Enabling access to rich data

Abstract

Systems and methods for enabling access to data, including data represented using a variety of “richer” data formats, are disclosed. Such systems and methods may be useful, among a variety of cases, with applications or entities that may not typically be able to access such richer data. In at least some implementations, data copied to a clipboard and formatted using a variety of formats may be provided or accessed by a destination application as part of a paste operation even when the destination application may not natively provide the ability to access all of the data formats that might exist on a clipboard. In at least some implementations, such access may be provided without modifying or augmenting the data placed on the clipboard.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method for enabling information exchange between a first application and a second application using a clipboard, the method comprising:
 in response to a copy operation initiated by a user while using the first application, generating structured clipboard data comprising a content type attribute representing a type of at least one data item and a uniform resource attribute containing a reference to a location of the at least one data item and storing the structured clipboard data in the clipboard; and   in response to a paste operation initiated by the user while using the second application: automatically processing the structured clipboard data in the clipboard to determine whether the second application is capable of handling text only or whether the second application is capable of handling richer data, and
 if the second application is capable of handling text only, invoking a function to provide the structured clipboard data in the clipboard as text only and executing the paste operation by pasting the text, or 
 if the second application is capable of handling richer data, automatically processing the structured clipboard data in the clipboard, including: 
   processing the type of the at least one data item based on the content type attribute representing the type of the at least one data item, retrieving data for pasting from: (1) either the at least one data item or (2) based on the uniform resource attribute containing the reference to the location and executing the paste operation by pasting the data.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the generating structured clipboard data further comprises generating a description attribute representing any information provided by a user or the first application. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22  further comprising pasting any information provided by the user or the first application. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the generating structured clipboard data further comprising generating a format type attribute for identifying a format associated with the at least one data item. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the reference to the location comprises a uniform resource locator. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21  further comprising implementing an application program interface to allow performance of an operation associated with the clipboard. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the generating structured clipboard data further comprising generating an encoding attribute for the at least one data item. 
     
     
         28 . A method for enabling information exchange between a first application and a second application using a clipboard, the method comprising:
 in response to a copy operation initiated by a user while using the first application: generating structured clipboard data comprising a content type attribute representing a format of a plurality of data, a uniform resource attribute containing a reference to a location of the plurality of data, and an identifier attribute for identifying data items in the plurality of data and storing the structured clipboard data in the clipboard; and   in response to a paste operation initiated by the user while using the second application, automatically processing the structured clipboard data in the clipboard, including: processing the type of the plurality of data based on the content type attribute representing the type of the plurality of data, retrieving the data items based at least on the uniform resource attribute containing the reference to the location and the identifier attribute for identifying the data items in the plurality of data, and executing the paste operation by: identifying the data items in the plurality of data and pasting the data items such that the user may access the data items with the second application.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the generating structured clipboard data further comprises generating a description attribute representing any information provided by a user or the first application. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the automatically processing the structured clipboard data in the clipboard further comprises processing the description attribute pasting any information provided by the user or the first application such that the user may access the information provided by the user or the first application with the second application. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the structured clipboard data further comprises a format type attribute for identifying a format associated with the at least one data item. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the structured clipboard data further comprises an identifier for identifying the second data value. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the reference to the location comprises a uniform resource locator. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 28  further comprising providing an application programming interface for enabling the copy operation and the paste operation. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the generating structured clipboard data further comprising generating an encoding attribute for the at least one data item. 
     
     
         36 . A method for enabling information exchange between a first application and a second application via a clipboard, the method comprising:
 in response to a copy operation initiated by a user while using the first application: generating structured clipboard data comprising a content type attribute representing a format of a plurality of data, a description attribute representing any information provided by the user or the first application, a uniform resource attribute containing a reference to a location of the plurality of data, and an identifier attribute for identifying data items in the plurality of data and storing the structured clipboard data in the clipboard; and   in response to a paste operation initiated by the user while using the second application: automatically processing the structured clipboard data in the clipboard to determine whether the second application is capable of handling text only or whether the second application is capable of handling richer data,
 if the second application is capable of handling text only, invoking a function to provide the structured clipboard data as text only and executing the paste operation by pasting the text, or 
 if the second application is capable of handling richer data, processing the type of the plurality of data based on the content type attribute representing the type of the plurality of data, retrieving the data items based at least on the uniform resource attribute containing the reference to the location and the identifier attribute for identifying the data items in the plurality of data, and executing the paste operation by: identifying the data items in the plurality of data, pasting the data items such that the user may access the data items with the second application, and by processing the description attribute pasting any information provided by the user or the first application such that the user may access the information provided by the user or the first application with the second application. 
   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the reference to the location comprises a uniform resource locator. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 36  further comprising providing an application programming interface for enabling the copy operation and the paste operation. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 36  further comprising generating an authentication attribute representing a type of authentication technique that may be used to access the data items in the plurality of data. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 39  further comprising automatically processing the authentication attribute.