# NSPasteboard

richard@brainstorm.co.uk
Generated at 2026-02-17 21:02:56 +0000

Implementation of class for communicating with the pasteboard server.

1997,1999,2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
The pasteboard system

The pasteboard system is the core of OpenStep inter-application communications. This chapter is concerned with the use of the system, for detailed reference see the NSPasteboard class.
For non-standard services provided by applications (ie those which do not fit the general services mechanism described below), you generally use the Distributed Objects system (see NSConnection ) directly, and some hints about that are provided at the end of this chapter.

Cut and Paste

The most obvious use of the pasteboard system is to support cut and paste of text and other data, permitting the user to take selected information from a document open in an application, and move it around in the same document, or to another document open in the same application, or to a document open in another application entirely.

While some objects (eg instances of NSText ) will handle cut and paste for you automatically, you may often need to do this yourself in your own classes. The mechanism for this is quite simple, and should be done in a method called when the user selects the Cut or Copy item on the Edit menu.
The methods to do this should be called cut: and copy: respectively, and will be called automatically when the menu items are selected.

Select a pasteboard to use
There some standard pasteboards, or you can obtain or create other ones with the [NSPasteboard +pasteboardWithName:] method.
Usually you will want to use a standard pasteboard such as the one returned by the [NSPasteboard +generalPasteboard] method. NSPasteboard *pb = [NSPasteboard generalPasteboard];
Declare ownership and types
When you are going to supply data for pasting, you must take ownership of the pasteboard and specify what types of data can be provided. If you are going to place the data on the pasteboard immediately, you don't need to set a pasteboard owner, but if you plan to supply the data lazily (ie on-demand), you need to specify an object which the system can ask to provide the data when it needs it. In either case, you need to say what kinds of data the pasteboard will supply, and you use the [NSPasteboard -declareTypes:owner:] method to do this. // Provide string data immediately. [pb declareTypes: [NSArray arrayWithObject: NSStringPboardType] owner: nil]; [pb setString: myString forType: NSStringPboardType];
Provide data for pasting
If you decided to provide data lazily (recommended) then the pasteboard owner you declared will be asked to provide the data when it is needed for pasting. - (void) pasteboard: (NSPasteboard*)pb provideDataForType: (NSString*)type { // Place the data needed for pasting onto the pasteboard. [pb setData: data forType: type]; }
Support multiple types
Normally, it is best to support pasting of multiple types of data so that the object into which the data is being pasted can handle the pasted information readily. To do this it is conventional to supply data in the richest possible format in the cut: or copy: method, and supply other forms of data lazily. // Supply RTF data to the pasteboard system. - (id) copy: (id)sender { NSPasteboard *pb = [NSPasteboard generalPasteboard]; [pb declareTypes: [NSArray arrayWithObjects: NSRTFPboardType, NSStringPboardType, nil] owner: nil]; [pb setData: myData forType: NSRTFPboardType]; } The providing object can retrieve the data initially stored in the pasteboard, and set the type of data actually needed. - (void) pasteboard: (NSPasteboard*)pb provideDataForType: (NSString*)type { if ([type isEqualToString: NSStringPboardType] == YES) { NSData *d = [pb dataForType: NSRTFPboardType]; NSString *s = [self convertToString: d]; [pb setString: s forType: NSStringPboardType]; } else { // Unsupported type ... should not happen [pb setData: nil forType: type]; } }

Similarly, when the user selects the Paste item on the Edit menu, the paste: method in your code will be called, and this method should retrieve data from the pasteboard and insert it into your custom object so that the user can see it.

Retrieve data from pasteboard - (id) paste: (id)sender { NSPasteboard *pb = [NSPasteboard generalPasteboard]; NSString *info = [pb stringForType: NSStringPboardType]; // Now make use of info return self; }
Drag and Drop

The drag and drop system for transferring data is in essence a simple extension of copy and paste, where the data being dragged is a copy of some initially selected data, and the location to which it is pasted depends on where it is dropped.
To support drag and drop, you use a few standard methods to interact with pasteboards, but you need to extend this with DnD specific methods to handle the drag and drop process.

Services

The services system provides a standardised mechanism for an application to provide services to other applications. Like cut and paste, or drag and drop, the use of an application service is normally initiated by the user selecting some data to work with. The user then goes to the services menu, and selects a service listed there. The selection of a menu item causes the data to be placed on a pasteboard and transferred to the service providing application, where the action of the service is performed on it, and resulting data transferred back to the original system via the pasteboard system again.

To make use of a service then, you typically need to make no changes to your application, making the services facility supremely easy to deal with!
If however, you wish to make use of a service programmatically (rather than from the services menu), you can use the NSPerformService() function to invoke the service directly...

// Create a pasteboard and store a string in it. NSPasteboard *pb = [NSPasteboard pasteboardWithUniqueName]; [pb declareTypes: [NSArray arrayWithObject: NSStringPboardType] owner: nil]; [pb setString: myString forType: NSStringPboardType]; // Invoke a service which takes string input and produces data output. if (NSPerformService(@"TheServiceName", pb) == YES) { result = [pb dataForType: NSGeneralPboardType]; }

Providing a service is a bit trickier, it involves implementing a method to perform the service (usually in your [NSApplication -delegate] object) and specifying information about your service in the Info.plist file for your application.
When your application is installed in one of the standard locations, and the make_services tool is run to update the cache of services information, your service automatically becomes available on the services menu of every application you run.
At runtime, you use [NSApplication -setServicesProvider:] to specify the object which implements the method to perform the service, or, if you are providing the service from a process other than a GUI application, you use the NSRegisterServicesProvider() function.

Your Info.plist should contain an array named `NSServices` listing all the services your application provides. Each service definition should be a dictionary containing the following information -

NSSendTypes
This is an array containing the string values of the types of data that the service provider can handle (ie the types of data the application requesting the service may send).
The string values are the same as the standard constant names for these types, so the string "NSStringPboardType" would match the use of the `NSStringPboardType` in your code.
Similarly, the functions NSCreateFileContentsPboardType() and NSCreateFilenamePboardType() return types whose string values are found by appending the filename extension concerned to the strings "NSTypedFileContentsPboardType:" and "NSTypedFilenamesPboardType:" respectively.
NSReturnTypes
These are the types of data that the service provider may return and are specified in the same way as the NSSendTypes.
NB. A service must handle at least one send type or one return type, but it is OK to have a service which expects no input data or one which produces no output data.
NSMessage
This mandatory string value is the interesting part of the message which is sent to your service provider in order to perform the service.
The method in your application which does the work, must take three arguments and have a name formed of this value followed by `:userData:error:` // If NSMessage=encryptData - (void) encryptString: (NSPasteboard*)pboard userData: (NSString*)userData error: (NSString**)error; This method will be pass the pasteboard to use and an optional user data string, and must return results in the pasteboard, or an error message in the error argument.
NSPortName
This specifies the name of the Distributed Objects port (see NSConnection and NSPort ) on which the service provider will be listening for messages. While its value depends on how you register the service, it is normally the name of the application providing the service. This information is required in order for other applications to know how to contact the service provider.
NSUserData
This is an optional arbitrary string which (if present) is passed as the userData argument to the method implementing the service. This permits a service provider to implement a single method to handle a variety of similar services, whose exact characteristics are determined by this parameter.
NSMenuItem
This is a dictionary containing language names and the text to appear in the services menu for each language. It may contain an entry where the language name is `default` and this entry will be used where none of the specific languages listed are found in the application user's preferences.
These text items may contain a single slash ('/') character, and if this is present, the text after the slash will appear in a submenu of the services menu, with the text before the slash being the name of that submenu. This is very useful where a single application provides a variety of services and wishes to group them together.
NSKeyEquivalent
This is an optional dictionary specifying the key equivalents to select the menu items listed in the NSMenuItem specification.
NSTimeout
This is an optional timeout (in milliseconds) specifying how long the system should wait for the service provider to perform the service. If omitted, it defaults to 30000 (30 seconds).
NSExecutable
This is an optional path to the executable binary of the program which performs the service.. it's used to launch the program if it is not already running. Normally, for an application, this is not necessary, as the system knows how to launch any applications found installed in standard locations.
NSHost
Not yet implemented... this provides for the system to launch the executable for this service on a different host on the network.

The actual code to implement a service is very simple, even with error checking added -

- (void) encryptString: (NSPasteboard*)pboard userData: (NSString*)userData error: (NSString**)error { NSString *d;

if ([pboard types] containsObject: NSStringPboardType] == NO) { *error = @"Bad types for encrypt service ... no string data"; return; } s = [pboard stringForType: NSStringPboardType]; if ([d length] == 0) { *error = @"No data supplied for encrypt service"; return; } s = [self encryptString: s]; // Do the real work [pboard declareTypes: [NSArray arrayWithObject: NSStringPboardType owner: nil]; [pboard setString: s forType: NSStringPboardType]; return; }
Filter services

A filter service is a special case of an inter-application service. Its action is to take data of one type and convert it to another type. Unlike general services, this is not directly initiated by user action clicking on an item in the services menu (indeed, filter services do not appear on the services menu), but is instead performed transparently when the application asks the pasteboard system for data of a particular type, but the pasteboard only contains data of some other type.

A filter service definition in the Info.plist file differs from that of a standard service in that the NSMessage entry is replaced by an NSFilter entry, the NSMenuItem and NSKeyEquivalent entries are omitted, and a few other entries may be added -

NSFilter
This is the first part of the message name for the method which actually implements the filter service... just like the NSMessage entry in a normal service.
NSInputMechanism
This (optional) entry is a string value specifying an alternative mechanism for performing the filer service (instead of sending a message to an application to ask it to do it).
Possible values are -
NSIdentity
The data to be filtered is simply placed upon the pasteboard without any transformation.
NSMapFile
The data to be filtered is the name of a file, which is loaded into memory and placed on the pasteboard without any transformation.
If the data to be filtered contains multiple file names, only the first is used.
NSUnixStdio
The data to be filtered is the name of a file, which is passed as the argument to a unix command-line program, and the standard output of that program is captured and placed on the pasteboard. The program is run each time data is requested, so this is inefficient in comparison to a filter implemented using the standard method (of sending a message to a running application).
If the data to be filtered contains multiple file names, only the first is used.

Filter services are used implicitly whenever you get a pasteboard by using one of the methods +pasteboardByFilteringData:ofType: , +pasteboardByFilteringFile: or +pasteboardByFilteringTypesInPasteboard: as the pasteboard system will automatically invoke any available filter to convert the data in the pasteboard to any required type as long as a conversion can be done using a single filter.

Distributed Objects services

While the general services mechanism described above covers most eventualities, there are some circumstances where you might want your application to offer more complex services which require the client application to have been written to make use of those services and where the interaction between the two is much trickier.

In most cases, such situations are handled by server processes rather than GUI applications, thus avoiding all the overheads of a GUI application... linking with the GUI library and using the windowing system etc. On occasion you may actually want the services to use facilities from the GUI library (such as the NSPasteboard or NSWorkspace class).

Traditionally, NeXTstep and GNUstep applications permit you to connect to an application using the standard NSConnection mechanisms, with the name of the port you connect to being (by convention) the name of the application. The root proxy of the NSConnection obtained this way would be the [NSApplication -delegate] object, and any messages sent to this object would be handled by the application delegate.

In the interests of security, GNUstep provides a mechanism to ensure that only those methods you explicitly want to be available to remote processes are actually available.
Those methods are assumed to be any of the standard application methods, and any methods implementing the standard services mechanism (ie. methods whose names begin `application:` or end with `:userData:error:`), plus any methods listed in the array returned by the `GSPermittedMessages` user default.
If your application wishes to make non-standard methods available, it should use [NSUserDefaults -registerDefaults:] to set a standard value for GSPermittedMessages. Users of the application can then use the defaults system to override that standard setting for the application in order to reduce or increase the list of messages available to remote processes.

To make use of a service, you need to check to ensure that the application providing the service is running, connect to it, and then send messages to it. You should take care to catch exceptions and deal with a loss of connection to the server application.
As an aid to using the services, GNUstep provides a helper function (GSContactApplication()) which encapsulates the process of establishing a connection and launching the server application if necessary.

id proxy = GSContactApplication(@"pathToApp", nil, nil); if (proxy != nil) { NS_EXCEPTION { id result = [proxy performTask: taskName withArgument: anArgument];

if (result == nil) { // handle error } else { // Use result } } NS_HANDLER // Handle exception NS_ENDHANDLER }

If we want to send repeated messages, we may store the proxy to server application, and might want to keep track of the state of the connection to be sure that the proxy is still valid.

ASSIGN(remote, proxy); // We want to keep hold of the proxy for use later, so we need to know // if the connection dies ... we ask for a notification to call our // connectionBecameInvalid: method when the connection dies ... in that // method we can release the proxy. [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver: self selector: @selector(connectionBecameInvalid:) name: NSConnectionDidDieNotification object: [remote connectionForProxy]];
Software documentation for the NSPasteboard class
AppKit/NSPasteboard.h

The pasteboard system is the primary mechanism for data exchange between OpenStep applications. It is used for cut and paste of data, as the exchange mechanism for services (as listed on the services menu), for communicating with a spelling server in order to perform spell checking, and for filter services which convert data of one type to another transparently.

Pasteboards are identified by names, some of which are standard and are intended to exist permanently and be shared between all applications, others are temporary or private and are used to handle specific services.

All data transferred to/from pasteboards is typed. Mostly using one of several standard types for common data or using standardised names which identify particular kinds of files and their contents (see the NSCreateFileContentsPboardType() an NSCreateFilenamePboardType() functions for details). It is also possible for cooperating applications to use their own private types... any string value will do.

Each pasteboard has an owner... an object which declares the types of data it can provide. Unless versions of the pasteboard data corresponding to all the declared types are written to the pasteboard, the owner is responsible for producing the data for the pasteboard when it is called for (lazy provision of data).
The pasteboard owner needs to implement the methods of the NSPasteboardOwner informal protocol in order to do this.

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generalPasteboard
Returns the general pasteboard found by calling +pasteboardWithName: with NSGeneralPboard as the name.
pasteboardByFilteringData:
data
ofType:
type

Creates and returns a pasteboard from which the data in the named file can be read in all the types to which it can be converted by filter services.
The type of data in the file is inferred from the file extension.

No filtering is actually performed until some object asks the pasteboard for the data, so calling this method is quite inexpensive.

pasteboardByFilteringFile:
filename

Creates and returns a pasteboard from which the data in the named file can be read in all the types to which it can be converted by filter services.
The type of data in the file is inferred from the file extension.

pasteboardByFilteringTypesInPasteboard:
pboard

Creates and returns a pasteboard where the data contained in pboard is available for reading in as many types as it can be converted to by available filter services. This normally expands on the range of types available in pboard.

NB. This only permits a single level of filtering... if pboard was previously returned by another filtering method, it is returned instead of a new pasteboard.

pasteboardWithName:
aName

Returns the pasteboard for the specified name. Creates a new pasteboard if (and only if) one with the given name does not exist.

Standard pasteboard names are - NSGeneralPboard NSFontPboard NSRulerPboard NSFindPboard NSDragPboard
pasteboardWithUniqueName
Creates and returns a new pasteboard with a name guaranteed to be unique within the pasteboard server.
typesFilterableTo:
type
Returns an array of the types from which data of the specified type can be produced by registered filter services.
The original type is always present in this array.
Raises an exception if type is `nil`.
addTypes:
newTypes
owner:
newOwner

Adds newTypes to the pasteboard and declares newOwner to be the owner of the pasteboard. Use only after -declareTypes:owner: has been called for the same owner, because the new owner may not support all the types declared by a previous owner.

Returns the new change count for the pasteboard, or zero if an error occurs.

availableTypeFromArray:
types
Returns the first type listed in types which the receiver has been declared (see -declareTypes:owner:) to support.
changeCount
Returns the change count for the receiving pasteboard. This count is incremented whenever the owner of the pasteboard is changed.
dataForType:
dataType
Returns data from the pasteboard of the specified dataType, or `nil` if no such data is available.
May raise an exception if communication with the pasteboard server fails.
declareTypes:
newTypes
owner:
newOwner

Sets the owner of the pasteboard to be newOwner and declares newTypes as the types of data supported by it.
This invalidates existing data in the pasteboard (except where the GNUstep -setHistory: extension allows multi-version data to be held).

The value of newOwner may be `nil`, but if it is, data should immediately be written to the pasteboard for all the value in newTypes as a `nil` owner cannot be used for lazy supply of data.

This increments the change count for the pasteboard and the new count is returned, or zero is returned if an error occurs.
Where -setChangeCount: has been used, the highest count to date is incremented and returned, rather than the last value specified by the -setChangeCount: method.

The types you declare can be arbitrary strings, but as at least two applications really need to be aware of the same type for it to be of use, it is much more normal to use a predefined (standard) type or a type representing the name or content of a particular kind of file (returned by the NSCreateFilenamePboardType() or NSCreateFilenamePboardType() function).
The standard type for raw data is NSGeneralPboardType

The predefined pasteboard types are - NSStringPboardType NSColorPboardType NSFileContentsPboardType NSFilenamesPboardType NSFontPboardType NSRulerPboardType NSPostScriptPboardType NSTabularTextPboardType NSRTFPboardType NSRTFDPboardType NSTIFFPboardType NSDataLinkPboardType NSGeneralPboardType NSPDFPboardType NSPICTPboardType NSURLPboardType NSHTMLPboardType
name
Returns the pasteboard name (as given to +pasteboardWithName:) for the receiver.
propertyListForType:
dataType
Calls -dataForType: to obtain data (expected to be a serialized property list) and returns the object produced by deserializing it.
readFileContentsType:
type
toFile:
filename

Obtains data of the specified dataType from the pasteboard, deserializes it to the specified filename and returns the file name (or `nil` on failure).

This method should only be used to read data written by the -writeFileContents: or -writeFileWrapper: method.

readFileWrapper

Obtains data of the specified dataType from the pasteboard, deserializes it and returns the resulting file wrapper (or `nil`).

This method should only be used to read data written by the -writeFileContents: or -writeFileWrapper: method.

releaseGlobally
Releases the receiver in the pasteboard server so that no other application can use the pasteboard. This should not be called for any of the standard pasteboards, only for temporary ones.
setData:
data
forType:
dataType

Writes data of type dataType to the pasteboard server so that other applications can read it. The dataType must be one of the types previously declared for the pasteboard.
All the other methods for writing data to the pasteboard call this one.

Returns `YES` on success, `NO` if the data could not be written for some reason.

setPropertyList:
propertyList
forType:
dataType

Serialises the data in the supplied property list and writes it to the pasteboard server using the -setData:forType: method.

Data written using this method can be read by -propertyListForType: or, if it was a simple string, by -stringForType:

If the data is retrieved using -dataForType: then it needs to be deserialized into a property list.

setString:
string
forType:
dataType

Writes string it to the pasteboard server using the -setPropertyList:forType: method.

The data may subsequently be read from the receiver using the -stringForType: or -propertyListForType: method.

If the data is retrieved using -dataForType: then it needs to be deserialized into a property list.

stringForType:
dataType

Obtains data of the specified dataType from the pasteboard, deserializes it and returns the resulting string (or `nil`).

The string should have been written using the -setString:forType: or -setPropertyList:forType: method.

types
Returns all the types that the receiver has been declared to support.
See -declareTypes:owner: for details.
writeFileContents:
filename

Writes the contents of the file filename to the pasteboard server after declaring the type NSFileContentsPboardType as well as a type based on the file extension (given by the NSCreateFileContentsPboardType() function) if those types have not already been declared.
If the filename has no extension, only NSFileContentsPboardType is used.

Data written to a pasteboard by this method should be read using the -readFileContentsType:toFile: or -readFileWrapper method.

If the data is retrieved using -dataForType: then it needs to be deserialized by the NSFileWrapper class.

writeFileWrapper:
wrapper

Writes the contents of the file wrapper to the pasteboard server after declaring the type NSFileContentsPboardType as well as a type based on the file extension of the wrappers preferred filename if those types have not already been declared.

Raises an exception if there is no preferred filename.

Data written to a pasteboard by this method should be read using the -readFileContentsType:toFile: or -readFileWrapper method.

If the data is retrieved using -dataForType: then it needs to be deserialized by the NSFileWrapper class.

Software documentation for the NSObject(NSPasteboardOwner) informal protocol
AppKit/NSPasteboard.h
The NSPasteboardOwner informal protocal defines the messages that the pasteboard system will send to a pasteboard owner if they are implemented. These are needed to support lazy provision of pasteboard data.
pasteboard:
sender
provideDataForType:
type
This method is called by the pasteboard system when it does not have the data that has been asked for... the pasteboard owner should supply the data to the pasteboard by calling -setData:forType: or one of the related methods.
pasteboard:
sender
provideDataForType:
type
andVersion:
version
Implemented where GNUstep pasteboard extensions are required.
This method is called by the pasteboard system when it does not have the data that has been asked for... the pasteboard owner should supply the data to the pasteboard by calling -setData:forType: or one of the related methods.
pasteboardChangedOwner:
sender
This method is called by the pasteboard system when another object takes ownership of the pasteboard... it lets the previous owner know that it is no longer required to supply data.
Software documentation for the NSObject(NSPasteboardReading) informal protocol
AppKit/NSPasteboard.h
Description forthcoming.
readingOptionsForType:
type
pasteboard:
pasteboard
Description forthcoming.
initWithPasteboardPropertyList:
propertyList
ofType:
type
Description forthcoming.
Software documentation for the NSObject(NSPasteboardWriting) informal protocol
AppKit/NSPasteboard.h
Description forthcoming.
writingOptionsForType:
type
pasteboard:
pasteboard
Description forthcoming.
Software documentation for the NSPasteboard(GNUstepExtensions) category
AppKit/NSPasteboard.h
GNUstep specific extensions...

GNUstep adds a mechanism for mapping between OpenStep pasteboard types and MIME types. This is useful for inter-operation with other systems, as MIME types have come into common usage ( long after the OpenStep specification was created).

The other extension to the pasteboard system produced by GNUstep is the ability to keep a history of recent items placed in a pasteboard, and retrieve data from that history rather than just the current item.

mimeTypeForPasteboardType:
type
Return the mapping for pasteboard->mime, or return the original pasteboard type if no mapping is found
pasteboardTypeForMimeType:
mimeType
Return the mapping for mime->pasteboard, or return the original pasteboard type if no mapping is found. This method may not have a one-to-one mapping
setChangeCount:
count

Once the -setChangeCount: message has been sent to an NSPasteboard the object will gain an extra GNUstep behaviour - when getting data from the pasteboard, the data need no longer be from the latest version but may be a version from a previous representation with the specified change count.

The value of count must be one which has previously been returned by -declareTypes:owner: and should not be further in the past than specified by the -setHistory: method.

setHistory:
length
Sets the number of changes for which pasteboard data is kept.
This is 1 by default.
Software documentation for the NSURL(NSPasteboard) category
AppKit/NSPasteboard.h
Category of NSURL providing convenience methods.
URLFromPasteboard:
pasteBoard
Creates a URL with data (of NSURLPboardType) from pasteBoard.
writeToPasteboard:
pasteBoard
Writes the receiver (as data of NSURLPboardType) to pasteBoard.
Software documentation for the NSPasteboardReading protocol
AppKit/NSPasteboard.h
NSObject
Description forthcoming.
readableTypesForPasteboard:
pasteboard
Description forthcoming.
Software documentation for the NSPasteboardWriting protocol
AppKit/NSPasteboard.h
NSObject
Description forthcoming.
pasteboardPropertyListForType:
type
Description forthcoming.
writableTypesForPasteboard:
pasteboard
Description forthcoming.