JointJS+ Clipboard

ui.Clipboard

Clipboard implements copy-pasting of cells. Optionally, clipboard also supports storing cells in an HTML 5 localStorage so that copy-pasting of cells works despite a browser tab being refreshed or closed/reopened. Additionally, clipboard is also able to copy cells from one paper and paste them to another. However, the determination of the targeted paper is left to the application layer.

Installation

Include joint.ui.clipboard.js to your HTML:

<script src="joint.ui.clipboard.js"></script>

Clipboard Configuration

Instantiating a clipboard is a matter of creating a joint.ui.Clipboard object:

var clipboard = new joint.ui.Clipboard({ useLocalStorage: false });

Options passed to a clipboard used for clipboard operations but can be overridden for the specific method call.

link Set of attributes to be set on each copied link on every pasteCells() or pasteCellsAtPoint() call. It is defined as an object. e.g. { z: 1 }.
translate An increment that is added to the pasted elements position on every pasteCells() call. It is an object with dx and dy attributes. It defaults to { dx: 20, dy: 20 }.
origin A position in a cells' bbox which is used for determining the origin on every pasteCellsAtPoint() call. It is a string representing bbox positions (e.g. 'top-left', 'bottom' etc.). It defaults to 'center'.
useLocalStorage Set to false if you don't want to use window.localStorage for storing copied cells. It defaults to true.
addCellOptions Options that will be passed to the graph.addCell method during paste operations.
removeCellOptions Options that will be passed to the cell's remove method during the cut operation.
deep Set to true if you want the clipboard to automatically add all embedded cells to the provided elements for copying.

Clipboard API

copyElements(collection, graph, opt) Store the elements from the collection along with all links, which are connected by both source and target to these elements. Collection can be either a Backbone.Collection or an array of cells.The options opt passed as a parameter can override the global options.
cutElements(collection, graph, opt) Similar to copyElements() but it also removes all copied cells from the graph.
pasteCells(graph, opt) Add copies of stored cells to the graph. The method can be called multiple times and it always produces new copies.
pasteCellsAtPoint(graph, point, opt) Add copies of stored cells to the graph at specific point. The method can be called multiple times and it always produces new copies. The origin option indicates which point on the cells bbox should be used for pasting. The default value is 'center'.
isEmpty(opt) Return true when there is no cells stored on the Clipboard instance. Returns false otherwise. Checks local storage if the useLocalStorage option is true.
clear(opt) Clear all stored cells. Also clears window.localStorage if useLocalStorage is true.

Clipboard Setup

The next step is hooking these methods to relevant user events.

var selection = new joint.ui.Selection({ paper: paper });
var keyboard = new joint.ui.Keyboard;

keyboard.on('ctrl+c', function() { clipboard.copyElements(selection.collection, paper.model); });
keyboard.on('ctrl+x', function() { clipboard.cutElements(selection.collection, paper.model); });
keyboard.on('ctrl+v', function() { clipboard.pasteCells(paper.model); });

Note that the selection.collection is a Backbone.Collection that stores the selected elements. The clipboard is probably the best when used in combination with the Selection JointJS plugin. We suggest you to look at the documentation to the Selection plugin for further details on using selections.

Also, it is advisable to look at our Kitchen Sink application to see how the Selection and Clipboard work together.