Clipboard

In general, Clipboard is a temporary storage area for text and graphics that you are copying or moving from one place to another; Clipboard is a common holding area for all Windows applications. Mimosa is a true windows application, which can use this useful feature extensively and bi-directionally. Note that it is also possible to import data into Mimosa easily via Text files.

For instance, you can use your spreadsheet application in several ways with Mimosa and increase your productivity. Spreadsheet applications allow you to format your data very easily in several ways, and you can generate a test file or use the sample file(s) that come along with Mimosa.

1. In your spreadsheet program, input the following table:

2. Paint the above area and select Edit|Copy (or equivalent) to copy it onto the Clipboard.
3. Go to Mimosa and select Window|4 Components to activate Components window.

4. Select Edit|Paste from the Clipboard - 9 new components should appear.

5. Go to the spreadsheet program, input then the basic information of the following 7 courses:

6. Paint the above area and select Edit|Copy (or equivalent) to copy it onto the Clipboard.
7. Go to Mimosa and select Window|3 Courses to activate Courses window.
8. Select Edit|Paste from the Clipboard|1 Codes, names, categories and MAX - the list of 7 courses should now appear.

9. To add also the components to courses via Clipboard, go to the spreadsheet program and input the following table:

10. Paint the above area and select Edit|Copy (or equivalent) to copy it onto the Clipboard.
11. Select (in Courses window) Edit|Paste from the Clipboard|2 Replace collections to add components to the courses.

After this operation, you should have 9 components and 7 courses. Steps 9-11 are often easier to perform in Courses window, since the application checks that the components to be added to courses are valid in cases when lectures already have been assigned into timetables.

Perhaps the easiest way to see how Clipboard can help your work is to select Edit|Copy onto the Clipboard command in Mimosa and then invoke your spreadsheet application. Use the Edit|Paste from the Clipboard command and see how the data will be transmitted via the Clipboard.

Click [Ctrl+L] to view and edit the content of the Clipboard in a table format.

It is a good practice to have these both applications on your desktop simultaneously so that you can transmit data back and forth between those applications. Please note that some spreadsheet applications limit your matrix to 255 columns, and that the Clipboard capacity of Mimosa is 64 kilobytes.

If you want to overcome the 64 kilobytes size limit, you can either copy only a subset of the data onto the Clipboard or store the Clipboard content to a text file, by selecting the appropriate text file type in Options|Default Clipboard Target.

With the help of the Clipboard you can:

Note also that using the Clipboard

See example about data import with Clipboard here.

The Clipboard format supports a TAB-limited text or table type content, compatible with all all windows applications. This means that each field on a single line is separated by a TAB character (ASCII=9) and each line ends with the CRLF character combination (ASCII=13 and ASCII=10). The Clipboard content ends with the NUL character (ASCII=0). This format is very suitable when working with other windows applications having a table form data entry, just like the spreadsheet applications.

Symmetric Clipboard operations:

Clipboard selections in Mimosa views

Components view:

Edit|Copy onto the Clipboard

Codes of all selected components are copied onto the Clipboard. You then have the menu selections, where you can specify the content of the Clipboard. In each selection, you always have as the first field the component code, but the other fields in that row depend on the particular menu selection. Instead of category texts or letters in Clipboard columnts, numbers 1-7 are used to avoid problems in cases when user has accidentally assigned the same character for several categories.

Edit|Paste from the Clipboard [Ctrl+V]

Component codes, names and category numbers (1-7) can be pasted from the Clipboard and added to the component list, if their codes are not found from the list. If a matching component code is found, its name and category is replaced with the Clipboard content. The lines have the same format as in its mirror selection Edit|Copy onto the Clipboard|2 Codes, names and categories [Ctrl+C].

Form-AForm-A1
Form-BForm-B1
Form-CForm-C1
BEATTYBeatty, W.2
HARRISONHarrison, R.2
SPATTSpatt, E.2
R206ROOM 2063
R307ROOM 3073
R329ROOM 3293

Courses view:

Edit|Copy onto the Clipboard

Codes of all selected courses are copied onto the Clipboard. You then have menu selections, where you can specify the content of the Clipboard. In each selection, you always have as the first field the course code, but the other fields in that row depend on the particular menu selection. Many selections hava analogous formats with the respective selections in Components view.

Edit|Paste from the Clipboard

Course codes, names, category numbers (1-7), the maximum number of lectures and, optionally, course collections can be pasted from the Clipboard and added to the list of courses. If a matching course code is found, the name and category is replaced. If collections are also pasted, all those components which have not already been created and not found in the component list are automatically omitted. Collections can be pasted in various modes (Replace, Add, Remove).

Weeks view:

Edit|Copy onto the Clipboard - The list of course codes with their weekly allocation lectures is copied onto the Clipboard starting from the active course. Lectures are always represented without multiplying them by the corresponding weekly weights. Bookings in weeks are ignored.

ACQ747000001601616
ADU171222022022
ADV225000005044
ADV383000006066
ADV476666060000
ADV733000004044
ADV95654044044
ADV964333033033
ANA392000004044
ANA623000004044

Edit|Paste from the Clipboard - The weekly allocation table is pasted from the Clipboard in the same format as it is copied above. Only those lines, which have matching course codes with the currently existing course code list, are considered and updated, otherwise they are omitted. Pasting of allocation table does not affect those cells, which are booked.

ACQ747000001601616
ADU171222022022
ADV225000005044
ADV383000006066
ADV476666060000
ADV733000004044
ADV95654044044
ADV964333033033
ANA392000004044
ANA623000004044

Note that the formats of the two selections above are identical.

Timetables view:

Edit|Copy onto the Clipboard

Collections window:

When you are in Components or Components view, you can easily manage the course-component relationships with the help of Clipboard, for example if you like to copy the same set of components from one course to another. Clipboard commands are attached to Copy, Cut and Paste buttons and they are associated with the selected codes in the box on the left.