hs.pasteboard.watcher.md

docs » hs.pasteboard.watcher

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Watch for Pasteboard Changes. macOS doesn't offer any API for getting Pasteboard notifications, so this extension uses polling to check for Pasteboard changes at a chosen interval (defaults to 0.25).

API Overview

• Functions - API calls offered directly by the extension
• interval
• Constructors - API calls which return an object, typically one that offers API methods
• new
• Methods - API calls which can only be made on an object returned by a constructor
• running
• start
• stop

API Documentation

Functions

interval

Signature	hs.pasteboard.watcher.interval([value]) -> number
Type	Function
Description	Gets or sets the polling interval (i.e. the frequency the pasteboard watcher checks the pasteboard).
Parameters	value - an optional number to set the polling interval to.
Returns	The polling interval as a number.
Notes	This only affects new watchers, not existing/running ones. The default value is 0.25.

Constructors

new

Signature	hs.pasteboard.watcher.new(callbackFn[, name]) -> pasteboardWatcher
Type	Constructor
Description	Creates and starts a new hs.pasteboard.watcher object for watching for Pasteboard changes.
Parameters	callbackFn - A function that will be called when the Pasteboard contents has changed. It should accept one parameter: A string containing the pasteboard contents or nil if the contents is not a valid string. name - An optional string containing the name of the pasteboard. Defaults to the system pasteboard.
Returns	An hs.pasteboard.watcher object
Notes	Internally this extension uses a single NSTimer to check for changes to the pasteboard count every half a second. Example usage: lua generalPBWatcher = hs.pasteboard.watcher.new(function(v) print(string.format("General Pasteboard Contents: %s", v)) end) specialPBWatcher = hs.pasteboard.watcher.new(function(v) print(string.format("Special Pasteboard Contents: %s", v)) end, "special") hs.pasteboard.writeObjects("This is on the general pasteboard.") hs.pasteboard.writeObjects("This is on the special pasteboard.", "special")

Methods

running

Signature	hs.pasteboard.watcher:running() -> boolean
Type	Method
Description	Returns a boolean indicating whether or not the Pasteboard Watcher is currently running.
Parameters	None
Returns	A boolean value indicating whether or not the timer is currently running.

start

Signature	hs.pasteboard.watcher:start() -> timer
Type	Method
Description	Starts an hs.pasteboard.watcher object
Parameters	None
Returns	The hs.pasteboard.watcher object

stop

Signature	hs.pasteboard.watcher:stop() -> timer
Type	Method
Description	Stops an hs.pasteboard.watcher object
Parameters	None
Returns	The hs.pasteboard.watcher object