# Error handling for the clipboard
**URL:** https://discourse.processing.org/t/error-handling-for-the-clipboard/16654
**Category:** Coding Questions
**Created:** [December 27, 2019, 11:54am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/error-handling-for-the-clipboard/16654 "2019-12-27T11:54:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@paulgoux](https://discourse.processing.org/u/paulgoux)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2019, 11:54am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/error-handling-for-the-clipboard/16654/1 "2019-12-27T11:54:14Z")
I am using the following code to capture text from the clipboard, however if I use print screen the clipboard will be filled with image data and return an error.
```auto
Object getFromClipboard (DataFlavor flavor) {
Clipboard clipboard = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemClipboard();
Transferable contents = clipboard.getContents(null);
Object object = null;
if (contents != null && contents.isDataFlavorSupported(flavor))
{
try
{
object = contents.getTransferData(flavor);
println("Clipboard.getFromClipboard() >> Object transferred from clipboard.");
}
catch (UnsupportedFlavorException e1) // Unlikely but we must catch it
{
println("Clipboard.getFromClipboard() >> Unsupported flavor: " + e1);
//~ e1.printStackTrace();
}
catch (java.io.IOException e2)
{
println("Clipboard.getFromClipboard() >> Unavailable data: " + e2);
//~ e2.printStackTrace();
}
}
return object;
}
String getTextFromClipboard () {
String text = (String) getFromClipboard(DataFlavor.stringFlavor);
if (text==null)
return "";
return text;
}
```
How do I implement error handling to deal with this eventuality?
it seems the line in question is this one
```auto
Transferable contents = clipboard.getContents(null);
```
---
### Author:  [@quark](https://discourse.processing.org/u/quark)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/error-handling-for-the-clipboard/16654/2 "2019-12-27T16:52:29Z")
It would be better to implement this code in a class. G4P has a class, [GClip](https://sourceforge.net/p/g4p/code/ci/master/tree/G4P/src/g4p_controls/GClip.java), to handle copying and pasting of text, you might try incorporating this class in your sketch.
---
### Author:  [@kfrajer](https://discourse.processing.org/u/kfrajer)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2019, 12:13am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/error-handling-for-the-clipboard/16654/3 "2019-12-28T00:13:32Z")
> [@paulgoux](#):
>
> however if I use print screen the clipboard will be filled with image data and return an error
What OS are you using for this? I am not able to repro using P3.5.3 and Win10x64. I have
```auto
void mouseReleased() {
print(getTextFromClipboard());
}
```
and if I have an image capture using the prtScr key, the code does not execute as no error is thrown. If you get an error, you are saying that the line
`Transferable contents = clipboard.getContents(null);`
gets highlighted by the PDE?
Kf
---
### Author:  [@paulgoux](https://discourse.processing.org/u/paulgoux)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/error-handling-for-the-clipboard/16654/4 "2019-12-28T02:06:52Z")
thats it, I’m using windows 10, with the latest version of processing
