JavaScript modifying cut and paste can sometimes be a good thing in browsers | Hacker News Reader

JavaScript modifying cut and paste can sometimes be a good thing in browsers

utcc.utoronto.ca

27 pointsingve40 comments

Another nuisance which really gets on my nerves is when sites specifically prevent me from pasting, typically fields where you need to put a bank account or routing number. Copy and pasting that info is WAY more accurate and error-proof than glancing at one screen and re-typing it in another. I then temporarily disable Javascript in the developer menu and re-enabled it afterwards, but that still sometimes causes issues down the line, as now the site "thinks" there isn't a value in the field because they didn't notice any typing events, etc..

While I don’t agree with the implementation, I think this is usually done on forms that ask you to confirm the value a second time. The goal is not to prevent you from pasting from an accurate source; instead they are trying to prevent users from copying an incorrectly manually typed value from one field to the other. The end result just also blocks our use case…

sometimes websites forget to disable selection dragging, so you can paste in the first field and drag to the second field.

It's easier to ctrl-shift-c to pick the element in the inspector, then paste into the value="" HTML in the developer tools.

Also useful on treasurydirect.gov which has a ridiculous password entry field. They make an on-screen "keyboard" with a bunch of JS buttons, you have to click those buttons to enter your password. You can't type into the password field or paste into it.

>It's easier to ctrl-shift-c to pick the element in the inspector, then paste into the value="" HTML in the developer tools.

I use "Happy Right-Click" firefox addon for this. Just click the addon icon located on the address bar and voila.

When I saw that treasury login form with the onscreen keyboard you had to click, I was absolutely flabbergasted. Thankfully they've now done away with it.

usually it isn't necessary to disable all JS, but right-click and inspect will show the text input has an attribute like `onPaste="() => return false"` which can just be changed to true instead. or just remove the attribute. I'm on my phone so the syntax may be slightly wrong but that's the gist.

In France a lot of bank websites have this on screen keyboard.

I assumed it's against keyloggers.

Install Don't Fuck with Paste. Thankfully I don't have to use it that often anymore so it stays hidden in the overflow section most of the time, but it's so useful when I need it.

Its not implemented in javascript.

    <a href="URL">
      <span class="invisible">https://</span>
      <span class="ellipsis">example.com/</span>
      <span class="invisible">the/rest/of/the/url</span>
    </a>

With semi-obvious CSS rules

Allowing JavaScript to modify the clipboard contents is cancerous behavior and the developers that enabled this functionality should have their heads examined.

Not once have I seen this function used in a non-abusive manner. More often then not it's either used to inject advertisements or copyright notices in the content copied to the clipboard.

When you issue a copy command, what should appear on the clipboard is EXACTLY what is selected. I wish browser makers would stop adding useless new features and get down to brass tacks. It's 2023 and sites can still detect incognito mode which defeats the purpose.

In pixlr we copy and paste bitmap data and layers etc .. a feature that most users love .. and are pissed by the browsers that don't enable it. The problem is more about how the rights to access features is managed in browsers, it needs a total rewrite.

Why such hyperbole? Cancerous? Heads examined? That's ridiculous. Wikipedia allows you to copy math expressions as MathML rather than a rendered SVG. Is that "cancerous behavior"?!

I'm sure grenade launchers are great for hunting deer and other game but there's a reason they don't allow just anyone to buy one, despite there being an occasional positive use case.

I don't really understand what response is here.

Like still, how is cancer a relevant metaphor? What's the cancerous cell that is avoiding typical cell death and reproducing unexpectedly? How is it taking resources from the group of cells that would usually use them?

Grenade launchers would actually be a very poor tool for hunting deer.

Most deer hunters are looking to either take home a trophy or meat (or both). The use of a grenade to kill the deer would lead to the destruction of both meat and trophy.

While some hunters are hunting for sport and may enjoy the challenge over the trophy or the meat, these tend select an underpowered weapon (such as a bow and arrow) rather than an overpowered weapon (such as a grenade).

You've never seen the little "copy" button next to important information on websites? That is a non-abusive implementation.

Thank you! I had to scroll too far down to see this. There are many useful implementations. Copying code, copying a long number, etc.

Just make it clear what is going to happen when you click that button/icon.

I was thinking about this the other day in relation to how iOS shows you this obtrusive confirmation dialogue if you’re pasting in or out of certain apps like firefox. At first I was wondering if it was another one of their not so subtle anti-competitive moves, and then I read that the initial need for this was apps swiping information from user’s clipboard and other types of abuses like that.

It baffles me why that was ever made accessible to apps or programs.

> When you issue a copy command, what should appear on the clipboard is EXACTLY what is selected.

I disagree. There are plenty of situations where you would want to copy something that isn't the direct object you're selecting.

Some simple examples:

1. Copying an object that uses a non-human readable format for an underlying data structure. If I'm pasting this into another application, I likely don't want to paste the bytecode or a JSON representation, but rather a text-readable representation or an image representation of that object.

2. Copying latex syntax when selecting mathematical equations rather than copying a SVG.

3. Copying or omitting rich text decorators (i.e. markdown decorators)

4. Copying an email address rather than a human-readable name if selecting a user-pill in an email "to" field.

The API isn't the issue. There are a ton of situations where using it improves the user experience. It's growth-marketing tactics that are the issue.

This particular case doesn't use JavaScript at all. It is just CSS cropping the full URL in a way that when you select and copy it, copies text that it is hidden.

edit to add an example:

    data:text/html,<div>123<b style="font-size:0">456</b>789</div>

The author's use case can be handled with CSS instead of JavaScript:

overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap; text-overflow: ellipsis;

That's exactly how it is handled, I don't know where they got the idea that it's done by JS.

"Can sometimes be good" is not enough to override the numberless sites who abuse it to send me a scathing message about how I'm not supposed to copy paste their copyrighted content as if I cared.

The truncated part exists in the markup, it's simply being hidden with the help of some CSS.

This same method is also used to trick people into executing nefarious shell commands of which an example can be seen here https://thejh.net/misc/website-terminal-copy-paste

Mastodon does this because they made a 500 character limit, but then you'd blow your whole budget on one link, so they made links not count, but then you need to shorten it somehow so it looks pretty because they don't support markdown or other means of posting links.

Okay fine, that's a good use, but I still wish it wasn't even possible.

I'm really annoyed by some of these new webapp running in the browser and highjacking the clipboard do that the X11 selection clipboard (select & middle click) no longer work as expected on these.

I guess mosquitoes provide food for the birds...

At work, I frequently modify specific URLs in a specific way. I sincerely wish that the process could be automated.

This is a textbook use case for a Vim macro.

We don't use Vim at work.

Well it could make your life way easier, I'd recommend trying it

Like I said, we don't use Vim at work.

If you did, it could help you with this exact problem.

It's installed by default on many operating systems (and easy to get hold of, otherwise)

It's installed by default on OSX, Ubuntu, and most non-windows operating systems.

Sounds like the sort of thing a userscript could probably handle

Would they let you install a userscript? Wouldn't be difficult to make one that adds a link on the page pointing to the modified URL.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Userscript

No; we generally have limited access to Chrome extensions. Only those which are approved by the company are permitted. Arbitrary userscripts wouldn't be possible in that framework.

Middle click paste to the rescue. Just have to combat sites that prevent text selection.

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