shortcut in the text editor. - Selection -> Middle Mouse Paste does not work from one Blender Text Editor to another. - Selection -> Middle Mouse Paste does not work from Blender Properties to anywhere else.

Demeter Dzadik commented

2022-04-11 13:26:27 +02:00

Added subscribers: @ZedDB, @Mets

Omar Emara commented

2022-05-10 15:27:42 +02:00

Added subscriber: @OmarEmaraDev

Omar Emara commented

2022-05-10 15:27:42 +02:00

Some of the issue you mention are due to limitations of display servers themselves, for instance, if the Blender instance you copied from is terminated, you will not be able to paste because X11 doesn't keep a copy of the copied contents, only a reference to it, where the actual data was held by the terminated Blender instance. You can work around those issue by using a clipboard manager, however. See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/clipboard.
Not sure about the other issue.

Some of the issue you mention are due to limitations of display servers themselves, for instance, if the Blender instance you copied from is terminated, you will not be able to paste because X11 doesn't keep a copy of the copied contents, only a reference to it, where the actual data was held by the terminated Blender instance. You can work around those issue by using a clipboard manager, however. See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/clipboard. Not sure about the other issue.

Demeter Dzadik commented

2022-05-11 15:00:53 +02:00

Yes, it's worth mentioning that there also exist copy pasting issues when it comes to quitting Blender, but I was already aware that that's a known issue, so note that none of the inconsistent behaviours I listed here require quitting Blender.

Omar Emara commented

2022-06-10 15:09:39 +02:00

Changed status from 'Needs Triage' to: 'Confirmed'

Omar Emara commented

2022-06-10 15:09:39 +02:00

I can replicate all of the selection clipboard issues. As far as I can see in the code, it seems the appropriate copy to clipboard WM functions are not called in all operators related to selection, so I guess a fix shouldn't be too hard.

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Clipboard inconsistencies when copy-pasting text #97245

Short-ish description of error

Situation on popOS