Documentation Index
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Smart Detection is DevToys’ ability to watch the system clipboard and automatically suggest the right tool for whatever the user just copied. When you copy a JSON string, DevToys immediately offers the JSON Formatter. When you copy a Base64 string, the Base64 Decoder lights up. You can plug your own tool into this pipeline by implementing IDataTypeDetector and tagging your IGuiTool with [AcceptedDataTypeName].
How the Pipeline Works
- The user copies something to the OS clipboard.
- DevToys reads the clipboard content and passes it as
rawData to every registered IDataTypeDetector.
- Detectors that declare a
baseName in [DataTypeName] only run after the parent detector has already succeeded — the parent’s result is passed in as resultFromBaseDetector.
- Each detector returns a
DataDetectionResult. If Success is true, DevToys marks the tool(s) that declared [AcceptedDataTypeName("your-type")] as recommended.
- When the user navigates to one of those recommended tools,
IGuiTool.OnDataReceived is called with the dataTypeName and the Data object your detector returned.
The cancellation token passed to TryDetectDataAsync expires in 2 seconds. Detectors must be fast; avoid blocking I/O or expensive computation.
Two Sides of the Contract
1 · The Detector
Implement IDataTypeDetector and export it with [DataTypeName]:
[Export(typeof(IDataTypeDetector))]
[DataTypeName("my-jwt", baseName: PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Json)]
internal sealed class JwtDetector : IDataTypeDetector
{
public ValueTask<DataDetectionResult> TryDetectDataAsync(
object rawData,
DataDetectionResult? resultFromBaseDetector,
CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
// Only run if the parent "json" detector already succeeded.
if (resultFromBaseDetector is not { Success: true })
return ValueTask.FromResult(DataDetectionResult.Unsuccessful);
string text = rawData.ToString() ?? string.Empty;
// A JWT has exactly three Base64Url segments separated by dots.
string[] parts = text.Trim().Split('.');
if (parts.Length != 3)
return ValueTask.FromResult(DataDetectionResult.Unsuccessful);
// Try to parse the header.
try
{
string headerJson = Base64UrlDecode(parts[0]);
// Pass the decoded header to OnDataReceived via DataDetectionResult.Data.
return ValueTask.FromResult(new DataDetectionResult(true, headerJson));
}
catch
{
return ValueTask.FromResult(DataDetectionResult.Unsuccessful);
}
}
private static string Base64UrlDecode(string input)
{
string padded = input.Replace('-', '+').Replace('_', '/');
padded = padded.PadRight(padded.Length + (4 - padded.Length % 4) % 4, '=');
return System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(Convert.FromBase64String(padded));
}
}
[DataTypeName] constructor parameters:
| Parameter | Description |
|---|
name | A unique string identifying the data type your detector recognises (e.g., "my-jwt"). |
baseName (optional) | The name of a parent detector type. If supplied, your detector only runs when the parent detector has already returned a successful result. |
IGuiTool accepts by applying [AcceptedDataTypeName]. The attribute can be applied multiple times if your tool handles more than one type:
[Export(typeof(IGuiTool))]
[Name("MyExtension.JwtDecoder")]
[ToolDisplayInformation(
IconFontName = "FluentSystemIcons",
IconGlyph = '\uF4E3',
GroupName = PredefinedCommonToolGroupNames.EncodersDecoders,
ResourceManagerAssemblyIdentifier = nameof(MyExtensionResourceAssemblyIdentifier),
ResourceManagerBaseName = "MyDevToysExtension.Strings",
ShortDisplayTitleResourceName = nameof(Strings.ShortDisplayTitle))]
[AcceptedDataTypeName("my-jwt")] // custom type
[AcceptedDataTypeName(PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Json)] // also accept plain JSON
internal sealed class JwtDecoderGuiTool : IGuiTool
{
private readonly IUIMultiLineTextInput _input = GUI.MultiLineTextInput("jwt-input");
private readonly IUIMultiLineTextInput _output = GUI.MultiLineTextInput("jwt-output");
public UIToolView View
=> new(
GUI.Stack()
.Vertical()
.MediumSpacing()
.WithChildren(
_input.Title("JWT Token").OnTextChanged(Decode),
_output.Title("Header (decoded)").ReadOnly()));
public void OnDataReceived(string dataTypeName, object? parsedData)
{
if (dataTypeName == "my-jwt" && parsedData is string headerJson)
{
// The JwtDetector passed back the decoded header — use it directly.
_output.Text(headerJson);
}
else if (dataTypeName == PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Json && parsedData is string json)
{
_input.Text(json);
}
}
private void Decode(string jwt)
{
// ... decode and update _output ...
}
}
DataDetectionResult
DataDetectionResult is a simple record:
public record DataDetectionResult(bool Success, object? Data);
| Member | Description |
|---|
Success | true when detection succeeded; false otherwise. |
Data | Arbitrary parsed object passed to OnDataReceived. Can be null. |
DataType | Convenience property returning Data?.GetType(). |
DataDetectionResult.Unsuccessful | Pre-built static instance for (false, null) — return this when detection fails. |
Data travels untouched to IGuiTool.OnDataReceived. Use it to pass already-parsed data (e.g., a decoded JsonDocument) so the tool does not have to re-parse the raw string.
Predefined Data Type Names
DevToys ships built-in detectors for the following types. You can declare any of them as baseName in your own [DataTypeName] to build on top of existing parsing, or use them directly in [AcceptedDataTypeName] without writing a detector at all.
| Constant | String value | Description |
|---|
PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Text | "text" | Plain text (any clipboard string) |
PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Json | "json" | Valid JSON object |
PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.JsonArray | "jsonArray" | Valid JSON array |
PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Xml | "xml" | Valid XML document |
PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Xsd | "xsd" | Valid XML Schema (XSD) |
PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Base64Text | "base64Text" | Base64-encoded text |
PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Base64Image | "base64Image" | Base64-encoded image |
PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Image | "image" | Raw image data |
PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.ImageFile | "imageFile" | Path to an image file |
PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.File | "file" | Path to a single file |
PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Files | "files" | Paths to multiple files |
PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.GZip | "gzip" | GZip-compressed data |
PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Date | "date" | A parseable date/time string |
Inherit from an existing type by setting baseName instead of reimplementing detection from scratch. For example, a YAML-to-JSON converter could declare baseName: "text" to ensure it only runs when there is text on the clipboard, without writing its own clipboard-read logic.
How OnDataReceived Fits In
When the user clicks on a Smart Detection suggestion, DevToys calls OnDataReceived on the IGuiTool:
void OnDataReceived(string dataTypeName, object? parsedData);
dataTypeName — the DataTypeName string from [DataTypeName] on the detector that matched.parsedData — the Data object from the DataDetectionResult returned by that detector.
Route the data to the appropriate UI element based on dataTypeName:
public void OnDataReceived(string dataTypeName, object? parsedData)
{
switch (dataTypeName)
{
case "my-jwt":
if (parsedData is string header)
_headerOutput.Text(header);
break;
case PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Text:
if (parsedData is string text)
_jwtInput.Text(text);
break;
}
}
OnDataReceived is only called when the user navigates to a suggested tool, not at detection time. The detection pipeline runs in the background continuously; the parsedData from the most recent detection is buffered and delivered on navigation.
