Name: skT88420 Date: 07/19/99


Most common X applications share data via the PRIMARY selection.
However, the cut and paste methods of JTextComponent use the
CLIPBOARD selection. There seems to be no way to access the
PRIMARY selection from a Java application. This makes it
difficult to exchange data with other applications. The only
workaround is to reconfigure key and mouse binding on all other
applications, one by one. This is not a happy solution.

I suspect that this is the result of a deliberate design
decision. Perhaps the designers of Swing felt that using the
CLIPBOARD selection was the most portable solution, and that
there is nothing comparable to the PRIMARY selection on
non-Unix platforms. Unfortunately this is at odds with how
common X applications work. The result is that Java
applications look lame on a Unix platform.

I'd like to suggest a solution that wouldn't compromise
portability: On Unix platforms, the cut method could copy
data to *both* the CLIPBOARD and the PRIMARY selection.
The paste method could look first to the CLIPBOARD for data,
and then to the PRIMARY selection if the CLIPBOARD selection
doesn't exist. This would allow Java apps to painlessly
exchange data with xterm, emacs, and other common tools.
(Review ID: 85773)
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