symbol and use, not copy and paste.

[peepo]

when a user copies and pastes, this could create a symbol and use.

this is particularly significant where the reference is to a remote or external document.

the benefit is smaller, cleaner files that are easier to maintain and update.

[peepo (j-chetwynd)]

this isn't limited to better understanding of 'clones' but also the fact that:
symbols can be linked to, from remote or external documents.

http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Scratchpad_cloningtutorial#Creating_a_Clone

[Krzysztof Kosinski (tweenk)]

This is an extremely bad idea. After the Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V sequence the user expects the pasted copy to be independent from the original. Creating a clone will be very confusing in this situation - the new object won't be editable the way the original object was, unless it is unlinked.

Marking as wontfix.

[peepo (j-chetwynd)]

Krzysztof Kosinski, is that a personal view of yours, or perhaps you have some evidence?

ie collage is a well known and used artistic practice. Authors who have greater experience will know how to access the original, alter it and embed it. However the naive user will be happy with cloning, and many popular tools already provide such a tool.

Why you imagine no one would want a clone tool is beyond my current understanding...

[Krzysztof Kosinski (tweenk)]

There is a clone tool for a VERY long time: press Alt+D, or Edit->Clone.

The naive user will not understand why he can't edit the copy like he could edit the original.

Using clones when you know you are doing it is OK, but trying to second-guess the user and giving him a link when he explicitly asked for a copy is extremely bad. This is what happened when we defaulted to image links rather than embedding and the result was a lot of broken unreadable documents.

[peepo (j-chetwynd)]

Krzysztof Kosinski

The clone tool you describe clones something already in the document,

if "Ability to open remote SVGs" is to be implemented, it should be clear that this type of cloning is significantly different to warrant a separate GUI method, that is what this bug was intended to remedy.

dont like copy and paste, morph the bug, or start a new one.

I dont have time to haggle over the detail...

it must be self-evident that this is different to either your clone tool or copy and paste.

[peepo (j-chetwynd)]

I did state in the bug description:
"this is particularly significant where the reference is to a remote or external document."

in practice and principle literally thousands of lines of code can be replaced by a single one.

in many cases, this may even refer to transient data, such as the weather, where editing may not even be practicable.
ie the original is remote, and changing over time.

anyway as i said it's your call.

[Krzysztof Kosinski (tweenk)]

I think what you want is actually not creating a clone after Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, but being able to create a clone that references as its parent an object in another document.

The method of creating such clones should be distinct from copying and pasting, but it is a legitimate feature. Is that what you want?

[peepo (j-chetwynd)]

okay so that's agreed,

but also, and this is a separate bug, so please excuse me raising here:
iirc current cloning tool actually copies and pastes code from document into document,
whereas in fact a reference is sufficient. maybe I remember this wrong,
in an case they should remain distinct.

best

~:"

[peepo (j-chetwynd)]

created bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/537953

as clone replacement for this bug, due to confusion created here.