Copying to clipboard textbox value using jQuery/JavaScript

Question

I have a textbox & button which looks like this:

     <div class="col-xs-11" style="padding:20px 0 ">
     <input type="text" class="form-control txtKeywords" id="txtKeyw" style="margin-bottom:10px; height:45px;" maxlength="80" placeholder="Click on keywords to combine your title">
   <button type="submit" class="btn btn-space btn-success btn-shade4 btn-lg copyToClipboard">
    <i class="icon icon-left s7-mouse"></i> Copy to Clipboard
     /button>

And when the user clicks the button copy to clipboard, I'd like to copy the contents of the textbox into the clipboard like this:

$(document).on("click", ".copyToClipboard", function () {
    copyToClipboard("txtKeyw");
    successMessage();
});

Where the definition of the copyToClipboard function is:

 function copyToClipboard(element) {
            var $temp = $("<input>");
            $("body").append($temp);
            $temp.val($(element).text()).select();
            document.execCommand("copy");
            $temp.remove();
        }

But when I do this, nothing happens -- no values are copied to clipboard from the textbox... What am I doing wrong here?

MORE INFORMATION:

• This happens in both Chrome 59 64-bit and Firefox 54 32-bit.
• successMessage() is called and displayed in the browser.
• Adding # in front of the element's ID does not resolve the issue.

Mighell

@zuluk i tested in chrome + firefox , none worked :/ – Mighell

Chrome 43 or greater and Firefox 41 or greater? – Giblets

Does successMessage() get called? Does copyToClipboard() run? – Gelid

@Gelid yes i can verify success message gets called and it's displayed in browser ... – Mighell

@Giblets Version 59.0.3071.115 (Official Build) (64-bit), Firefox: 54.0.1 (32-bit) – Mighell

Looks like you need to put a # before the "txtKeyw" when you pass it into your function. – Gelid

@Gelid tried with # as well doesn't works... – Mighell

Answer 1

STEP 1: Change your copyToClipboard(element) like this:

function copyToClipboard(text) {

   var textArea = document.createElement( "textarea" );
   textArea.value = text;
   document.body.appendChild( textArea );       
   textArea.select();

   try {
      var successful = document.execCommand( 'copy' );
      var msg = successful ? 'successful' : 'unsuccessful';
      console.log('Copying text command was ' + msg);
   } catch (err) {
      console.log('Oops, unable to copy',err);
   }    
   document.body.removeChild( textArea );
}

STEP 2: Give an id to your button and then add an event listener to it like this:

$( '#btnCopyToClipboard' ).click( function()
 {
     var clipboardText = "";
     clipboardText = $( '#txtKeyw' ).val(); 
     copyToClipboard( clipboardText );
     alert( "Copied to Clipboard" );
 });

Gavingavini

It displays in log that copy was successsful ... but... when i try to paste text nothing is there ;/ – Mighell

Instead of: $( #txtKeyw ).text() was required $( #txtKeyw ).val() – Mighell

Quotes are needed around #txtKeyw, no? – Gelid

I have edited the answer based on comments. Sorry, I didn't try it myself but hopefully my answer gave an idea on how this should be – Gavingavini

Works fine. Just a minor typo error in the code: the first function name has to be renamed from copyToClipboard to copyTextToClipboard. Thanks! – Meyerhof

@Mighell I know this is old, but did you ever get this working? The approved answer doesn't work for me. Nearly exactly the same scenario. – Policewoman

Answer 2

Try this..this is the correct way.

Step 1:

function copyToClipboard(text) {

   var textArea = document.createElement( "textarea" );
   textArea.value = text;
   document.body.appendChild( textArea );

   textArea.select();

   try {
      var successful = document.execCommand( 'copy' );
      var msg = successful ? 'successful' : 'unsuccessful';
      console.log('Copying text command was ' + msg);
   } catch (err) {
      console.log('Oops, unable to copy');
   }

   document.body.removeChild( textArea );
}

Step 2:

$( '#btnCopyToClipboard' ).click( function()
 {
     var clipboardText = "";

     clipboardText = $( '#txtKeyw' ).val();

     copyToClipboard( clipboardText );
     alert( "Copied to Clipboard" );
 });

Ormandy

Answer 3

copyToClipboard() get a element as parameter. txtKeyw is id and you must put # before it.

Microelement

Answer 4

I believe that document.execCommand('copy') is deprecated now, tested on Edge v 113.0 and Opera v 98.0

Use this instead:

function copyToClipboard() {
  var txtField = document.getElementById('txt-field');
   txtField.select();
   navigator.clipboard.writeText(txtField.value);
  alert('Copied to clipboard!');
}

Garris

Answer 5

I preffer this code to copy textbox all text using jquery.

HTML CODE
<input type="text" class="form-control" id="ddlTextBox" />
<button type="button" id="btnSave">Copy Text</button>

JS CODE
$('#btnSave').click(function () {     navigator.clipboard.writeText($('#ddlTextBox').val());
});

Shiff