jan/electron/utils/selectedText.ts

import { clipboard, globalShortcut } from 'electron'
import { keyboard, Key } from "@kirillvakalov/nut-tree__nut-js"

/**
 * Gets selected text by synthesizing the keyboard shortcut
 * "CommandOrControl+c" then reading text from the clipboard
 */
export const getSelectedText = async () => {
  const currentClipboardContent = clipboard.readText() // preserve clipboard content
  clipboard.clear()
  const hotkeys: Key[] = [
    process.platform === 'darwin' ? Key.LeftCmd : Key.LeftControl,
    Key.C,
  ]
  await keyboard.pressKey(...hotkeys)
  await keyboard.releaseKey(...hotkeys)
  await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 200)) // add a delay before checking clipboard
  const selectedText = clipboard.readText()
  clipboard.writeText(currentClipboardContent)
  return selectedText
}

/**
 * Registers a global shortcut of `accelerator`. The `callback` is called
 * with the selected text when the registered shortcut is pressed by the user
 *
 * Returns `true` if the shortcut was registered successfully
 */
export const registerShortcut = (
  accelerator: Electron.Accelerator,
  callback: (selectedText: string) => void
) => {
  return globalShortcut.register(accelerator, async () => {
    callback(await getSelectedText())
  })
}

/**
 * Unregisters a global shortcut of `accelerator` and
 * is equivalent to electron.globalShortcut.unregister
 */
export const unregisterShortcut = (accelerator: Electron.Accelerator) => {
  globalShortcut.unregister(accelerator)
}