Want actual cell data from CellEvaluationFunction

Question

Let's say I print a cell like so.

CellPrint@Cell[
  BoxData[" "], "Input", Evaluatable -> True, 
  CellEvaluationFunction -> Function[Print[#];]
  ]

Now I type in several lines of text in the Cell in Mathematica.

For example

1


2

I hit Shift+Enter and get the following output.

BoxData[List["1","3"]]

But when I do Ctrl+Shift+e, the Cells content is really

BoxData[
  RowBox[{" ", 
     RowBox[{
       "1", "\[IndentingNewLine]", "\[IndentingNewLine]", "3"}]}]]

Why doesn't CellEvaluationFuction receive the actual cell data? Is there a hidden function/argument that might give me such information?

Answer 1

Make your CellEvaluationFunction this:

Function[Print[NotebookRead[EvaluationCell[]]];]

Note that EvaluationCell (and the CellObject it creates) are new to version 9.