Paste Picture to CRichEditCtrl

Question

I have a dialog with a CRichEditCtrl to which I would like to paste objects from the Clipboard, including text and pictures. I have no problem pasting text and tables cut from MS Word, but pictures disappear. Using PasteSpecial(UINT nClipFormat, DWORD dvAspect, HMETAFILE hMF) with nClipFormat set to CF_TEXT pastes text okay (dvAspect and hMF left at their defaults, 0), but other formats ((CF_BITMAP, CF_DIB, CF_DSPBITMAP, CF_METAFILEPICT, ...) don't work for me. Nothing happens, even when CanPaste() returns TRUE.

So, what is PasteSpecial() supposed to do, beyond pasting text only? Paste() doesn't work for pictures either, just text.

How does one find out which format is associated with the object in the Clipboard? I can paste a picture from Word into WordPad using Edit >> Paste Special >> Picture(Metafile). Can the same be done through PasteSpecial()? How? I found a suggestion on codeguru (http://www.codeguru.com/cpp/controls/richedit/article.php/c5383/Insert-any-HBITMAP-Bitmap-in-your-RichEdit-Control.htm), but it seems terribly complicated. Is there an easier way?

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Peter

Answer 1

>How does one find out which format is associated with the object in the Clipboard?

EnumClipboardFormats

You are supposed to list the available formats and let the user to choose one when the paste special menu is invoked. 

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Answer 2

Thank you, but I cannot get your suggestion to work. I presume that it's possible to insert both text and pictures into a CRichEditCtrl, and stream the data into and out of a file, as suggested by its class members and CF_RTF and CF_RETEXTOBJ Clipboard formats, but I cannot paste a picture from the Clipboard using the suggested procedure: call CanPaste(), if TRUE, then call Paste(). When I copy a graphic from MS Word to the Clipboard, CanPaste() returns TRUE, but Paste() does nothing. Your suggestion to call EnumClipboardFormats() cycles through many formats, including 49304, CF_RTF. Still, calling PasteSpecial(CF_RTF) gives nothing and PasteSpecial() applying all the other formats gives nothing also. PasteSpecial() sets parameter HMETAFILE = 0 at default, so maybe it needs to be set to something else. But where do I find the HMETAFILE? GetClipBoardData() returns a HANDLE, but that doesn't work when cast to HMETAFILE.

I looked into the WordPad code sample packaged with Visual Studio to see how it does the job, but that code is extremely dense.

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Peter

Answer 3

You don't need to fill HMETAFILE... use COlePasteSpecialDialog::GetIconicMetafile() to get it.

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Answer 4

Thank you again. Your hints have helped me educate myself, but it still doesn't work. I don't want to ask the user to select a paste format; I want to do it programmatically by selecting the format for the user, when the user clicks a "Paste Special" button that I placed on the dialog. Nonetheless, I proceeded see what would happen if I used COlePasteSpecialDialog. The code follows. Stepping through the code with Debug compilation, I get an exception at dlg.AddStandardFormats(FALSE). The prompt that appears says "A required dialog resource was unavailable."

Any further suggestions?

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void CDlgPaper::OnClickedButtonPasteSpecial()
{
 // TODO: Add your control notification handler code here

 UINT nFormat;
 int nIndex;
 DVASPECT das;
 HGLOBAL hg;
 COlePasteSpecialDialog dlg(PSF_SELECTPASTE, NULL, this);

 dlg.AddStandardFormats(FALSE);
 if (dlg.DoModal() == IDOK) {
  nIndex = dlg.GetPasteIndex();
  nFormat = dlg.m_ps.arrPasteEntries[nIndex].fmtetc.cfFormat;
  das = dlg.GetDrawAspect();
  hg = dlg.GetIconicMetafile();
  m_editPaperText.PasteSpecial(nFormat, das, (HMETAFILE) hg);
 }

}

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Peter

Answer 5

Check if your resource ids conflict with MFC's

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Answer 6

I checked my resource ids. They don't seem to be in conflict with MFCs. In any case, I am thinking that this issue of pasting pictures into CRichEditCtrl is too complicated to tackle, so I am just going to set it aside for now. Thank you very much.

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Peter