copy merged document to clipboard without making selection first

[Flowgun]

Hello folks,
Is it possible to copy-merge to clipboard without selecting the whole document first? better yet, is it possible to do that for the whole document even if we have a selection (ignoring it)? 
currently I have a function that selects the whole document, copy-merges, then deselects again. but for advanced functionalities, I want to keep my current selection and copy-merge to clipboard, without having to first save my selection, select the whole document, then copy-merge before reloading my selection.

[D Fosse]

Not sure what you mean, Merge Visible retains the selection.

You could also try shift+ctrl+alt+E, stamp visible. It merges visible layers to a new layer on top of the stack.

Maybe I'm missing something?

[Flowgun]

I'm not looking to "merge visible" (creating a new layer from merged layers) but to "copy-merge"  (copy merged layers as a bitmap into the clipboard). I believe these are the terms officially used by photoshop. I'm also looking for a programmatic solution, hence the "Actions and scripting" flag I added.
The code I'm currently using relies on activeDocument.selection.copy(). So, if I have a selection, it would copy-merge only around the selection, and to copy-merge the entire document, I need to first save my current selection as a channel, then select all, copy-merge, and then restore my older selection and delete its channel. This seems to me like a huge overhead for the wanted task.

[D Fosse]

Right. I was missing something 😉

No, I'm not aware ony way to Copy Merged without Select All first.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

What is the actual point here, what do you need the complete merged image in the clipboard for? 

A work-around with an Action seems feasible (duplicate merged image, select all, copy, close without saving). 

[Flowgun]

I'm using DOM scripting to take the image from the clipboard and process it using an external library. I'm already achieving the wanted result, without the need to duplicate-merge as we can already copy-merge if we select all, but I was looking for a more straightforward approach that automatically preserves my current selection without having to save it to a channel or do another workaround. Apparently that's not possible.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

I fail to see the problem, the described steps could be included in the Script you are already using. 

Edit: … or store the Selction as QuickMask Mode temporarily. 

[Stephen Marsh · Accepted solution]

I fail to see the problem, the described steps could be included in the Script you are already using. 

Edit: … or store the Selction as QuickMask Mode temporarily. 

By @c.pfaffenbichler

QM mode would appear to be workable, as long as the RGB channel is selected afterwards, and not the default Quick Mask channel.

EDIT: For clarity...

With a layered file and a selection active -

1) Enter QM mode

2) Select the composite RGB channel

3) Select all

4) Copy merged

5) Exit QM mode (to return the original selection)

[Flowgun]

Since Photoshop is capable to create an image from the whole document without selection when duplicate-merging (ctrl+alt+shift+E or equivalent in code), I thought maybe there's a way to get that image but without placing it into a new layer, but into the clipboard instead.
and since it can look at a selection area and copy-merge it, I thought maybe there's a way to copy-merge the entirety of the document, regardless of selection.
Like an in-between low-level solution to skip certain extra steps and achieve what I want.
But now I understand that photoshop scripting offers a certain set of actions that we can use to get what we want, even if it's not the most logically-direct way to do things (e.g: like Marsh's script that creates a new layer from selection then fits to layer and deletes the created layer in order to zoom to selection ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Have you been able to achieve a workable solution?