Can I cut and paste structured data in Browsers via Javascript?

Question

My users work with a dozen web applications. Over some I have complete control over others only limited via templates and Javascript (e.g. Zendesk).

Between these Applications I want my users to be able to copy and paste structured data. With structured date I mean for example an address encoded as vcard/hcard. So when somebody "copies" an address out of the "order processing application" and pastes it in the "new return shipment" application the return shipment application should be somehow able to receive the data not as a single large string but as "Name, Street, ZIP, City" in a datatructure.

I understand that Rich Text Editors can receive not only plaintext but also fully marked up text. Can this (order something else) be used to capture and/or recreate the structure of the copied data?

Answer 1

You can serialize your data using JSON in one page, and deserialize it in the other.

{
    "Name" : "John Smith",
    "City" : "New York",
    "ZIP"  : "10281"
}

I suppose you could have button(s) called "Import" and "Export Data" and a field where you can copy and paste the JSON strings. This could be used in conjunction with clipboard manipulation (like bit.ly does) to make the process more user friendly.