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First post, by techy

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I've been using an old DOS app for a long time, and have been able to run it fine under Windows 7 32-bit without DOSBox. But, I'm moviing to Windows 10 64-bit. I've downlaoded the newest DOSBox (as of 3-20-2019), but I am unable to Paste text to my app in DOSBox.... Generally I highlight and copy text to the Windows clipboard then Paste it to my app and its been working. However with Windows 10 64-bit the old app won't run, so I installed DOSBox. I am able to run the app in DOSBox under Windows 10 64 no problem, but don't know how to paste text I've Copied from say a web page or word document to my app running in DOSBox.

Thank you! 😀

Reply 2 of 7, by junglemontana

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Copy/paste to and from a virtual system is probably not a trivial task to implement anyway... In order to do that, the host system must understand concepts like text fields or file managers inside the guest. In virtualization software like VirtualBox or VMWare, this is achieved with a special interface between the host and the guest system, and the guest system must support this interface too. Typically, special add-ons are installed to the guest system. I'm pretty sure that such add-ons are not available for DOS.

Now I don't know how hard it would be to implement text copy/paste into DOSBox. Perhaps easier than in a more general case, but it's probably not on the top of the developers' todo-list.

Just my 2cents...

Reply 3 of 7, by JosSchaars

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DOS has no copy/paste functionality. Copying text is quite simple: Provide for a method to select a rectangle, then copy the text in it to the clipboard. Pasting: Push the text into the BIOS keyboard buffer.
Don’t think copy/paste is of real interest for DOSBox/gaming.
vDos implements both. Copy: Left mouse click (or Ctrl+Win+click if the DOS program uses the mouse itself), drag, release. Paste: Ctrl+V (if desired) or right mouse click (Ctrl+Win…).
ASCII/Unicode conversion is transparent, text length only restricted to what the DOS program will accept, or can be selected on screen (though WP support is more versatile).

Reply 4 of 7, by Jo22

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Sorry for intruding this thread, but didn't a few APIs or buffers for Cut&Paste exist in the past ?
I vaguely remember that Windows/386, DESQView and MS-DOS Shell/Editor/etc. had such a feature.
Not sure if my memory plays tricks on me, though. 😅

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 5 of 7, by JosSchaars

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That would only enable copy/paste between programs running alongside in the same virtual machine.
How is Windows on itself supposed to communicate with API’s or buffers of some program running in such machine.

Reply 6 of 7, by Jo22

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I'm not sure if I understand correctly what you wanted to say. 😊
I solely meant that some of the DOS programs probably supported APIs on their own, rather than DOS itself.
I'm speaking under correction now, but I believe that GEM or Windows 3.0 once supported/emulated APIs from previous software packages,
like Desqview, so (Desqview-aware) programs could make use of certain features here that normal DOS programs couldn't.
That being said, I haven't used any DOS-based productivity software for ages. I remember that Softwindows for Mac had got a special clipboard driver included, for example, though.

Edit: Small edit.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 7 of 7, by JosSchaars

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Some DOS programs (GEM, Windows 3, Desqview, WP Shell…) could exchange data with other programs. But they at least have to run in the same operating system. They (like mentioned DOS app) instead run in DOSBox, not directly in Windows 10. And DOSBox doesn’t provide for a copy/paste ‘bridge’ to Windows.