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5.20. Problems with Large Selections

If you experiment making large selections with xclipboard, you may discover what seems to be a bug in the program. Though making a new selection usually causes the screen to advance and display the new text, this does not happen reliably after a selection that vertically spans more than one screenful. In these cases, the new selection is saved in the xclipboard (and the number in the small box is incremented to indicate this); however, the xclipboard window does not automatically advance to show you the new current selection. Instead, the previous long selection is still displayed. (For example, though the box says "5," indicating that a fifth selection has been saved, the window is still displaying selection #4.) This is a bit of xclipboard sleight of hand: the new selection has been successfully made, but the appearance of the window belies this fact. The Next button will probably add to your confusion; it will not be available for selection, suggesting that the text in the window is the last selection saved. This is not the case.

To get around this problem and display the actual current selection, press the Previous button. The same long selection (which is, in actuality, the Previous selection) will be displayed again. (The small box will flip back to display the preceding number as well.) Then the Next button will be enabled, and you can click on it to display the actual current selection. The selection displayed in the window and the number in the small box will correspond.[23]

[23]By this time, the observant reader will have concluded that xclipboard is a nuisance at best.

--VQ and SJC



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