public String getClipboardContents() {
        String result = "";
        Clipboard clipboard = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemClipboard();
        // odd: the Object param of getContents is not currently used
        Transferable contents = clipboard.getContents(null);
        boolean hasTransferableText = (contents != null)
                && contents.isDataFlavorSupported(DataFlavor.stringFlavor);
        if (hasTransferableText) {
            try {
                result = (String) contents
                        .getTransferData(DataFlavor.stringFlavor);
            } catch (UnsupportedFlavorException ex) {
                // highly unlikely since we are using a standard DataFlavor
                System.out.println(ex);
                ex.printStackTrace();
            } catch (IOException ex) {
                System.out.println(ex);
                ex.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
        return result;
    }