[excel] Excel VBA code to copy a specific string to clipboard

I'm trying to add a button to a spreadsheet that when clicked will copy a specific URL to my clipboard.

I had a bit of knowledge of Excel VBA but it's been a while and I'm struggling.

The simplest (Non Win32) way is to add a UserForm to your VBA project (if you don't already have one) or alternatively add a reference to Microsoft Forms 2 Object Library, then from a sheet/module you can simply:

With New MSForms.DataObject
    .SetText "http://zombo.com"
    .PutInClipboard
End With

If the place you're gonna paste have no problem with pasting a table formating (like the browser URL bar), I think the easiest way is this:

Sheets(1).Range("A1000").Value = string
Sheets(1).Range("A1000").Copy
MsgBox "Paste before closing this dialog."
Sheets(1).Range("A1000").Value = ""

This macro uses late binding to copy text to the clipboard without requiring you to set references. You should be able to just paste and go:

Sub CopyText(Text As String)
    'VBA Macro using late binding to copy text to clipboard.
    'By Justin Kay, 8/15/2014
    Dim MSForms_DataObject As Object
    Set MSForms_DataObject = CreateObject("new:{1C3B4210-F441-11CE-B9EA-00AA006B1A69}")
    MSForms_DataObject.SetText Text
    MSForms_DataObject.PutInClipboard
    Set MSForms_DataObject = Nothing
End Sub

Usage:

Sub CopySelection()
    CopyText Selection.Text
End Sub

If you want to put a variable's value in the clipboard using the Immediate window, you can use this single line to easily put a breakpoint in your code:

Set MSForms_DataObject = CreateObject("new:{1C3B4210-F441-11CE-B9EA-00AA006B1A69}"): MSForms_DataObject.SetText VARIABLENAME: MSForms_DataObject.PutInClipboard: Set MSForms_DataObject = Nothing

To write text to (or read text from) the Windows clipboard use this VBA function:

Function Clipboard$(Optional s$)
    Dim v: v = s  'Cast to variant for 64-bit VBA support
    With CreateObject("htmlfile")
    With .parentWindow.clipboardData
        Select Case True
            Case Len(s): .setData "text", v
            Case Else:   Clipboard = .getData("text")
        End Select
    End With
    End With
End Function

'Three examples of copying text to the clipboard:
Clipboard "Excel Hero was here."
Clipboard var1 & vbLF & var2
Clipboard 123

'To read text from the clipboard:
MsgBox Clipboard

This is a solution that does NOT use MS Forms nor the Win32 API. Instead it uses the Microsoft HTML Object Library which is fast and ubiquitous and NOT deprecated by Microsoft like MS Forms. And this solution respects line feeds. This solution also works from 64-bit Office. Finally, this solution allows both writing to and reading from the Windows clipboard. No other solution on this page has these benefits.

Add a reference to the Microsoft Forms 2.0 Object Library and try this code. It only works with text, not with other data types.

Dim DataObj As New MSForms.DataObject

'Put a string in the clipboard
DataObj.SetText "Hello!"
DataObj.PutInClipboard

'Get a string from the clipboard
DataObj.GetFromClipboard
Debug.Print DataObj.GetText

Here you can find more details about how to use the clipboard with VBA.

If the url is in a cell in your workbook, you can simply copy the value from that cell:

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
    Sheets("Sheet1").Range("A1").Copy
End Sub

(Add a button by using the developer tab. Customize the ribbon if it isn't visible.)

If the url isn't in the workbook, you can use the Windows API. The code that follows can be found here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/210216

After you've added the API calls below, change the code behind the button to copy to the clipboard:

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
    ClipBoard_SetData ("http:\\stackoverflow.com")
End Sub

Add a new module to your workbook and paste in the following code:

Option Explicit

Declare Function GlobalUnlock Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hMem As Long) _
   As Long
Declare Function GlobalLock Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hMem As Long) _
   As Long
Declare Function GlobalAlloc Lib "kernel32" (ByVal wFlags As Long, _
   ByVal dwBytes As Long) As Long
Declare Function CloseClipboard Lib "User32" () As Long
Declare Function OpenClipboard Lib "User32" (ByVal hwnd As Long) _
   As Long
Declare Function EmptyClipboard Lib "User32" () As Long
Declare Function lstrcpy Lib "kernel32" (ByVal lpString1 As Any, _
   ByVal lpString2 As Any) As Long
Declare Function SetClipboardData Lib "User32" (ByVal wFormat _
   As Long, ByVal hMem As Long) As Long

Public Const GHND = &H42
Public Const CF_TEXT = 1
Public Const MAXSIZE = 4096

Function ClipBoard_SetData(MyString As String)
   Dim hGlobalMemory As Long, lpGlobalMemory As Long
   Dim hClipMemory As Long, X As Long

   ' Allocate moveable global memory.
   '-------------------------------------------
   hGlobalMemory = GlobalAlloc(GHND, Len(MyString) + 1)

   ' Lock the block to get a far pointer
   ' to this memory.
   lpGlobalMemory = GlobalLock(hGlobalMemory)

   ' Copy the string to this global memory.
   lpGlobalMemory = lstrcpy(lpGlobalMemory, MyString)

   ' Unlock the memory.
   If GlobalUnlock(hGlobalMemory) <> 0 Then
      MsgBox "Could not unlock memory location. Copy aborted."
      GoTo OutOfHere2
   End If

   ' Open the Clipboard to copy data to.
   If OpenClipboard(0&) = 0 Then
      MsgBox "Could not open the Clipboard. Copy aborted."
      Exit Function
   End If

   ' Clear the Clipboard.
   X = EmptyClipboard()

   ' Copy the data to the Clipboard.
   hClipMemory = SetClipboardData(CF_TEXT, hGlobalMemory)

OutOfHere2:

   If CloseClipboard() = 0 Then
      MsgBox "Could not close Clipboard."
   End If

End Function