#727 – Getting a List of Files from the Clipboard

In Windows, if you do a Copy operation on a set of files, a list of filenames will get added to the clipboard.  You can get access to this list of files using the Clipboard.GetFileDropList method.

    public partial class MainWindow : Window, INotifyPropertyChanged
    {
        public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            this.DataContext = this;
        }

        public StringCollection FileList { get; set; }

        private void btnPasteFileList_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            if (Clipboard.ContainsFileDropList())
            {
                FileList = Clipboard.GetFileDropList();
                RaisePropertyChanged("FileList");
            }
        }

        public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

        private void RaisePropertyChanged(string prop)
        {
            if (PropertyChanged != null)
                PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(prop));
        }
    }

The XAML for this sample includes a ListBox that just binds to the FileList property.

    <Grid>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition/>
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition/>
            <ColumnDefinition/>
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

        <ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding FileList}"/>
        <Button Grid.Column="1" Content="Paste File List"
                VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Left"
                Padding="10,5" Margin="10"
                Click="btnPasteFileList_Click"/>
    </Grid>