Accepts text from an html form, puts the text into the Windows clipboard. Also displays text that is in the Windows clipboard. The server runs only on MS-Windows.
The server runs on a port you choose. The url "/clipthis.cgi", displays a form with a textarea field. Paste text into the field and submit it. The server copies the text to the clipboard of the server computer. The url "/getclip.cgi", displays text in the buffer.
Why? Many people have more than one computer. This way you can copy and paste between computers, without having to save text in a file, move the file to another computer, and open it there.
You must have ActiveState Perl already. Get it from www.activestate.com. If you're not sure what you have, get a command prompt, and type: perl -v. This tells you what version you have. If it doesn't say ActiveState, this won't work. The clipboard server was tested with Build 509.
Unzip the clipserver.zip file into the directory you want to use. Run the get_module.bat batch file to install the required Perl module. (You must be connected to the net.) If you want to get the source of the module from CPAN, you can, but you have to have a C compiler to get anything to work. Better to get the module with the batch file.
Edit start_server.bat if you want to use a port other than 85.
Run start_server.bat on the computer whose clipboard you want to view or copy text to. The script opens an MS-DOS window with the location of inetd_clip.exe as the title. This window displays the requests to the server. You can minimize the window if you don't like to watch. To stop the server, click on this window and hit Control-c.
To put text into the clipboard buffer.... On the computer you want to copy text from, call up the /clipthis.cgi form (http://192.168.0.12:85/clipthis.cgi, for example) in a browser. Paste text into the form. Submit the form. On the computer running the server, paste into a text-processing application such as Notepad, Emacs, or Word. You should see the text you put into the form.
To view the text of the clipboard buffer.... On the computer from which you want to see the clipboard text, call up the /getclip.cgi page.
For example, sometimes I'm using a web browser on one computer, and want to look at the web page on another computer. This lets me copy and paste the url between the computers, rather than trying to type it over again.
Only do this behind a firewall. You don't want the hackers of the world messing with your clipboard buffer, and the inetd program is unlikely to be safe enough to be exposed to the internet. The server runs with the same permissions to change/delete/add files as you have. If a bad-guy got access to it, much mischief could be done.
This software is provided "as is" (blah, blah) and isn't suitable for running nuclear reactors, space shuttles, or air traffic control systems. You can use it if you want, but don't come crying to me if your nuclear reactor melts down or someone hijacks your computer.
The zip file includes inetd.c. This is purported to be the source file of inetd.exe, which I renamed here to be inetd_clip.exe. I say "purported" because I didn't compile the executable myself.
If you're not sure what IP address to use, you could try using the computer name. If your computers don't all know each other's names, you can get a Window's computer's ip address -- if you know it's name -- by typing at a command prompt: ping hostname (use the actual hostname). Even if other computers don't know its name, the computer will know its own name. You should see something like "Reply from 10.0.0.10:...." Those numbers before the colon are the IP address.
The server uses http "get", so there is typically some upper limit to how many characters it will accept. As I recall this depends on the operating system or browser, and is usually some thousands or tens of thousands of characters.
This has been tested on NT 4 and Windows 98. If you have any sort of firewall software running on the server, it probably blocks access to port 85. If you need a firewall running locally on the server, you probably shouldn't run the Clipboard Server. This software is more appropriate for a group of computers behind a firewall/router.
The inetd_clip.exe and the original Perl script was done by someone named S. Freyder. He said:
Software License
This software is copyright ©1998 by Steve Freyder. You may do virtually what you wish with this software, as long as the explicit reference to its original author is retained.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS AND COME WITH NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. IN NO EVENT WILL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER(S) BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
Any trademarks referenced herein are those of their respective owners.
As of August 27, 2001, you could find the original version of the Perl http server at:
http://www.lightner.net/lightner/bruce/httpd/w95httpd.html
The Perl module is Win32::Clipboard from http://dada.perl.it/.
All made possible by the internet.
Thanks.