Moving Text and Objects

CDE has a clipboard facility, a drag-and-drop facility, and a duplication facility.

Clipboard

CDE provides a clipboard facility that can handle text and graphics simultaneously. Most CDE applications have an Edit menu that provides the standard clipboard items (Cut, Copy, and Paste). Cut, Copy and Paste are also available through the following key combinations.

Table 1-2 Clipboard Key Comparison

Task or Feature	OpenWindows Keys	CDE Keys
Cut	Meta+X, or Cut	Alt+X, or Control+Delete, or Cut
Copy	Meta+C, or Copy	Alt+C, or Control+Insert, or Copy
Paste	Meta+V, or Paste	Alt+V, or Shift+Insert, or Paste

Drag and Drop

As in OpenWindows, in CDE you can drag a selected object or text from one location to another inside the application, or from one application to another. Unlike OpenWindows, CDE does not enable you to drop objects on a minimized program icon, but it enables you to drop objects and text on the Front Panel.

Table 1-3 Drag and Drop Behavior

Task or Feature	OpenWindows Behavior	CDE Behavior
Drop an icon on the workspace	Launches application	Creates reference to item (original item still appears in File Manager)
Drop text or files on message area in Mailer	Inserts in message body	Only supported for Compose window. Inserts text at insertion point and attaches files.
Drop text or files in Attachments area in Mailer	Attaches messages	Attaches files to message being composed  Attaches dropped text as text file
Drop text into text window	Text appears at drop point	Text appears at insertion point (same as choosing Include from the File menu)
Drop a file on a minimized application	Application runs its default action (such as opening or printing the file) if it is of the appropriate type	Not supported

See also "Chapter 1, Basic Skills" in Solaris Common Desktop Environment: User's Guide.

Duplication Button

In OpenWindows, mouse button 2 was referred to as the ADJUST button-because it was used to highlight the text to the right of a position selected by mouse button one. CDE uses mouse button 2 as a useful text duplication button, which is used to duplicate, or make copies of, selected text.

Duplication is faster than copy and paste or drag-and-drop, especially when you want to quickly copy a long file path into File Manager, or when you want to copy commands in a terminal window. The contents of the clipboard are unaffected when duplicating.

To Duplicate Selected Text

1. Select the required text by holding down mouse button 1 and dragging the cursor over it.

2. Release mouse button 1.

3. Point the mouse at the location to which you wish to duplicate the text, and click mouse button 2.

   The text is copied to the new location without removing it from its original location.

4. (Optional), Repeat step 2 and duplicate the text in other locations.