title: Copy SVG Images from Browser to Clipboard
body: <p>I am developing a web application which takes user inputs, does engineering calculations and then shows a formatted report or graphic. The graphics are engineering diagrams and not always standard graphs like Pie charts. The primary function of the application is to enable the user to copy these diagrams from the browser to a Word or Excel document.</p>
  
  <p>I have to make a choice on using SVG generated in the client, or bitmaps generated on the server side. I prefer the SVG approach and the prototyping looks good, however, copying the SVG graph seems to be inconsistently supported across browsers, especially if the graph is shown in a div (i.e. the entire page is not .svg). For example, IE shows a "copy" on the dropdown, but copies only part of the SVG graphic to the clipboard. Chrome gives no copy option if I right click on the SVG graphic.</p>
  
  <p>If I Google around, I am surprised to see how little information there is on the problem of getting an SVG image from a web application onto the clipboard.</p>
  
  <p>My question for <strong>readers who have worked through this problem</strong>: </p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>Is there a consistent way to get an SVG element that is part of a
  larger DOM onto the clipboard, preferably using JavaScript;</p></li>
  <li><p>Any other recommendations given my requirement of getting graphics
  from browser onto clipboard?</p></li>
  </ol>