"Unable to get property 'getData' of undefined or null reference" in IE but not Chrome

Question

Thanks to the help of another member I have successfully implemented a JS method that has the ability to paste excel data and split it into an HTML textbox table form (see thread).

The issue that I am now faced with is that this is only functional in Chrome, while IE10 and IE11 both flag the following error:

"Unable to get property 'getData' of undefined or null reference."

This error is thrown in the 2nd line of the function (below):

function (event) {
    var input_id = $(this).attr("id");
    var value = event.originalEvent.clipboardData.getData('text/plain'); //ERROR in IE
    /* ... */
    event.preventDefault(); // prevent the original paste
}

Wondering if anyone can see the issue at hand with why Chrome is satisfied while IE is not.

This question actually solved my issue: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6035071/intercept-paste-event-in-javascript Thank you for the help! — pj2452, Jan 03 '15 at 20:27

score 12 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

12

Answer found here: Intercept paste event in Javascript

This worked for me.

if (window.clipboardData && window.clipboardData.getData) { // IE
    pastedText = window.clipboardData.getData('Text');
}
else if (event.originalEvent.clipboardData && event.originalEvent.clipboardData.getData) { // other browsers
    pastedText = event.originalEvent.clipboardData.getData('text/plain');
}

edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

Community

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answered Jan 04 '15 at 20:21

pj2452

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This actually is the correct answer for this question, thanks pj2452, it looks like the clipboardData from the event handler comes as null for internet explorer. – Leo Mar 06 '18 at 10:38

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 02 '15 at 06:31

2

In IE, it should be:

var value = event.originalEvent.clipboardData.getData("Text");

edited Jan 02 '15 at 06:31

alecxe

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answered Jan 02 '15 at 06:29

securecodeninja

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Thank you. Will this work in Chrome? Wondering how I can have it function for both browsers. – pj2452 Jan 02 '15 at 06:36
You can try adding a browser check validation if not – securecodeninja Jan 02 '15 at 06:39
Sorry, but how would I do that? – pj2452 Jan 02 '15 at 06:49
You can refer to http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4411551/if-browser-is-internet-explorer-run-an-alternative-script-instead – securecodeninja Jan 02 '15 at 06:51
So as it turns out, I modified 'text/plain' to 'Text' and I am still getting the same error in IE... – pj2452 Jan 02 '15 at 15:13
Although this method works for chrome, it doesn't work for internet explorer which is the main question here. – Leo Mar 06 '18 at 10:25
This is incorrect, this will fail in internet explorer and work in chrome only. See the accepted answer. – Rob May 30 '19 at 13:03

"Unable to get property 'getData' of undefined or null reference" in IE but not Chrome

2 Answers2