QClipboard *clipboard = QApplication::clipboard();
QString originalText = clipboard->text();
...
clipboard->setText(newText);

void DropArea::paste()
{
    const QClipboard *clipboard = QApplication::clipboard();
    const QMimeData *mimeData = clipboard->mimeData();

    if (mimeData->hasImage()) {
        setPixmap(qvariant_cast<QPixmap>(mimeData->imageData()));
    } else if (mimeData->hasHtml()) {
        setText(mimeData->html());
        setTextFormat(Qt::RichText);
    } else if (mimeData->hasText()) {
        setText(mimeData->text());
        setTextFormat(Qt::PlainText);
    } else {
        setText(tr("Cannot display data"));
    }

Member Function Documentation

[signal] void QClipboard::​changed(QClipboard::Mode mode)

This signal is emitted when the data for the given clipboard mode is changed.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also dataChanged(), selectionChanged(), and findBufferChanged().

void QClipboard::​clear(Mode mode = Clipboard)

Clear the clipboard contents.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, this function clears the global clipboard contents. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, this function clears the global mouse selection contents. If mode is QClipboard::FindBuffer, this function clears the search string buffer.

See also QClipboard::Mode and supportsSelection().

[signal] void QClipboard::​dataChanged()

This signal is emitted when the clipboard data is changed.

On Mac OS X and with Qt version 4.3 or higher, clipboard changes made by other applications will only be detected when the application is activated.

See also findBufferChanged(), selectionChanged(), and changed().

[signal] void QClipboard::​findBufferChanged()

This signal is emitted when the find buffer is changed. This only applies to Mac OS X.

With Qt version 4.3 or higher, clipboard changes made by other applications will only be detected when the application is activated.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

See also dataChanged(), selectionChanged(), and changed().

QImage QClipboard::​image(Mode mode = Clipboard) const

Returns the clipboard image, or returns a null image if the clipboard does not contain an image or if it contains an image in an unsupported image format.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the image is retrieved from the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the image is retrieved from the global mouse selection.

See also setImage(), pixmap(), mimeData(), and QImage::isNull().

const QMimeData * QClipboard::​mimeData(Mode mode = Clipboard) const

Returns a reference to a QMimeData representation of the current clipboard data.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the data is retrieved from the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the data is retrieved from the global mouse selection. If mode is QClipboard::FindBuffer, the data is retrieved from the search string buffer.

The text(), image(), and pixmap() functions are simpler wrappers for retrieving text, image, and pixmap data.

See also setMimeData().

bool QClipboard::​ownsClipboard() const

Returns true if this clipboard object owns the clipboard data; otherwise returns false.

bool QClipboard::​ownsFindBuffer() const

Returns true if this clipboard object owns the find buffer data; otherwise returns false.

This function was introduced in Qt 4.2.

bool QClipboard::​ownsSelection() const

Returns true if this clipboard object owns the mouse selection data; otherwise returns false.

QPixmap QClipboard::​pixmap(Mode mode = Clipboard) const

Returns the clipboard pixmap, or null if the clipboard does not contain a pixmap. Note that this can lose information. For example, if the image is 24-bit and the display is 8-bit, the result is converted to 8 bits, and if the image has an alpha channel, the result just has a mask.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the pixmap is retrieved from the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the pixmap is retrieved from the global mouse selection.

See also setPixmap(), image(), mimeData(), and QPixmap::convertFromImage().

[signal] void QClipboard::​selectionChanged()

This signal is emitted when the selection is changed. This only applies to windowing systems that support selections, e.g. X11. Windows and Mac OS X don't support selections.

See also dataChanged(), findBufferChanged(), and changed().

void QClipboard::​setImage(const QImage & image, Mode mode = Clipboard)

Copies the image into the clipboard.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the image is stored in the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the data is stored in the global mouse selection.

This is shorthand for:

QMimeData *data = new QMimeData;
data->setImageData(image);
clipboard->setMimeData(data, mode);

See also image(), setPixmap(), and setMimeData().

void QClipboard::​setMimeData(QMimeData * src, Mode mode = Clipboard)

Sets the clipboard data to src. Ownership of the data is transferred to the clipboard. If you want to remove the data either call clear() or call setMimeData() again with new data.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the data is stored in the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the data is stored in the global mouse selection. If mode is QClipboard::FindBuffer, the data is stored in the search string buffer.

The setText(), setImage() and setPixmap() functions are simpler wrappers for setting text, image and pixmap data respectively.

See also mimeData().

void QClipboard::​setPixmap(const QPixmap & pixmap, Mode mode = Clipboard)

Copies pixmap into the clipboard. Note that this is slower than setImage() because it needs to convert the QPixmap to a QImage first.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the pixmap is stored in the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the pixmap is stored in the global mouse selection.

See also pixmap(), setImage(), and setMimeData().

void QClipboard::​setText(const QString & text, Mode mode = Clipboard)

Copies text into the clipboard as plain text.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the text is stored in the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the text is stored in the global mouse selection. If mode is QClipboard::FindBuffer, the text is stored in the search string buffer.

See also text() and setMimeData().

bool QClipboard::​supportsFindBuffer() const

Returns true if the clipboard supports a separate search buffer; otherwise returns false.

bool QClipboard::​supportsSelection() const

Returns true if the clipboard supports mouse selection; otherwise returns false.

QString QClipboard::​text(Mode mode = Clipboard) const

Returns the clipboard text as plain text, or an empty string if the clipboard does not contain any text.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the text is retrieved from the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the text is retrieved from the global mouse selection. If mode is QClipboard::FindBuffer, the text is retrieved from the search string buffer.

See also setText() and mimeData().

QString QClipboard::​text(QString & subtype, Mode mode = Clipboard) const

This is an overloaded function.

Returns the clipboard text in subtype subtype, or an empty string if the clipboard does not contain any text. If subtype is null, any subtype is acceptable, and subtype is set to the chosen subtype.

The mode argument is used to control which part of the system clipboard is used. If mode is QClipboard::Clipboard, the text is retrieved from the global clipboard. If mode is QClipboard::Selection, the text is retrieved from the global mouse selection.

Common values for subtype are "plain" and "html".

Note that calling this function repeatedly, for instance from a key event handler, may be slow. In such cases, you should use the dataChanged() signal instead.

See also setText() and mimeData().