Copy and Paste Implementation, Exchange Support for iPhone?

[clayj]

I don't really care so much about copy/paste, but Exchange/ActiveSync support is a must. I don't mind using IMAP to send and receive mail, and it works just fine; but having to dock my iPhone to update my calendar and contacts is annoying as hell, and the Entourage-iCal/Address Book-iPhone process often results in me having duplicate contacts or appointments. So I'd really appreciate the iPhone supporting ActiveSync so I can turn off IMAP and stop docking my phone all the time.

 

[Bosunsfate]

Well, it actually may have been more on the rumor side of the ledger, but seems I heard something more concrete than this...

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/01/17/rumor_iphone_for_corporate_accounts_coming_soon.html

In any event, yeah, you're probably SOL if you signed up for a personal account.
I decided to just get the touch and wait for V2 to link my corporate number.
I'll have to buy the hardware myself in any event.

Yup, totally SOL....and given that the 21st has come and gone, I'd say this is still a rumor.

Sure copying and pasting between sandboxed apps would be possible. They all communicate with the main operating system. It would be a locked out, only user initiated copy command to an allocated memory area, which could be sandboxed from the main system as well and only allowed access by the signed (apple approved) programs.

Think about it...right now google maps hands off info to safari, your contacts, etc. Safari hands off data to the email apps when you click an email address, and even hands off phone numbers to the phone "app". SMS texts with addresses hand off the URL to safari. The clock app tells the iPod app when to go to sleep. Safari opens youtube videos in the special app. The photo app hands off images to email. I could keep going on, but I think you get the point. Its been a few years since I took a programming class, but if all these apps can pass around all this data then I'm sure its possible.

Also...what about copying and pasting images on the web into, say, email? Everyone keeps talking about text!

Good points, though I wonder if the SDK will have those API exposed.

Copying images, that brings up a whole different set of issues from trying to capture text..

You need copy/cut paste exactly like you do on your computer. Copying web page snippets to a notepad, filenames, rearranging text in emails, notes, etc etc etc
do you not use copy and paste all the time on your computer?

I can understand why we want to bring the desktop features, but I think we need to be skeptical of that. The environment is fundamentally different between a desktop and the iPhone. In nearly all of the cases people have raised, Copy/Paste is being used when something different would actually servr the purpose more ideally, see below.

There are time when names & phone numbers or web addresses show up in emails or web pages and are not clickable. I agree its infrequent.

I would hope that this type of limitation is not fixed with copy/paste, but rather with the software being updated to recognize that format.

Again, I'm not against copy/paste. What I don't want is something that clutters up the iPhone or makes it more complicated to use. And things like contextual menus and unnatural gestures are just that, clutter and more complicated.

Better options are to think about what is driving the need to copy and paste and find a more streamlined process.

You need to copy text from one text message to another, why? Because you can't forward a text message. Well add that feature, not copy paste.

I want to move text around in notepad, reorder lists, etc. There are better ways to do this than with copy, paste.

I want to reply to specific items in an email and eliminate what I don't want. This is a good one as really you want to select groups of text and get rid of it.

Anyway, my hope is that they move things forward, not just replicate something that could be so much better.

 

[tothelimit]

yea it does but the way its implemented blows

i'm a little confused... how is its implementation different from others?

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

I have a great solution for Copy & Paste

I thought guys might be interesting in hearing that I may have discovered the "perfect" solution to Copy & Paste for the iPhone & iPod touch.

After much deliberation on the matter I may have cracked it!

I think I have discovered the "perfect" Copy & Paste solution for Apple to implement on the iPhone.

Firstly I think the reason we haven't seen a solution to this problem yet is that Apple is unsure which method to use so that "all" users can grasp it. And they really want to get it right first time. Seeing as they are developing a new kind of user-interface here that will no doubt extend well past the realms of the iPhone, I think they are nervous they would add a feature that wasn't as good as the current mouse interface method for performing the same task. This UI is newer, so in theory it should be even easier to use. If it's not then people may ask why.

I am pretty much 100% sure my solution here is a new one. I have looked into this, I have seen the proof of concept videos and read all the forums. It came to me in a eureka moment. And like all good ideas it's brain-dead simple.

Here's my thinking: You know the magnifying loupe on the iPhone? Well to bring that up (as you know) you hold your finger down for about 1/2 a second at any point in a text box. Here's the clever part... when you find the position where you want to start your Copy & Paste at you simply freeze, you hold that position (with loupe present) for about 1.5 seconds and the "navy" text selector within the loupe changes color to "green" (or any other color) right before your eyes. A subtle yet obvious clue that something is happening (i.e. hint hint iPhone / iPod touch user, you are now in select mode).

At this point all you have done is positioned the loupe and held it still for 1.5 seconds. So far so good.

Now, while your finger remains on the screen with the loupe present (as you would do with your mouse) you drag the text selector to the end of the piece of text you want, and you leave go.. and up pops all the clipboard options you'll ever need; Copy, Cut, Paste, Delete etc. You choose an option and you're done.

And when you want to Paste some copied text or a URL or something, you bring up the loupe and position it where you like, hold it for 1.5 seconds until the text selector turns green, and instead of dragging you just leave go and choose Paste from the pop up options.

A long comment for such a simple procedure I know. But it will be easier to do than to write about. That much is certain. And given that you will have to hold the loupe still for about 1.5 seconds, you can bet your bottom dollar you won't ever enter select mode by accident.

One finger always beats two, could you even imagine if you needed to use two fingers to edit that "Home Screen"?

I win!

 

[W1LLk]

Dont over think it...

This is much easier than everyone is making it.

1. Add a button similar to the "eye" in maps that peels the page back revealing multiple features. In that list have "copy", "cut", & "paste".
2. After selecting copy the peel would fall back and you simply just zoom select with the magnifying glass and release at the beginning of your desired text and repeat at the end of the selection. Your selection could be highlighted in blue so you know what you grabbed.
3. To paste you go to your target "document/text" and hit the "eye-like" button to peel back the menu again and select paste. The option here is whether it pastes where your cursor currently rests or whether you just again use the magnifying glass to finely select an exact point of entry.
4. You could even have other options in the menu like "clear clipboard" or insert "clips" of text you have saved because you use them often...

What does everyone think? Its simple to utilize, easy to learn, the format is already being used in maps and for blind luck I already submitted the idea to apple.

-W1LLk

 

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A93 Safari/419.3)




I think once you start getting into triple tapping it gets counter intuitive. Even more so for triple tap and hold. At what point does it stop? 5 taps?




[/QUOTE]

Thank you. I agree and think Apple is trying to make it simple and intuitive.

 

[W1LLk]

Thank you. I agree and think Apple is trying to make it simple and intuitive.

This still makes it complicated when you are in a document where you don't type, like a received email... See my idea above...

 

[GQB]

***

 

[GQB]

That probably works well if you're right handed, but for lefties like me it would be very awkward as when selecting text from the far left, my middle finger isn't over the top of the iPhone. Using my thumb instead feels unnatural.

I don't think multi-touch knows or cares which specific finger one is using... its observing "touch event 1 and its movement, touch event 2 and its movement, etc.)

 

[W1LLk]

My approach would be:
1) touch-hold on text until magnifying glass appears.
2) move finger to move cursor to insertion point if necessary
3) drop 2nd figure onto screen, which triggers selection mode
4) slide both fingers right or left to select text
5) remove both fingers and the text is on the clipboard..

To paste
1) touch finger to activate input field
2) touch 2nd finger to paste.

Not sure how you tweek this for images to differentiate, say, between copying image and copying the underyling url.

what if you accidently second finger tap or your magnifying glass doesn't follow you along ever so smoothly... We all need to get away from these multiple tapping ideas. Think of explaining all this to a new user like my father... So quadruple tap if you want to do this, but don't let go! Drag your finger here and then triple tap-hold with a single tap.... C'mon.

 

[Marx55]

What the iPhone and iPod touch need is Intel the Silverthorne chip inside, and therefore a full Mac OS X 10.5.1 inside too! So, all limitations are wiped out! THE ULTIMATE FULL COMPUTER ON YOUR PALM AND POCKET!

 

[madmax_2069]

i'm a little confused... how is its implementation different from others?

you take a URL link here you want to copy the words only, you highlight them you right click on the highlight and has no place to copy the text, you can either open the url different ways or copy the url or download from. in order to copy the text you have to select edit and copy, or you can take the mouse pointer and put the point on the highlighted area without touching the link only then can you copy the text when you right click. there is no place in the drop down menu when you right click to copy text,

some times when you try to highlight text in the browser and to drag sometimes the highlight don't begin where you want it to begin. and also when you try to highlight text it sometimes highlight the whole page and not the line you want, sometimes it works like its suppose to.

so that is what i am talking about. its there but its crap

 

[GQB]

what if you accidently second finger tap or your magnifying glass doesn't follow you along ever so smoothly... We all need to get away from these multiple tapping ideas. Think of explaining all this to a new user like my father... So quadruple tap if you want to do this, but don't let go! Drag your finger here and then triple tap-hold with a single tap.... C'mon.

You're too quick for me... I deleted my post after realizing I wasn't contributing anything particularly new or useful.

Another user recommends color changes for the cursor, to which I must note that color coding cannot be the only indicator of state change. Too many color blind people (including myself) out here. Something in addition to color always has to be used... movement, size, bolding, etc.

 

[W1LLk]

What the iPhone and iPod touch need is Intel the Silverthorne chip inside, and therefore a full Mac OS X 10.5.1 inside too! So, all limitations are wiped out! THE ULTIMATE FULL COMPUTER ON YOUR PALM AND POCKET!

LOL and just like a full computer in your pants you would carry the battery in your ever so stylish fanny (hip) pack and the computers cooling fan would turn on and not only cool the chip, but your underwear as well.

 

[GQB]

After reading all of this thread, I now see why its taking Apple so long to come out with THE solution.
I also think this may be intertwined with the SDK release. Cut/Paste has to be nailed down in the SDK, or else the roll-your-own solutions will create a mess.

 

[grumpy]

Copy and paste. I don't really miss it.

Now a better way to get to my exchange server than through Outlook WebAccess. That would be nice.

And if it is between the two, Apple has to have Exchange as the priority. It is what holds it back from getting more penetration into the business market.

Though, in parallel to that is AT&T support for corporate accounts. When my company tried to add the iPhone to their existing accounts AT&T would not allow it.

If OWA could achieve the same level as the Zimbra mobile client, I'd be happy with that option. But, I'm not looking for 'push' mail to the phone, either.

http://www.zimbra.com/blog/archives/2007/07/izimbra.html

 

[W1LLk]

@ Gqb

no big deal. This cursor change is a moot point if the idea I submitted earlier is used because you initialize in the pull up menu and you would be aware you are in copy/cut/paste mode. The highlighting, regardless of being colorblind would slightly tint the selected text in "copy" and well, in "cut" the text is just removed.

If a visual aid is needed after selecting copy or cut in the menu, you could just use the blue bar idea at the top like in the spoofed "I love you" concept video. This is a neat idea compatible with mine, but to the colorblind it would appear the same as when you are in a call browsing through your phone. Only a few bits of text would differ. What do you think?

 

[vanmacguy]

My company will go iPhone in a big way once Exchange support is available. We have probably a dozen people here (including me) that carry an iPhone and a Crackberry.

We moved to Exchange2007 and turned of IMAP, before we did that, people could use iPhone but since then, nada.

Cheers.

 

[sigamy]

I'm really curious to know what situation using the iPhone would warrant using a copy or a paste?

I've been using the iPhone for over six months and have never found myself saying, damn I wish I had copy/paste.

Note that I use my iPhone a ton and I'm not saying its a bad idea. Rather, I'd just like to know what situation brings up the need.

Thanks.

Before 1.1.3 I've wanted to send someone a URL that I've surfed to on the iPhone via email on the iPhone. Now there is a new menu for that.

I've also need to send someone a piece of text from an email w/o forwarding the full email (send someone two or three phone numbers or addresses). I don't use SMS that much but many people want to cut/paste stuff from there too.

It will of course become even more of an issue if/when we get the ability to edit documents on the iPhone.

I can't belive that Apple doesn't know how to implement it. How could they have not thought of cut/paste? I just think they are holding some things back for more testing and maybe, to make another splash with a big software update at the time of the SDK.

 

[surferfromuk]

Copy/Paste - easy

1) By default - running your finger over any text highlights it in 'blue' like it does on a standard mac when you 'click sweep'. When you release it 'auto-copies' anything selected.

2)Go to the location you want to paste into and hold down until the loupe appears. Underneath the loupe will be a list with the last 5 'copy/paste' entries in it. Just slide your finger directly down into the list - select the one you want and let go.

3) Obviously holding down over a 'swept' section of text and bringing up the loupe will also bring the menu which then replaces that same selected block of text with the 'copy/paste' text.

Why is it considered so hard ?

 

[tys]

I'm really curious to know what situation using the iPhone would warrant using a copy or a paste?

I've been using the iPhone for over six months and have never found myself saying, damn I wish I had copy/paste.

Note that I use my iPhone a ton and I'm not saying its a bad idea. Rather, I'd just like to know what situation brings up the need.

Thanks.

I wish for copy/paste on almost a daily basis!
The most common for me is package tracking numbers. I do a lot of shipping and receiving. It's such a hassle! I get an email with a Fedex tracking number, I have to find a pen and paper, write the number down, then type the complex number into the Fedex site by hand in Safari. Ugh!
Also, sometimes I want to copy some text from an email into a google search. Or maybe I just calculated a number in the Calculator and want to paste the result into an email. I could go on and on!
I'm sure Apple will come up with something elegant, I just wish they'd hurry it up!

tys

 

[lazyrighteye]

This is much easier than everyone is making it.

1. Add a button similar to the "eye" in maps that peels the page back revealing multiple features. In that list have "copy", "cut", & "paste".
2. After selecting copy the peel would fall back and you simply just zoom select with the magnifying glass and release at the beginning of your desired text and repeat at the end of the selection. Your selection could be highlighted in blue so you know what you grabbed.
3. To paste you go to your target "document/text" and hit the "eye-like" button to peel back the menu again and select paste. The option here is whether it pastes where your cursor currently rests or whether you just again use the magnifying glass to finely select an exact point of entry.
4. You could even have other options in the menu like "clear clipboard" or insert "clips" of text you have saved because you use them often...

What does everyone think? Its simple to utilize, easy to learn, the format is already being used in maps and for blind luck I already submitted the idea to apple.

-W1LLk

Hmmm, interesting suggestion!
Yes, what if there were an extra 'button' that would peel back a page to reveal all sorts of options? So peel back a page, select Copy, then the page unpeels, and now when you click and hold, you can then drag to select copy (as opposed to just placing the cursor). Peel back to select Paste...
I think I like this concept better than all of the other, over complicated multi-tapping and multi-finger suggestions (tho all suggestions have been entertaining and worth while).
And as you also state: this has already been introduced in Maps, so the learning curve would decrease.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see how Apple implements these seemingly inevitable features.


-- It may have taken 6 years, but I finally hit avatar status! --


Oh - meant to add...
I think more that txt Copy & Paste, daily, I wish I could save an image from an email or web site to some area on the phone that could later be sync'd with iPhoto when I'm back on my Mac (or uploaded to a Web Gallery).

 

[FieroNate]

While I haven't read all the rest of the information here. I can say that being an old Newton user, I would love a modern newton, complete with pen and iPhone interface. The iPhone is cool but is severely limited in some critical ways. One of them being that the touch screen isn't as precise as I was used to.

That said the easiest way to implement a copy paste is to add it to the tap select function (which btw needs some fine tuning). I've noticed that at the top of the screen the tap select feature doesn't move below the finger, instead it is obscured.

In any rate copy and paste would only require the use of multi touch. The user taps and holds to select the start position as is done now. THEN the user either touches with a second finger OR released and touches a second time to start a select function. the third touch would happen at the end of the selection where a menu would come up to select copy. Then to paste the user could either over select or insert the text with a second finger tap. Seems simple to me

though honestly I think the Newton OS's pen interface was light years ahead of even the iPhone. I only wish they could combine them. I love my iphone but its still an immature device.

 

[lwongveros]

Wouldn't this technique be the easiest copy/paste?

I've been reading these 4 pages and was surprised that what I consider to be the easiest implementation of copy & paste has not been mentioned. The current method of positioning the cursor within text by using the magnification bubble works very well (at least for me) and is highly intuitive, let's not change this. The way I see it, a highly easy method of accomplishing this would be as follows:

CUTTING OR COPYING:
1. as today, use your finger using the magnification bubble to position the cursor at either the start or end point of the selection you want to either cut or copy
2. while maintaining your finger at that location, use your thumb to hold down the Home button and it will now highlight the text as you now continue to move your finger to the start or end of your selection
3. once finished highlighting your selection, release the Home button after which a pop-up provides the option to either cut or copy (then move finger up or down and lift to select option)

PASTING:
1. use magnifying bubble to position cursor to location you want to paste
2. while maintaining your finger at that location, use your thumb to click the Home button, after which a paste or cancel (if nothing is in the "clipboard", clicking the Home button would do nothing - it would be as if you were copying/cutting and made an error clicking the Home button)

To me, this method removes all the "waiting" proposed from other techniques as well as multi-tap complexity.

Does this seem like a valid technique or am I missing something?

 

[FoxyKaye]

I'd sell my future first born just for effective cut and paste in Leopard.

Sold! I have some significant plans for our backyard, and could definitely use the help in a few years.

Copy in Leopard - Command-C
Paste in Leopard - Command-V

Please PM me for shipping information.

Seriously though, I guess this is one of the things that you miss if you use it - I almost never do copy/paste on my Palm.

I'm not entirely sure I believe the "Apple rep" explanation of why C/P isn't there, but it seems at least Apple is aware this is a PITA for its users.