Clipboard Actions

SHAFT provides first-class clipboard support through the driver.element().clipboardActions() method. You can copy, cut, paste, and select all text on any web element using the ClipboardAction enum — no raw keyboard shortcuts required.

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Available Actions

ClipboardAction	Equivalent Shortcut	Description
COPY	Ctrl/Cmd + C	Copies the selected content to the clipboard
CUT	Ctrl/Cmd + X	Cuts the selected content to the clipboard
PASTE	Ctrl/Cmd + V	Pastes clipboard content into the element
SELECT_ALL	Ctrl/Cmd + A	Selects all content inside the element

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Import

ClipboardImport.java

import com.shaft.driver.SHAFT;
import com.shaft.enums.internal.ClipboardAction;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;

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Basic Usage

Copy

CopyExample.java

// Copy text from a read-only element
driver.element().clipboardActions(By.id("sourceText"), ClipboardAction.COPY);

Paste

PasteExample.java

// Paste clipboard content into an input field
driver.element().clipboardActions(By.id("targetInput"), ClipboardAction.PASTE);

Select All

SelectAllExample.java

// Select all text inside a text area
driver.element().clipboardActions(By.id("textArea"), ClipboardAction.SELECT_ALL);

Cut

CutExample.java

// Cut the selected text from a field
driver.element().clipboardActions(By.id("editField"), ClipboardAction.CUT);

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Chaining Clipboard Actions

clipboardActions() returns the element actions builder, so you can chain multiple clipboard operations fluently:

ChainedClipboardActions.java

// Select all, cut, and paste into another field in one chain
driver.element()
    .clipboardActions(By.id("editField"), ClipboardAction.SELECT_ALL)
    .clipboardActions(By.id("editField"), ClipboardAction.CUT)
    .clipboardActions(By.id("newField"), ClipboardAction.PASTE);

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Common Use Cases

Copy from One Field and Paste into Another

CopyPasteWorkflow.java

// Step 1: Focus and copy a value from a read-only field
driver.element().clipboardActions(By.id("generatedToken"), ClipboardAction.COPY);

// Step 2: Paste it into an input field on the same page
driver.element().clipboardActions(By.id("tokenInput"), ClipboardAction.PASTE);

// Step 3: Verify the paste succeeded
driver.assertThat()
    .element(By.id("tokenInput")).text()
    .isNotEmpty()
    .withCustomReportMessage("Token field must contain the pasted value")
    .perform();

Replace All Content in a Text Area

ReplaceTextArea.java

// Select all existing content, then overwrite by typing
driver.element()
    .clipboardActions(By.id("commentBox"), ClipboardAction.SELECT_ALL)
    .clipboardActions(By.id("commentBox"), ClipboardAction.CUT);

// Type the new content
driver.element().type(By.id("commentBox"), "Updated comment text");

Duplicate a Value Across Multiple Fields

DuplicateValue.java

// Copy a reference number from the source field
driver.element().clipboardActions(By.id("referenceNumber"), ClipboardAction.COPY);

// Paste into two confirmation fields
driver.element()
    .clipboardActions(By.id("confirmRef1"), ClipboardAction.PASTE)
    .clipboardActions(By.id("confirmRef2"), ClipboardAction.PASTE);

Select All and Overwrite a Pre-filled Field

OverwritePrefilledField.java

// Select all pre-filled text and replace it in one chain
driver.element()
    .clipboardActions(By.id("emailField"), ClipboardAction.SELECT_ALL)
    .type(By.id("emailField"), "new-email@example.com");

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Best Practices

• Use SELECT_ALL before CUT or COPY — some browsers require the field to have focus and all content selected before a clipboard operation will capture the correct data.
• Verify paste results — after pasting, use driver.assertThat().element(...).text() to confirm the clipboard content was pasted correctly.
• Prefer clipboard actions over typeAppend() for copy-from-read-only scenarios — clipboardActions() is the correct API when the source field does not allow direct text extraction.
• Be aware of OS clipboard scope — clipboard operations use the OS-level clipboard; running parallel tests on the same machine can cause race conditions. Prefer isolated environments (Docker/Grid) for clipboard-intensive parallel tests.

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Related Pages

• Element Actions — Full reference for all element interaction methods.
• Element Identification — How to build robust locators for elements.