How can I let user paste image data from the clipboard into a canvas element in Firefox in pure Javascript?
Version 2.0: Smaller, cleaner code works on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera. No more hacks. But if you need support IE and Safari, check v1 version.
http://jsfiddle.net/viliusl/xq2aLj4b/5/
Version 1.0 Chrome implementation is simple. Firefox (and IE) has restrictions that user must give command to do paste like keyboard event and editable input must be focused, so we do tricks here - on ctrl down we focusthat input field, on release unfocus.
Browser support (image data):
- Firefox
- Chrome
- Edge
- IE-11
- Opera
var CLIPBOARD = new CLIPBOARD_CLASS("my_canvas", true);
/**
* image pasting into canvas
*
* @param {string} canvas_id - canvas id
* @param {boolean} autoresize - if canvas will be resized
*/
function CLIPBOARD_CLASS(canvas_id, autoresize) {
var _self = this;
var canvas = document.getElementById(canvas_id);
var ctx = document.getElementById(canvas_id).getContext("2d");
var ctrl_pressed = false;
var command_pressed = false;
var paste_event_support;
var pasteCatcher;
//handlers
document.addEventListener('keydown', function (e) {
_self.on_keyboard_action(e);
}, false); //firefox fix
document.addEventListener('keyup', function (e) {
_self.on_keyboardup_action(e);
}, false); //firefox fix
document.addEventListener('paste', function (e) {
_self.paste_auto(e);
}, false); //official paste handler
//constructor - we ignore security checks here
this.init = function () {
pasteCatcher = document.createElement("div");
pasteCatcher.setAttribute("id", "paste_ff");
pasteCatcher.setAttribute("contenteditable", "");
pasteCatcher.style.cssText = 'opacity:0;position:fixed;top:0px;left:0px;width:10px;margin-left:-20px;';
document.body.appendChild(pasteCatcher);
// create an observer instance
var observer = new MutationObserver(function(mutations) {
mutations.forEach(function(mutation) {
if (paste_event_support === true || ctrl_pressed == false || mutation.type != 'childList'){
//we already got data in paste_auto()
return true;
}
//if paste handle failed - capture pasted object manually
if(mutation.addedNodes.length == 1) {
if (mutation.addedNodes[0].src != undefined) {
//image
_self.paste_createImage(mutation.addedNodes[0].src);
}
//register cleanup after some time.
setTimeout(function () {
pasteCatcher.innerHTML = '';
}, 20);
}
});
});
var target = document.getElementById('paste_ff');
var config = { attributes: true, childList: true, characterData: true };
observer.observe(target, config);
}();
//default paste action
this.paste_auto = function (e) {
paste_event_support = false;
if(pasteCatcher != undefined){
pasteCatcher.innerHTML = '';
}
if (e.clipboardData) {
var items = e.clipboardData.items;
if (items) {
paste_event_support = true;
//access data directly
for (var i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
if (items[i].type.indexOf("image") !== -1) {
//image
var blob = items[i].getAsFile();
var URLObj = window.URL || window.webkitURL;
var source = URLObj.createObjectURL(blob);
this.paste_createImage(source);
}
}
e.preventDefault();
}
else {
//wait for DOMSubtreeModified event
//https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=891247
}
}
};
//on keyboard press
this.on_keyboard_action = function (event) {
k = event.keyCode;
//ctrl
if (k == 17 || event.metaKey || event.ctrlKey) {
if (ctrl_pressed == false)
ctrl_pressed = true;
}
//v
if (k == 86) {
if (document.activeElement != undefined && document.activeElement.type == 'text') {
//let user paste into some input
return false;
}
if (ctrl_pressed == true && pasteCatcher != undefined){
pasteCatcher.focus();
}
}
};
//on kaybord release
this.on_keyboardup_action = function (event) {
//ctrl
if (event.ctrlKey == false && ctrl_pressed == true) {
ctrl_pressed = false;
}
//command
else if(event.metaKey == false && command_pressed == true){
command_pressed = false;
ctrl_pressed = false;
}
};
//draw pasted image to canvas
this.paste_createImage = function (source) {
var pastedImage = new Image();
pastedImage.onload = function () {
if(autoresize == true){
//resize
canvas.width = pastedImage.width;
canvas.height = pastedImage.height;
}
else{
//clear canvas
ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
}
ctx.drawImage(pastedImage, 0, 0);
};
pastedImage.src = source;
};
}
1. Copy image data into clipboard or press Print Screen <br>
2. Press Ctrl+V (page/iframe must be focused):
<br /><br />
<canvas style="border:1px solid grey;" id="my_canvas" width="300" height="300"></canvas>
ViliusL's answer is great, but for those looking for a simple cross-browser way to capture a pasted image:
window.addEventListener("paste", async function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
e.stopPropagation();
let file = e.clipboardData.items[0].getAsFile();
let objectUrl = URL.createObjectURL(file);
// do something with url here
});
You'll probably want to do some error checking (like in ViliusL's answer), in case they paste something that's not an image. According to MDN, clipboardData works in all modern browsers. I've tested on Chrome and Firefox, and they work fine.