vb.net how to handle text dragged onto a button to open a new form with the dragged text directly copied to the richtextbox on the new form?

Question

hi,

I want to achieve the following:

The user drags text from any open window not related to my application ( like firefox or word, for example) onto button1 on form1 in my application. when he/she does that, a new form (called form2 that contains a richtextbox) will open and the dragged text is directly copied (or inserted) into the richtextbox of the new form. button1 has allowdrop set to true. Beyond that I don't know how to proceed.

I tried:

e.effects = DragDropEffects.Copy

But it seems it is not enough. Could you help please?

Thanks

Answer 1

I figured it out. I'm sharing so others might benefit.

First, I declared a global variable in one of the modules:

Public draggedText As String = ""

Second, I handled the dragdrop event on the button as follows:

Private Sub button1_DragDrop(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.DragEventArgs) Handles button1.DragDrop
    draggedText = e.Data.GetData(DataFormats.Text)
    frm_form2.Show()
End Sub

Third, in the load event of frm_form2 I added the following:

If draggedText <> "" Then
        richTextBox1.Text = draggedText
        draggedText = ""
End If

That's it. Not as complicated as I thought. Also, you can add the code for the dragEnter event mentioned in the previous answer to change how the cursor looks.

I hope this helps.