copy text in option tag of a form using javascript?

Question

<select name="products">
    <option value=""> - Choose - </option>
    <option value="01">table</option>
    <option value="02">chair</option>
    <option value="03">book</option>
    <option value="04">car</option>
</select>

I want to be able to copy text automatically on selecting a particular option...
Eg. If I select book, book should automatically be copied, so I can paste(Ctrl+v) it somewhere else..Thanks

Answer 1

If by "copy" you mean extract the value, you should give each option an ID attribute. Then, access it by using code like this:

bookText = document.getElementById("book").innerHTML;

Answer 2

Copying to the clipboard is a tricky task to do in Javascript in terms of browser compatibility. The best way to do it is using a small flash. It will work on every browser. You can check it in this article.

Still, just for giving you a hint, here's how to do it for Internet Explorer (just because it is the easiest one to do):

function copy (str)
{
    //for Internet explorer ONLY!
    window.clipboardData.setData('Text',str);
}

Now your select calls the javascript function onchange event. This event is triggered whenever a new value is selected:

<select name="products" onchange="copy(this.options[this.selectedIndex].innerHTML)">
    <option value=""> - Choose - </option>
    <option value="01">table</option>
    <option value="02">chair</option>
    <option value="03">book</option>
    <option value="04">car</option>
</select>

Answer 3

In Internet Explorer, you can copy text to the clipboard using code similar to the following:

<script type="text/javascript">
 function sendToClipboard(s)
 {
   if( window.clipboardData && clipboardData.setData )
   {
         clipboardData.setData("Text", s);
   }
   else
   {
     alert("Internet Explorer required");
   }
 }

 window.onload = function()
 {
   document.getElementById("products").onchange = function()
   {
     sendToClipboard(this.options[this.selectedIndex].innerHTML);
   };
 };
</script>

FireFox makes it sufficiently more difficult (not a bad thing) to enable clipboard access. See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Granting%5FJavaScript%5Faccess%5Fto%5Fthe%5Fclipboard and https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/852?application=firefox&id=852, which is an addon that allows you to configure sites for clipboard functionality.

I'm not aware of what code to use to make the work, however.