Copy command sometimes stop working

[tjbuege]

I'm having the Cut + Paste does not work consistently problem for a couple of years now as it seems. I think the problem showed up two major versions ago. I'm using currently UltraEdit 16.30.0.1003 on Windows XP 32-bit.

I very often copy and paste text from Ultraedit into another program, using Ctrl+C to copy and Ctrl+V to paste in the other program. As others on the referenced thread have mentioned for UltraEdit for Max, it sometimes quits working. I've read the FAQ, and am aware of the additional clipboards provided by UltraEdit. That is not the issue, I've checked and I am using the Windows Clipboard when this error occurs. Also, I have "Automatic copy to clipboard when selection is made" currently UNCHECKED. Further, when this bug occurs, any previous text in the clipboard disappears. So it's like Ultraedit is removing the current content to put new content in, but failing to get the new content in the clipboard.

I work around this issue by cutting (Ctrl+X) the text from UltraEdit, then immediately pasting (Ctrl+V) it back into UltraEdit. I can then paste into my other application. But this is an extra step, and can run the risk of messing up my original document. I don't like to cut text just to get it into the clipboard. I will say, Ctrl+X ALWAYS works. I can ALWAYS paste (Ctrl+V) into another application after using Ctrl+X in UltraEdit.

This seems like a bug in the program to me with the copy command. I've been using UltraEdit for about 10 years now, and really like it. But this problem is really starting to annoy me. Is there a fix for this? I hope Ian or someone from the development team is monitoring this thread, and can comment on this issue.

Thanks,
Tim

[Mofi]

I have never seen such a problem with UltraEdit for Windows in the last years and no other UE for Windows user has reported such a problem in the forums in the last years. So I think there is something on your computer which results in the wrong behavior as you have described. I suggest to try to find out why Ctrl+C does not work anymore as it should when Ctrl+C stops working UE next time by doing following:

1. Is column mode editing enabled? Verify that with opening menu Column and look on Column Mode. Perhaps Ctrl+C stops working only in this mode.
2. Verify with indication C0 in the status bar at bottom or with opening Edit - Clipboards that the Windows clipboard is still active. If this is the case, but Ctrl+C does not copy the selected text to the clipboard and just deletes content of active clipboard, select temporarily a user clipboard and try Ctrl+C again. Does copying work with a user clipboard? Switch back to Windows clipboard. Does copying now work with Windows clipboard?
3. Look on the Windows taskbar. Is there a language abbreviation symbol displayed near the system tray with the small icons? Yes, is the language correct for your keyboard? No, then you have installed multiple keyboard layouts and used the predefined hotkey (usually left ALT+SHIFT) to switch the keyboard for the active application only (UltraEdit) to a different layout. Click with left mouse button on the language abbreviation symbol in the Windows taskbar to open the context menu and click on Settings. Delete all keyboard layouts you don't need or turn off the hotkey for switching the keyboard quickly. That feature is only useful for translators knowing the keyboards of other languages or even really use different keyboards.
4. Open Advanced - Configuration - Key Mapping and press button Show key mapping in editor and close the configuration dialog with button Cancel. Verify if Ctrl+C is still assigned only to command EditCopy and not to any other command, macro or script.
5. Contains your file NULL bytes and you have enabled the configuration setting to edit text files with NULL bytes without conversion to spaces? Use Edit - Hex Functions - Hex Edit and verify with a hexadecimal search for 00 that the file does not contain any NULL byte.
6. Perhaps another application interacts with copying to Windows clipboard. I suggest to close one application after the other and press Ctrl+C in UltraEdit after every close of an application. Does closing another application suddenly result in a working copy command in UltraEdit?
7. The last suggestion is to additionally close processes running in the background. Some processes define global hotkeys. For example with the graphic adapter driver often a process is installed and executed automatically on Windows startup which defines hotkeys to switch the display, rotate the display, etc. You could now open Windows task manager and kill one process after the other and test Ctrl+C in UltraEdit after closing a process. But be very careful with killing processes. Some are system processes which must run and killing them results in a Windows shutdown or crash. So if you are not absolutely sure what a process is for and if the process is not a system process required by Windows, first check with using a WWW search engine by searching for the process name what this process is for and if it is safe to kill it at any time.

BTW: How do you have determined that Ctrl+C just clears active content of Windows clipboard without copying currently selected text into the clipboard? By using the clipboard history of UltraEdit, by using the Clipboard Viewer tool of Windows, by using my script HexCopy or just by using Ctrl+V immediately after Ctrl+C and nothing is pasted into active file.

[tjbuege]

Thank you for the feedback. My post above already addresses some of these points you make, but I'll repeat what I've said. It's not a column mode problem. I already mentioned that I'm using the Windows Clipboard (C0). Copying with a User clipboard is pointless, since I'm trying to paste text into an external application. I checked Key Mapping, and Ctrl-C is assigned ONLY to EditCopy. It's not a NULL byte issue, as this problem will occur with ANY source text file (even new files), not just one or two. I only ever have trouble when trying to copy from UltraEdit, never any other applications, so I don't see how this could be something in the OS interacting with the Windows Clipboard. If that were the case, I would expect to see similar behavior with other applications.

Your suggestion on viewing ClipBoard history is a good one, I hadn't thought of that. I'll make it a habit to check that when the problem shows up.

I have done a Ctrl-V in UltraEdit, immediately following the Ctrl-C, and the text will paste. It just doesn't paste into other applications. Also, I found that if I swap clipboards with Ctrl-9 followed by Ctrl-0, then use Ctrl-C to copy my text, I can *usually* get it to paste into another app. Sometimes this doesn't fix it. And I will repeat, the status bar ALWAYS shows C0 when this problem happens.

I will take bulgrien's suggestion and post this problem report via email.

[Mofi]

Other applications or processes can have an influence only on UltraEdit. Do you see in the Windows taskbar a language abbreviation symbol left to the icons in the system tray?

Yes, than your Windows is installed with multiple keyboard layouts. This is usual for all non English US Windows installations because English US keyboard layout is always installed additionally to the keyboard layout according to regional and language settings. With more than 1 keyboard layout installed there is also by default active the hotkey to switch FOR THE CURRENT APPLICATION ONLY to the other (or next with more than 2 layouts) keyboard layout. This easily results in hotkeys suddenly not working anymore. The standard hotkey is Left Alt+Shift (and no other key). So if you have a hotkey Alt+Shift+letter defined for a command in UltraEdit and you sometimes press only Alt+Shift and release one of them without pressing the letter, you switch the keyboard layout as indicated in the Windows taskbar, but just for UltraEdit.

A solution is to make a single left click on the language abbreviation symbol in the Window taskbar and click in context menu of Settings to open the settings dialog. There you can simply delete all languages and keyboard layouts you don't need, or you just turn off the hotkey for fast switching the keyboard layout.

Other applications often responsible for not expected behavior are special clipboard enhancers, hotkey tools, key loggers and similar tools. If you look on the list of processes in Windows task manager and you don't know what some of these processes are for, you should try to find out more about them.

[haroldntx]

I'm having the same problem. Version 11.20.0.1010. Win 7 Pro 64 Bit. I can Cut/Copy from UEStudio and paste into other programs. The Edit/Paste in UEStudio's menu is active. The status bar shows C0. But nothing appears. This seems to happen randomly. A reboot of the PC fixes it but it's kind of a pain. Has started happening in the last month or so.

[Mofi]

So you have only a problem with Paste from other applications. Well, the command Paste is always enabled except the file is read-only. A file is read-only when

• read-only attribute is set for the file, or
• Edit - Read Only is enabled for the file, or
• you don't have write or append permission on the file.

But Paste does nothing even if enabled when in the clipboard there is no text. For example if you copy an image to the clipboard like when pressing Alt+PrtSc. Or a special object (not pure text) from an Office application is copied to the clipboard. Or you press on a selected file in Windows Explorer Ctrl+C to copy the file.

In UEStudio only pure text (Unicode, ANSI or OEM) can be pasted from clipboard. Other clipboard formats are not supported by UEStudio.

[MickRC3]

I experienced the same problem with cut and paste in UltraEdit 9 and various other applications while using Vista Business with Aero activated. When I switched to the classic Windows color scheme the problem disappeared so cut and paste worked again. I found out from our IT staff that the issue had been reported as happening on AMD processor based PCs with older ATI Radeon video cards and the Exceed Connection Manager for remote terminal use. On a majority of those computers, updating the ATI driver fixed the problem. Most of the others required BIOS flashes. My computer continued to have the problem until we replaced Vista with Windows 7 Enterprise. However they also upgraded my system memory to 4GB and replaced my video card at the same time so the change in OS may have been incidental to the fix.

[haroldntx]

It isn't a problem with read only, non ansi, or whatever. I can actually type in text into Ultraedit, cut it ( it goes away ) and then try to paste it back - nothing. If I repeat this, cutting the text from Ultraedit, I have no problem pasting said text into Notepad so the data is in the clipboard. Ultraedit just won't paste it in.

[Mofi]

Do you have any clipboard enhancer tool installed which prevents pasting from clipboard? Please open task manager and look on the tab with processes. Do you know all of the processes running and what they are for?

Also how do you paste when pasting stops working - with Ctrl+V, or with clicking on menu item Edit - Paste, or with clicking on the toolbar symbol of Paste command?

If just Ctrl+V is randomly not working, it could be that you sometimes load a macro file containing a macro which has Ctrl+V as hotkey. Please open all your macro files one after the other and check with Macro List view if any of the macros has Ctrl+V as hotkey. You can change the hotkey of a macro in dialog opened with Macro - Delete Macro/Modify Properties.

Most likely there is no script added to script list with Ctrl+V as hotkey because then Ctrl+V would never work.

Last it could be that you have installed multiple keyboard layouts. For installations of Windows for a country other than USA this is default. Pressing left Alt+Shift and no other key before leaving either left Alt or Shift key results in switching the keyboard layout for the current application as indicated usually in the Windows taskbar with the 2 character language abbreviation. If such a keyboard layout switch happens for UltraEdit and the other keyboard layout has character V at a different position on keyboard, Ctrl+V will stop working for UltraEdit, but still works for other applications. For more details on this Windows feature see

Add or change an input language (Windows 7)
Add another keyboard layout or Input Method Editor (IME) (Windows XP)

[rhapdog]

I discovered an issue with copy/cut/paste last night that only happened in certain situations. I can also reproduce the issue consistently.

This is using UEStudio 12.00.0.1000 or UltraEdit 18.00.0.1034 on Windows XP SP3 using Windows Classic Theme.

1. Open a document.
2. Create a NEW document (Edit1).
3. Drag one of the two documents tabs (you can have any number, but at least two documents required) to the right or left side of the screen to create a second pane.
4. Place the cursor focus on Edit1.
5. Using the defined hotkey (Alt-F10 is default), switch back to the other pane. Do NOT use the mouse to click in the other pane. Only use keyboard actions from this point forward!
   
   Now, at this point, you can see the cursor blinking in the other pane, you can move it around with arrow keys, and use the keyboard to select.
   
   
6. Using the shift key and arrow keys, select a section of text. Now using keyboard shortcut, attempt to cut (it doesn't.) Attempt to copy. (It won't.)
7. Press the hotkey to switch back to the other pane where Edit1 is.
8. Paste using keyboard shortcut. It won't do it.

Now, if you use the mouse to switch panes, the copy/cut/paste commands work just fine. I have not tested this in earlier versions, but this may be the issue some people are having, perhaps.

If I use the mouse to select a document, copy with hotkey, then use the hotkey to move to the other pane, it will not paste. However, if I then "click" in that pane, the paste will then proceed.

It is as if the hotkeys for copy/cut/paste have been disabled somehow, until I click in the window again. I have not done testing to see what other hotkeys may be affected, but I have difficulty believing these are the only ones.

Oh, yes, shift-delete also does not work when switching panes like this.

Perhaps there is another combination of doing things that also disables the hotkeys? Haven't done a lot of testing on this, so not sure. But hotkeys are being disabled, as I was able to reproduce in both programs consistently.

I have sent an email to IDM just now concerning this (by copying the above text of this post.) Can anyone else reproduce the error as I have done in any other versions?

[haroldntx]

No additional keyboard layouts or macros. I do have one Ultraedit macro but the hot key for that one is ALT-X. There aren't any unknown processes running. Funny thing is, the last step of the macro is CTRL-C. If I run the macro, I can then paste the results into Notepad, but not Ultraedit. CTRL-C or Edit-Paste or right click Paste, none work. But, the Paste selection in the last 2 is highlighted so it knows there's something in the clipboard. If the clipboard is empty, these are usually grayed out. It may be coincidence but I ran Google Chrome this session right before Uedit copy failed. I don't have any special add ins for Chrome; I just use it to test web pages to see that they display properly across browsers. Been using Ultredit for years and this just started happening a month or 2 ago.

[Mofi]

rhapdog, I could reproduce what you wrote with UE v17.30.0.1016 as well on Windows XP SP3 x86 with Windows Classic theme. I could see also following:

• After pressing Alt+F10 I switched with Alt+Tab to the browser window to read next step.
• Next I switched back to UltraEdit window with Alt+Tab and could see that the caret is again blinking in the previous document window, not the one switched to with Alt+F10 before switching to the browser window.

Well, the commands NextWindowPanel (Ctrl+F10) and PrevWindowPanel (Alt+F10) are other commands than WindowNextWindow (Ctrl+F6 or Ctrl+Tab) and WindowPreviousWindow (Ctrl+Shift+F6 or Ctrl+Shift+Tab).

While WindowNextWindow and WindowPreviousWindow work only on document windows, NextWindowPanel and PrevWindowPanel take all open windows within an application into account.

For example when having Function List and File Tree views (Workspace Manager in UES) also open (not auto-hided), Ctrl+F10 and Alt+F10 make those windows also active while Ctrl+F6 and Ctrl+Shift+F6 ignore them.


I had really never a problem with paste in any version of UltraEdit or UEStudio. I don't have any further idea what might cause a working Cut, but a failing Paste with active clipboard not being empty.

haroldntx, what do you mean with "the last step of the macro is CTRL-C"? Does your macro end with

StartSelect
...
Copy
EndSelect

or

Find "..."
IfFound
Copy
EndIf

Or is the last line really

Key Ctrl+C

which has no effect because undefined key code. See on help page Edit Macro command under Key the list of possible key commands.

[DCHooHa]

Have not been able to resolve this. Only one keyboard layout defined. No special Clipboard manager active.

Paste, in UltraEdit, simply does not work anymore, not even sometimes.

But even more than that, it seems to disable Undo. In other words, with the Windows Clipboard active, if I cut from UltraEdit, it will paste into another application. But when I try to paste (either with Ctrl V or the Edit Paste menu) into UltraEdit, it 1) Does nothing, and 2) Disables Undo (either from Ctrl Z or Edit Undo).

On the other hand, if I copy from an HTML page, and perform a Paste Special HTML into UltraEdit, that works fine.

This is not normal, and it's not something wrong with the configuration or hot keys. It's happening on 2 PCs, both Windows 7.

I uninstalled and then installed UltraEdit again, but still have a problem with pasting, ONLY in UltraEdit, when using the Ctrl 0 Windows clipboard.

Well, it's not a complete show-stopper. I still won't go back to Multi-Edit, after the long delay in updates. But this does make it inconvenient to perform certain tasks.

[DCHooHa]

Hi,

The sporadic pasting-in-Ultraedit problem seems to be related to what format Windows selects, when taking in contents for the clipboard.

Using ClipSpy http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/168/ClipSpy to monitor those cases where the Paste is not working, Windows seems to be copying in a CF_OEMTEXT format. When that happens, the CF_TEXT slot in ClipSpy reports 'Data Unavailable'. However, when the Paste is not working for this reason, and then I try pasting an entire table or something which contains html content, then the Pasting will work in UltraEdit, for that content.

So the next step is to find out how to configure the way that Windows interprets text.

[DCHooHa]

Haven't been able to find anything that tells Windows not to default to OEM text, but here's a workaround for the problem.

If anyone has a problem with pasting in UltraEdit, specifically that Pasting elsewhere (e.g. in Notepad or Word or another text editor) works, but attempting to Paste in UltraEdit results in nothing, then do this:

1. Download and install AutoHotKey http://www.autohotkey.com/download

2. Create a script with the following contents, which will convert anything on the clipboard into a text format, and will place the text format version on the clipboard:

;******************
^!c::
clipboard = %clipboard%
;******************

Execute the script, or alternatively have it executed during startup. This will install the necessary functionality (conversion of non-text clipboard formats to text formats), and associate it with the <Ctrl><Alt>c shortcut hotkey.

When you are having the problem with pasting into UltraEdit, execute the shortcut key <Ctrl><Alt>c. This will do the conversion.

3. Perform the paste again, and the text information should paste into your UltraEdit window.