PasteSpecial - revisited

PeterJones

Just a week ago, there was a discussion about a user wanting a PasteSpecial in Notepad++. The specific circumstances of that original aren’t applicable here, but today at work, I had a situation where I was going “man, this should would be easier to figure out if I could grab the HTML Format from the clipboard and paste into Notepad++, rather than just the text-only, which hides the info I want”.

So, since it was work related, I took initial steps to give me quick access.

I got it good enough for work purposes, which is why my development on this stopped before I’d gotten it to a more usable level. But here’s a v0.1_alpha which accomplishes the main goals for today: 1) list all the formats available in the clipboard; 2) be able to pick one of the list; 3) paste that in the active location in the active document in Notepad++.

v0.1_alpha

#!/usr/bin/env perl
################################################
# PasteSpecial for Notepad++
#   List formats currently on the clipboard
#   Allows you to choose one of those formats
#   Will paste the selected type (UTF8-encoded)
#   at the current location in the active file
################################################

use 5.010;
use warnings;
use strict;
use Win32::API;
use Win32::Clipboard;
use Encode;

use Win32::Mechanize::NotepadPlusPlus qw/:main/;

our $VERSION = '0.1_alpha';

BEGIN {
    binmode STDERR, ':utf8';
    binmode STDOUT, ':utf8';
    my $anon = Win32::API::More->new( 'user32', 'RegisterClipboardFormat', 'P', 'I' ) or die "hooking to user32.dll::RegisterClipboardFormat: $^E"; # [id://1197110]
    sub Win32::Clipboard::RegisterClipboardFormat {
        my $self = shift;
        my $format_string = shift;
        return $anon->Call($format_string);
    }
}
my %map = (
    CF_TEXT()           => 'CF_TEXT',
    CF_BITMAP()         => 'CF_BITMAP',
    CF_METAFILEPICT()   => 'CF_METAFILEPICT',
    CF_SYLK()           => 'CF_SYLK',
    CF_DIF()            => 'CF_DIF',
    CF_TIFF()           => 'CF_TIFF',
    CF_OEMTEXT()        => 'CF_OEMTEXT',
    CF_DIB()            => 'CF_DIB',
    CF_PALETTE()        => 'CF_PALETTE',
    CF_PENDATA()        => 'CF_PENDATA',
    CF_RIFF()           => 'CF_RIFF',
    CF_WAVE()           => 'CF_WAVE',
    CF_UNICODETEXT()    => 'CF_UNICODETEXT',
    CF_ENHMETAFILE()    => 'CF_ENHMETAFILE',
    CF_HDROP()          => 'CF_HDROP',
    CF_LOCALE()         => 'CF_LOCALE',
);
my %rmap; @rmap{values %map} = keys %map;
use Data::Dumper; $Data::Dumper::Useqq=1;


my $CLIP = Win32::Clipboard; # start with existing clipboard, I hope
#printf STDERR "register(%s) = %d\n", $_, $CLIP->RegisterClipboardFormat($_)   for 'HTML Format', 'MSDEVColumnSelect', 'Borland IDE Block Type';

my @f = $CLIP->EnumFormats();
printf STDERR "Formats active in clipboard:\n";
foreach my $format (sort {$a <=> $b} @f) {
    $map{$format} //= $CLIP->GetFormatName($format) // '<unknown>';
    $rmap{ $map{$format} } = $format;
    printf STDERR "%-8d => '%s'\n", $format, $map{$format};
}
my $selection;
while(!defined $selection) {
    printf STDERR "choose one: ";
    $selection = <STDIN>;
    chomp $selection;
    $selection = $rmap{$selection} if exists $rmap{$selection}; # selection was a format name; now converted to format number
    last if exists $map{$selection};    # selection is a valid format number
    undef $selection;
}
printf STDERR "final selection: %d => %s\n", $selection, $map{$selection};
my $get = $CLIP->GetAs($selection);
if($selection == CF_UNICODETEXT()) {
    $get = Encode::decode( "UTF16-LE", $get );
}
printf STDERR "got => '%s'\n", $get;
editor->addText(Encode::encode("UTF8", $get));

This requires PerlScript; it can be run from an external window, or wrap it in a NppExec script, and bound to a keyboard shortcut like Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V for PasteSpecial.

Other notes

I wanted to make it at least use notepad->prompt() – but while trying that out, I found yet another bug or two in PerlScript. (@michael-vincent… like I said, that’s why I don’t answer many questions with PerlScript)

More later, as developments occur. But this is where I am for now.

Alan Kilborn

@PeterJones

Some questions:

I see the utility of a “grab of HTML”. However, what is the utility in getting CF_BITMAP for example, and how would this paste into a text editor? Would it be converted into textual representation of the bytes of the bitmap before pasting? I imagine so, but how often is that a useful thing?

I wanted to make it at least use notepad->prompt()

Just what IS “notepad prompt”?
I always thought of it as a Pythonscript-specific thing, but is it a Notepad++ thing that Pythonscript is calling into?

PeterJones

@Alan-Kilborn said,

what is the utility in getting CF_BITMAP for example, and how would this paste into a text editor? Would it be converted into textual representation of the bytes of the bitmap before pasting? I imagine so, but how often is that a useful thing?

No usefulness that I know of. the CF_…() constants are predefined in the Win32::Clipboard library in Perl, and I already had code that I copy/pasted to populate the %map with all the pre-existing clipboard types.

I basically wanted to list all formats available, so that the user can make an informed decision – which helps give some information, even if it cannot be usefully pasted in Notepad++. If I copy something from Visio, and I see it has both a CF_BITMAP and an HTML Format, as well as its native Visio format(s), that would give me more insight into what is on the clipboard.

After that last paragraph, I realized I should have stated, in my reasons for wanting this tool, it goes beyond Notepad++ specifics. I want something that tells me more about what’s in the clipboard, while at the same time making it easier to paste a specific reasonable component of the clipboard into Notepad++.

I wanted to make it at least use notepad->prompt()

Just what IS “notepad prompt”?
I always thought of it as a Pythonscript-specific thing, but is it a Notepad++ thing that Pythonscript is calling into?

It technically was PythonScript-specific, but since I was trying to replicate as much of PythonScript as possible in “PerlScript”, I included it.

notepad->messageBox was easier to implement, because there is a standard MessageBox function in the API; there isn’t a standard prompt or InputBox function in the main API (which annoys me, because Visual Basic (for Applications) does implement InputBox).

IIRC, the Python library that PythonScript used already had its own prompt, and PS just put it in a wrapper to automatically instantiate it as a child of the Notepad object’s hWnd. The Perl library I was using didn’t have a similar implementation, so I had to adapt some code I found on the internet for another language that I cobbled into a not-overly-pretty prompt box for Perl.

Alan Kilborn

@PeterJones

While we’re sort of on the subject, Pythonscript’s notepad.prompt annoys me for at least a few reasons:

it could be larger (when one tries to use it for a UI that is a bit more than “get one scrap of input”, one is soon feeling “pinched”)
its font size could be larger (okay, I guess “larger” in general is the theme of my complaint)

Ekopalypse

@PeterJones said in PasteSpecial - revisited:

IIRC, the Python library that PythonScript used already had its own prompt

Nope, that is cpp code.

By the way, what does the RegisterClipboardFormat do?
I mean, I know what it is supposed to do but I don’t understand
it in the context of your script.

PeterJones

@Ekopalypse said in PasteSpecial - revisited:

cpp code

makes me feel better that it wasn’t a python-bonus. :-)

By the way, what does the RegisterClipboardFormat do?
in the context of your script

Not sure it’s strictly necessary. I never experimented on retrieving one of the high-number formats without it – by the description, it’s required for it to be a “valid clipboard format”. But I don’t know if that’s only necessary when populating the clipboard, or also when retrieving the clipboard. Maybe some day I’ll play with that some more.

Ekopalypse

@PeterJones

But I don’t know if that’s only necessary when populating the clipboard, or also when retrieving the clipboard.

My understanding is that it is needed only when you want to register
your own format but not when you enumerate or retrieve a registered format.

PeterJones

@Ekopalypse said in PasteSpecial - revisited:

My understanding is that it is needed only when you want to register your own format

You are correct. I was able to take out the RegisterClipboardFormat, and it still worked.

PeterJones

Speaking of working, here is an updated version… one that works well enough (in my tests) to be called v1.0.

It no longer requires inputting your choice on STDIN, which was the primary failing in the original.

Rather than fixing the bug in PerlScript’s notepad->prompt() (which will be done, but will take time to prove and release), I instead just instantiated the code to build my own custom dialog box in this script (which is cleaner in the long run than a hacked prompt-base solution, anyway).

To run it from NppExec, make sure to use cmd /c perl "c:\path\to\pasteSpecial.pl" – the cmd /c makes sure NppExec calls the process correctly, so that it can open dialog windows.

`pasteSpecial.pl` - v1.0

#!/usr/bin/env perl
################################################
# PasteSpecial for Notepad++
#   List formats currently on the clipboard
#   Allows you to choose one of those formats
#   Will paste the selected type (UTF8-encoded)
#   at the current location in the active file
################################################

use 5.010;
use warnings;
use strict;
use Win32::Clipboard;
use Win32::GUI;
use Win32::GUI::Constants qw/CW_USEDEFAULT/;
use Encode;
use Win32::Mechanize::NotepadPlusPlus 0.004 qw/:main/;

our $VERSION = 1.0; # this works even with W32MNPP v0.004

BEGIN {
    binmode STDERR, ':utf8';
    binmode STDOUT, ':utf8';
}

my %map = (
    CF_TEXT()           => 'CF_TEXT',
    CF_BITMAP()         => 'CF_BITMAP',
    CF_METAFILEPICT()   => 'CF_METAFILEPICT',
    CF_SYLK()           => 'CF_SYLK',
    CF_DIF()            => 'CF_DIF',
    CF_TIFF()           => 'CF_TIFF',
    CF_OEMTEXT()        => 'CF_OEMTEXT',
    CF_DIB()            => 'CF_DIB',
    CF_PALETTE()        => 'CF_PALETTE',
    CF_PENDATA()        => 'CF_PENDATA',
    CF_RIFF()           => 'CF_RIFF',
    CF_WAVE()           => 'CF_WAVE',
    CF_UNICODETEXT()    => 'CF_UNICODETEXT',
    CF_ENHMETAFILE()    => 'CF_ENHMETAFILE',
    CF_HDROP()          => 'CF_HDROP',
    CF_LOCALE()         => 'CF_LOCALE',
);
my %rmap; @rmap{values %map} = keys %map;

my $CLIP = Win32::Clipboard;

my @f = $CLIP->EnumFormats();
#printf STDERR "Formats active in clipboard:\n";
foreach my $format (sort {$a <=> $b} @f) {
    $map{$format} //= $CLIP->GetFormatName($format) // '<unknown>';
    $rmap{ $map{$format} } = $format;
    #printf STDERR "%-8d => '%s'\n", $format, $map{$format};
}
if(0){
my $selection;
while(!defined $selection) {
    printf STDERR "choose one: ";
    $selection = 13;
    chomp $selection;
    $selection = $rmap{$selection} if exists $rmap{$selection}; # selection was a format name; now converted to format number
    last if exists $map{$selection};    # selection is a valid format number
    undef $selection;
}
printf STDERR "final selection: %d => %s\n", $selection, $map{$selection};
my $get = $CLIP->GetAs($selection);
if($selection == CF_UNICODETEXT()) {
    $get = Encode::decode( "UTF16-LE", $get );
}
#printf STDERR "got => '%s'\n", $get;
}

my $answer = runDialog(\@f, \%rmap);
#printf STDERR "answer => '%s'\n", $answer;
#printf STDERR "answer => '%s'\n", Encode::encode('UTF8', $answer);   # double-encoded (once by Encode, once by binmode :utf8)
editor->addText(Encode::encode("UTF8", $answer)) if defined $answer;

exit;

sub runDialog {
    my @formats = @{ shift() };
    my %rmap = %{ shift() };
    my %map; @map{ values %rmap } = keys %rmap;

    my $clipboard;

    my $dlg = Win32::GUI::Window->new(
        -title          => 'Notepad++ Paste Special',
        -left           => CW_USEDEFAULT,
        -top            => CW_USEDEFAULT,
        -size           => [580,300],
        -resizable      => 0,
        -maximizebox    => 0,
        -toolwindow     => 1,
    );

    my $lb = $dlg->AddListbox(
        -name           => 'LB',
        -pos            => [10,10],
        -size           => [230, $dlg->ScaleHeight()-10],
        -vscroll        => 1,
        -onSelChange    => sub {
                                my $self = shift;
                                my $value = $self->GetText($self->GetCurSel());
                                my $f=$rmap{$value};
                                #printf STDERR "%-15s => %d\n", $value, $f;
                                $clipboard = $CLIP->GetAs($f);
                                $clipboard = Encode::decode('UTF16-LE', $clipboard) if $f == CF_UNICODETEXT();
                                #printf STDERR "%-15s => '%s'\n", clipboard => $clipboard;
                                (my $preview = $clipboard) =~ s/([^\x20-\x7F\r\n])/sprintf '\x{%02X}', ord $1/ge;
                                $preview =~ s/\R/\r\n/g;
                                $self->GetParent()->PREVIEW->Text( $preview );
                                return 1;
                            },
    );
    $dlg->LB->Add( @map{ sort {$a<=>$b} @formats } );

    $dlg->AddButton(
        -name    => 'OK',
        -text    => 'Paste',
        -size    => [80,25],
        -left    => $dlg->ScaleWidth()-90-90,
        -top     => $dlg->LB->Top()+$dlg->LB->Height()-25,
        -onClick => sub{-1;},
    );

    $dlg->AddButton(
        -name    => 'CANCEL',
        -text    => 'Cancel',
        -size    => [80,25],
        -left    => $dlg->ScaleWidth()-90,
        -top     => $dlg->LB->Top()+$dlg->LB->Height()-25,
        -onClick => sub{ $clipboard=undef; -1; },
    );

    $dlg->AddGroupbox(
        -name  => 'GB',
        -title => 'Preview',
        -pos   => [250,10],
        -size  => [$dlg->ScaleWidth()-260, $dlg->OK->Top()-20],
    );

    $dlg->AddLabel(
        -name           => 'PREVIEW',
        -left           => $dlg->GB->Left()+10,
        -top            => $dlg->GB->Top()+20,
        -width          => $dlg->GB->ScaleWidth()-20,
        -height         => $dlg->GB->ScaleHeight()-40,
    );

    #$dlg->PREVIEW->Text("<Please choose a format>");

    $dlg->Show();
    Win32::GUI::Dialog();
    return $clipboard;
}

Ekopalypse

@PeterJones

just out of curiosity, is this dialog modal?
If not, can you run a small test and press CTRL+C in an open document while the dialog is still running?

PeterJones

@Ekopalypse said in PasteSpecial - revisited:

just out of curiosity, is this dialog modal?
If not, can you run a small test and press CTRL+C in an open document while the dialog is still running?

It is not modal. And it does appear to be live: if I leave it open and copy something new, when I click again on the type, it will update:

Ekopalypse

@PeterJones

Thanks, the reason for my question is that under certain circumstances, the cause of which I have not yet been able to find out, it is possible that a control character is added when pressing CTRL+C while a non-modal dialog is open.
Closing the dialog will reset everything back to normal.

PeterJones

@Ekopalypse ,

Hmm, I haven’t seen ^C added. Sorry.

I did find that “live” is a bit of an overstatement: it isn’t updating the list of types when the clipboard changes, so if you originally had a normal text copy, then copy from a webpage, the listbox won’t show the HTML version. Something for v2.0

PeterJones

`pasteSpecial.pl` - v2.0

Add REFRESH button to update the ListBox
Defaults to selecting/displaying the first Clipboard variant; will try to keep the same selection even after refresh
PERSIST checkbox allows dialog to stay open for multiple pastes

#!/usr/bin/env perl
################################################
# PasteSpecial for Notepad++
#   List formats currently on the clipboard
#   Allows you to choose one of those formats
#   Will paste the selected type (UTF8-encoded)
#   at the current location in the active file
################################################
# HISTORY
#   v0.1: STDIN-based choice
#   v1.0: DialogBox choice
#   v2.0: Add REFRESH button to update the ListBox
#         Defaults to selecting/displaying the first Clipboard variant
#         Persist checkbox allows dialog to stay open for multiple pastes
################################################

use 5.010;
use warnings;
use strict;
use Win32::Clipboard;
use Win32::GUI;
use Win32::GUI::Constants qw/CW_USEDEFAULT/;
use Encode;
use Win32::Mechanize::NotepadPlusPlus 0.004 qw/:main/;   # this works even with v0.004, even without bugfix for prompt()

our $VERSION = 'v2.0';

BEGIN {
    binmode STDERR, ':utf8';
    binmode STDOUT, ':utf8';
}

my %map = (
    CF_TEXT()           => 'CF_TEXT',
    CF_BITMAP()         => 'CF_BITMAP',
    CF_METAFILEPICT()   => 'CF_METAFILEPICT',
    CF_SYLK()           => 'CF_SYLK',
    CF_DIF()            => 'CF_DIF',
    CF_TIFF()           => 'CF_TIFF',
    CF_OEMTEXT()        => 'CF_OEMTEXT',
    CF_DIB()            => 'CF_DIB',
    CF_PALETTE()        => 'CF_PALETTE',
    CF_PENDATA()        => 'CF_PENDATA',
    CF_RIFF()           => 'CF_RIFF',
    CF_WAVE()           => 'CF_WAVE',
    CF_UNICODETEXT()    => 'CF_UNICODETEXT',
    CF_ENHMETAFILE()    => 'CF_ENHMETAFILE',
    CF_HDROP()          => 'CF_HDROP',
    CF_LOCALE()         => 'CF_LOCALE',
);
my %rmap; @rmap{values %map} = keys %map;

my $CLIP = Win32::Clipboard;

my $answer = runDialog();
#editor->addText(Encode::encode("UTF8", $answer)) if defined $answer;   #v1.3: moved to the PASTE button, below
exit;

sub formats {
    my @f = $CLIP->EnumFormats();
    foreach my $format (sort {$a <=> $b} @f) {
        $map{$format} //= $CLIP->GetFormatName($format) // '<unknown>';
        $rmap{ $map{$format} } = $format;
    }
    return @f;
}

sub runDialog {
    my $clipboard;
    my $persist = 1;

    my $dlg = Win32::GUI::Window->new(
        -title          => sprintf('Notepad++ Paste Special %s', $VERSION),
        -left           => CW_USEDEFAULT,
        -top            => CW_USEDEFAULT,
        -size           => [580,300],
        -resizable      => 0,
        -maximizebox    => 0,
        -hashelp => 0,
        -dialogui => 1,
    );
    my $icon = Win32::GUI::Icon->new(100);              # v1.1: change the icon
    $dlg->SetIcon($icon) if defined $icon;

    my $update_preview = sub {
        my $self = shift // return -1;
        my $value = $self->GetText($self->GetCurSel());
        my $f=$rmap{$value};
        $clipboard = $CLIP->GetAs($f);
        $clipboard = Encode::decode('UTF16-LE', $clipboard) if $f == CF_UNICODETEXT();
        (my $preview = $clipboard) =~ s/([^\x20-\x7F\r\n])/sprintf '\x{%02X}', ord $1/ge;
        $preview =~ s/\R/\r\n/g;
        $self->GetParent()->PREVIEW->Text( $preview );
        return 1;
    };
    my $lb = $dlg->AddListbox(
        -name           => 'LB',
        -pos            => [10,10],
        -size           => [230, $dlg->ScaleHeight()-10],
        -vscroll        => 1,
        -onSelChange    => $update_preview,             # v1.2: externalize this callback so it can be run from elsewhere
    );

    my $refresh_formats = sub {
        my $lb = $dlg->LB;
        my $selected_idx = $lb->GetCurSel() // 0;
        my $selected_txt = ((0<=$selected_idx) && ($selected_idx < $lb->Count)) ? $lb->GetText($selected_idx) : '';
        $lb->RemoveItem(0) while $lb->Count;
        $lb->Add( @map{ sort {$a<=>$b} formats() } );
        my $new_idx = $selected_txt ? $lb->FindStringExact($selected_txt) : undef;
        $new_idx = undef unless defined($new_idx) && (0 <= $new_idx) && ($new_idx < $lb->Count);
        $lb->Select( $new_idx//0 );
        $update_preview->( $lb );
    };

    my $button_top = $dlg->LB->Top()+$dlg->LB->Height()-25;

    $dlg->AddButton(                                    # v1.2: add this button
        -name    => 'REFRESH',
        -text    => 'Refresh',
        -size    => [80,25],
        -left    => $dlg->ScaleWidth()-90*3,
        -top     => $button_top,
        -onClick => sub{
            $refresh_formats->();
            1;
        },
    );

    $dlg->AddButton(
        -name    => 'OK',
        -text    => 'Paste',
        -size    => [80,25],
        -left    => $dlg->ScaleWidth()-90*2,
        -top     => $button_top,
        -onClick => sub{                # v1.3: allow to persist after paste: TODO: move the editor->addText here
            editor->addText( Encode::encode("UTF8", $clipboard) ) if defined $clipboard;
            return $persist ? 1 : -1;
        },
    );

    $dlg->AddButton(
        -name    => 'CANCEL',
        -text    => 'Cancel',
        -size    => [80,25],
        -left    => $dlg->ScaleWidth()-90*1,
        -top     => $button_top,
        -onClick => sub{ $clipboard=undef; -1; },
    );

    $dlg->AddGroupbox(
        -name  => 'GB',
        -title => 'Preview',
        -pos   => [250,10],
        -size  => [$dlg->ScaleWidth()-260, $button_top-20],
    );

    $dlg->AddLabel(
        -name           => 'PREVIEW',
        -left           => $dlg->GB->Left()+10,
        -top            => $dlg->GB->Top()+20,
        -width          => $dlg->GB->ScaleWidth()-20,
        -height         => $dlg->GB->ScaleHeight()-40,
    );

    $dlg->AddCheckbox(
        -name => 'CB',
        -text => 'Persist',
        -pos => [$dlg->GB->Left(), $button_top],
        -onClick => sub {
            $persist = !$persist;
            1;
        },
    );

    $dlg->CB->SetCheck($persist);
    $refresh_formats->();
    $dlg->Show();
    Win32::GUI::Dialog();
    return $clipboard;
}

PeterJones

This post is deleted!

PeterJones

`pasteSpecial.pl` - v2.1

Updates:

Fix “bitmap” bug (if a bitmap was in the clipboard, trying to preview would cause script to crash)

Requirements:

Perl
Install “PerlScript” module

Usage

Notepad++ menu: Run > Run: "c:\path\to\perl.exe" "c:\path\to\pasteSpecial.pl"

#!/usr/bin/env perl
################################################
# PasteSpecial for Notepad++
#   List formats currently on the clipboard
#   Allows you to choose one of those formats
#   Will paste the selected type (UTF8-encoded)
#   at the current location in the active file
################################################
# HISTORY
#   v0.1: STDIN-based choice
#   v1.0: DialogBox choice
#   v2.0: Add REFRESH button to update the ListBox
#         Defaults to selecting/displaying the first Clipboard variant
#         Persist checkbox allows dialog to stay open for multiple pastes
#   v2.1: Fix the "bitmap" bug (having bitmaps is clipboard caused crash)
################################################

use 5.010;
use warnings;
use strict;
use Win32::Clipboard;
use Win32::GUI;
use Win32::GUI::Constants qw/CW_USEDEFAULT/;
use Encode;
use Win32::Mechanize::NotepadPlusPlus 0.004 qw/:main/;   # this works even with v0.004, even without bugfix for prompt()

our $VERSION = 'v2.1';

BEGIN {
    binmode STDERR, ':utf8';
    binmode STDOUT, ':utf8';
}

my %map = (
    CF_TEXT()           => 'CF_TEXT',
    CF_BITMAP()         => 'CF_BITMAP',
    CF_METAFILEPICT()   => 'CF_METAFILEPICT',
    CF_SYLK()           => 'CF_SYLK',
    CF_DIF()            => 'CF_DIF',
    CF_TIFF()           => 'CF_TIFF',
    CF_OEMTEXT()        => 'CF_OEMTEXT',
    CF_DIB()            => 'CF_DIB',
    CF_PALETTE()        => 'CF_PALETTE',
    CF_PENDATA()        => 'CF_PENDATA',
    CF_RIFF()           => 'CF_RIFF',
    CF_WAVE()           => 'CF_WAVE',
    CF_UNICODETEXT()    => 'CF_UNICODETEXT',
    CF_ENHMETAFILE()    => 'CF_ENHMETAFILE',
    CF_HDROP()          => 'CF_HDROP',
    CF_LOCALE()         => 'CF_LOCALE',
);
my %rmap; @rmap{values %map} = keys %map;

my $CLIP = Win32::Clipboard;

my $answer = runDialog();
#editor->addText(Encode::encode("UTF8", $answer)) if defined $answer;   #v1.3: moved to the PASTE button, below
exit;

sub formats {
    my @f = $CLIP->EnumFormats();
    foreach my $format (sort {$a <=> $b} @f) {
        $map{$format} //= $CLIP->GetFormatName($format) // '<unknown>';
        $rmap{ $map{$format} } = $format;
    }
    return @f;
}

sub runDialog {
    my $clipboard;
    my $persist = 1;

    my $dlg = Win32::GUI::Window->new(
        -title          => sprintf('Notepad++ Paste Special %s', $VERSION),
        -left           => CW_USEDEFAULT,
        -top            => CW_USEDEFAULT,
        -size           => [580,300],
        -resizable      => 0,
        -maximizebox    => 0,
        -hashelp => 0,
        -dialogui => 1,
    );
    my $icon = Win32::GUI::Icon->new(100);              # v1.1: change the icon
    $dlg->SetIcon($icon) if defined $icon;

    my $update_preview = sub {
        my $self = shift // return -1;
        my $value = $self->GetText($self->GetCurSel());
        my $f=$rmap{$value};
        $clipboard = $CLIP->IsBitmap() ? $CLIP->GetBitmap() :
                     $CLIP->IsFiles()  ? ($CLIP->GetFiles())[0] :
                                         $CLIP->GetAs($f);
        $clipboard = Encode::decode('UTF16-LE', $clipboard) if $f == CF_UNICODETEXT();
        (my $preview = $clipboard) =~ s/([^\x20-\x7F\r\n])/sprintf '\x{%02X}', ord $1/ge;
        $preview =~ s/\R/\r\n/g;
        $preview = substr($preview,0,297)."..." if length($preview)>300;
        $self->GetParent()->PREVIEW->Text( $preview );
        return 1;
    };
    my $lb = $dlg->AddListbox(
        -name           => 'LB',
        -pos            => [10,10],
        -size           => [230, $dlg->ScaleHeight()-10],
        -vscroll        => 1,
        -onSelChange    => $update_preview,             # v1.2: externalize this callback so it can be run from elsewhere
    );

    my $refresh_formats = sub {
        my $lb = $dlg->LB;
        my $selected_idx = $lb->GetCurSel() // 0;
        my $selected_txt = ((0<=$selected_idx) && ($selected_idx < $lb->Count)) ? $lb->GetText($selected_idx) : '';
        $lb->RemoveItem(0) while $lb->Count;
        $lb->Add( @map{ sort {$a<=>$b} formats() } );
        my $new_idx = $selected_txt ? $lb->FindStringExact($selected_txt) : undef;
        $new_idx = undef unless defined($new_idx) && (0 <= $new_idx) && ($new_idx < $lb->Count);
        $lb->Select( $new_idx//0 );
        $update_preview->( $lb );
    };

    my $button_top = $dlg->LB->Top()+$dlg->LB->Height()-25;

    $dlg->AddButton(                                    # v1.2: add this button
        -name    => 'REFRESH',
        -text    => 'Refresh',
        -size    => [80,25],
        -left    => $dlg->ScaleWidth()-90*3,
        -top     => $button_top,
        -onClick => sub{
            $refresh_formats->();
            1;
        },
    );

    $dlg->AddButton(
        -name    => 'OK',
        -text    => 'Paste',
        -size    => [80,25],
        -left    => $dlg->ScaleWidth()-90*2,
        -top     => $button_top,
        -onClick => sub{                # v1.3: allow to persist after paste: TODO: move the editor->addText here
            editor->addText( Encode::encode("UTF8", $clipboard) ) if defined $clipboard;
            return $persist ? 1 : -1;
        },
    );

    $dlg->AddButton(
        -name    => 'CANCEL',
        -text    => 'Cancel',
        -size    => [80,25],
        -left    => $dlg->ScaleWidth()-90*1,
        -top     => $button_top,
        -onClick => sub{ $clipboard=undef; -1; },
    );

    $dlg->AddGroupbox(
        -name  => 'GB',
        -title => 'Preview',
        -pos   => [250,10],
        -size  => [$dlg->ScaleWidth()-260, $button_top-20],
    );

    $dlg->AddLabel(
        -name           => 'PREVIEW',
        -left           => $dlg->GB->Left()+10,
        -top            => $dlg->GB->Top()+20,
        -width          => $dlg->GB->ScaleWidth()-20,
        -height         => $dlg->GB->ScaleHeight()-40,
    );

    $dlg->AddCheckbox(
        -name => 'CB',
        -text => 'Persist',
        -pos => [$dlg->GB->Left(), $button_top],
        -onClick => sub {
            $persist = !$persist;
            1;
        },
    );

    $dlg->CB->SetCheck($persist);
    $refresh_formats->();
    $dlg->Show();
    Win32::GUI::Dialog();
    return $clipboard;
}

PasteSpecial - revisited

v0.1_alpha

Other notes

pasteSpecial.pl - v1.0

pasteSpecial.pl - v2.0

pasteSpecial.pl - v2.1

`pasteSpecial.pl` - v1.0

`pasteSpecial.pl` - v2.0

`pasteSpecial.pl` - v2.1