EchoHub/docs/auriondocs/Code/src/EchoHub.Client/Services/ClipboardFiles.cs.md

ClipboardFiles

File: src/EchoHub.Client/Services/ClipboardFiles.cs
Kind: class

public static class ClipboardFiles

ClipboardFiles reads the OS clipboard to obtain a list of files when the clipboard holds a file-list (such as after copying files in a file manager). This enables scenarios where a copied set of files can be pasted or attached directly, without requiring the user to paste raw text paths. Call TryGetFiles to retrieve existing file paths from the clipboard; the method returns true when one or more valid paths are found, and false otherwise (including on platforms without file-list clipboard support).

Remarks

This helper abstracts away platform differences in clipboard formats and presents a single, cohesive API for retrieving file lists from the clipboard. On Windows it enumerates files via the CF_HDROP channel and returns the paths that point to existing files. On Linux it reads a text/uri-list from the clipboard (via wl-paste or xclip), converts file:// URLs to local paths, and keeps only paths that exist. The implementation favors a graceful failure path: any read-time exception is logged and the caller simply receives a non-success result, allowing callers to degrade gracefully without crashing. The API design emphasizes a simple success/failure boolean along with a concrete list of files, enabling straightforward integration into UX flows that want to treat copied files as attachable entities rather than plain text.

Example

if (ClipboardFiles.TryGetFiles(out var files))
{
    foreach (var path in files)
        Console.WriteLine(path);
}

Notes

• macOS and other non-supported platforms do not provide a file-list clipboard, so TryGetFiles returns false there.
• The method only returns paths that actually exist on disk; non-existent or malformed clipboard entries are ignored, and an empty result yields false.