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4/8/2010

This structure is a generalized clipboard format, enhanced to encompass a target device, the aspect, or view of the data, and a storage medium.

Syntax

typedef struct FARSTRUCT tagFORMATETC {
  unsigned long 
cfFormat;
  DVTARGETDEVICE* 
ptd;
  unsigned long 
dwAspect;
  long 
lindex;
  unsigned long 
tymed;
} FORMATETC, *LPFORMATETC;

Members

cfFormat

Particular clipboard format of interest.

There are three types of formats recognized by OLE:

  • Standard interchange formats, such as CF_TEXT

  • Private application formats understood only by the application offering the format, or by other applications offering similar features

  • OLE formats, which are used to create linked or embedded objects

ptd

Pointer to a DVTARGETDEVICEstructure containing information about the target device for which the data is being composed.

A NULL value is used whenever the specified data format is independent of the target device or when the caller does not care what device is used. In the latter case, if the data requires a target device, the object should pick an appropriate default device (often the display for visual components).

Data obtained from an object with a NULL target device, such as most metafiles, is independent of the target device. The resulting data is usually the same as it would be if the user chose the Save As command from the File menu and selected an interchange format.

dwAspect

Specifies an DVASPECTenumeration constant that indicates how much detail should be contained in the rendering.

A single clipboard format can support multiple aspects or views of the object.

Most data and presentation transfer and caching methods pass aspect information. For example, a caller might request an object's iconic picture, using the metafile clipboard format to retrieve it.

Only one DVASPECTvalue can be used in dwAspect. That is, dwAspectcannot be the result of a BOOLEAN OR operation on several DVASPECTvalues.

lindex

Part of the aspect when the data must be split across page boundaries. The most common value is –1, which identifies all of the data.

For the aspects DVASPECT_THUMBNAIL and DVASPECT_ICON, lindexis ignored.

tymed

One of the TYMEDenumeration constants that indicate the type of storage medium used to transfer the object's data.

Data can be transferred using whatever medium makes sense for the object. For example, data can be passed using global memory, a disk file, or structured storage objects. For more information, see the TYMEDenumeration.

Remarks

The FORMATETCstructure is used by methods in the data transfer and presentation interfaces as a parameter specifying the data being transferred.

The CF_ENHMETAFILE or CF_METAFILEPICT values in the cfFormatmember are not supported.

Requirements

Header objidl.h
Windows Embedded CE Windows CE 2.0 and later
Windows Mobile Windows Mobile Version 5.0 and later

See Also

Reference

DVASPECT
TYMED