Clone or copy?

I found myself getting getting caught out last week while trying to clone a component in Component Designer. My intention was to take a component from one sld, clone it to another then update it with some new file resources and other metadata. The idea was to have existing configurations discover it and be prompted to upgrade to this latest version. What I ended up with was two versions of the component displayed in Target Designer.

Of course the solution should have come to me immediately, but it took me a little while. The solution- do not Copy and Paste the component from one sld to another as this will create a brand new component, which will mean a new VIGUID and VSGUID.

   

   

 Instead, open both slds in the same instance of Component Designer, then Drag & Drop the component you want to clone from one sld to the other.

   

   

 Close the sld that you dragged from without saving the changes (so you retain the original version of the component) then make the necessary changes to the clone. It will have the same VIGUID as the original, which allows for upgrade, and a different VSGUID to identify the instance of that component.

   

   

The benefit of cloning a component to a new sld is evident if you have multiple components in one or two slds, but only want to update selected ones from both. Instead of making the changes and then re-importing both the slds, you can clone the update candidates to one sld, make the changes and then only re-import the one sld that contains only the updated components. This could be used as a way to track which of your custom components have taken changes by placing them all in one spot.

- Lynda

Comments

• Anonymous
  February 16, 2006
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