Copy to Clipboard Async

Introduction

In this lab, we will explore the Clipboard API in JavaScript and learn how to copy text asynchronously to the clipboard. You will learn how to check for the availability of the API and use it to write text to the clipboard. By the end of this lab, you will have a solid understanding of how to use the Clipboard API in your JavaScript applications.

Function to Copy a String to the Clipboard

To copy a string to the clipboard, use the copyToClipboardAsync function. The function returns a promise that resolves when the clipboard's contents have been updated. Here are the steps:

1. Check if the Clipboard API is available by verifying if Navigator, Navigator.clipboard, and Navigator.clipboard.writeText are truthy using an if statement.
2. If the Clipboard API is available, use Clipboard.writeText() to write the given value, str, to the clipboard.
3. Return the result of Clipboard.writeText(), which is a promise that resolves when the clipboard's contents have been updated.
4. If the Clipboard API is not available, reject the promise with an appropriate error message using Promise.reject().
5. If you need to support older browsers, use Document.execCommand() instead of Clipboard.writeText(). You can find out more about it in the copyToClipboard snippet.

Here's the copyToClipboardAsync function:

const copyToClipboardAsync = (str) => {
  if (navigator && navigator.clipboard && navigator.clipboard.writeText) {
    return navigator.clipboard.writeText(str);
  }
  return Promise.reject("The Clipboard API is not available.");
};

To use the function, call copyToClipboardAsync with the string you want to copy as an argument, like this:

copyToClipboardAsync("Lorem ipsum"); // 'Lorem ipsum' copied to clipboard.

Summary

Congratulations! You have completed the Copy to Clipboard Async lab. You can practice more labs in LabEx to improve your skills.