Copying XY to clipboard using Python Add-In (ArcMap)

Question

I am trying to create a simple tool to copy XY from where i click the mouse button. What i have done already is:

1. create add-in files using Python Add-In Wizard
2. create toolbar and tool inside it

in *.py file i got:

import arcpy
import pythonaddins
import win32clipboard as clipboard
class p_tool(object):
def __init__(self):
 self.enabled = True
 self.shape = "NONE" 
def onMouseDownMap(self, x, y, button, shift):
 button = 1
 shift = 2
 clipboard.OpenClipboard()
 clipboard.EmptyClipboard()
 xy = str(x)+' '+str(y)
 clipboard.SetClipboardData(xy, clipboard.CF_TEXT)
 clipboard.closeClipboard()
 message = xy
 pythonaddins.MessageBox(message, "My Coordinates", 0) 

About win32clipboard - i tested in in python windon in ArcMap and I am able to import it and openclipboard() but emptyclipboard() does not work and gives me that error:

File "", line 1, in error: (1418, 'EmptyClipboard', 'Thread does not have a clipboard open.')

Answer 1

The following code uses the approach of calling a subprocess and piping the text to the clipboard.

A couple of things to note:

1. I use the onMouseUpMap event, this returns the XY coordinates in map units.
2. I placed a comma between the numbers so there is no space between them.
3. Wrapped the code up in a try-except to capture any failures.

import arcpy
import pythonaddins
import subprocess
class p_tool(object):
 """Implementation for pythonaddintest_addin.tool (Tool)"""
 def __init__(self):
 self.enabled = True
 self.shape = "NONE"
def onMouseUpMap(self, x, y, button, shift):
 try:
 xy = str(x)+','+str(y)
 command = "echo " + xy + " | clip"
 i=subprocess.check_call(command, shell=True)
 message = xy
 pythonaddins.MessageBox(message, 'My Coordinates', 0)
 except Exception as e:
 pythonaddins.MessageBox(str(e),"Error",0)