Message Boards Message Boards

Back

Feature Request - Copying/Pasting Objects with actions?

Hello SB Team! 
I'm working on a project where I need to use a particular button on some pages but not all.  The button has a few actions associated with and I'd love to be able to set up the actions the first time I build it and then copy/paste the button with its initial actions and then modify them as needed.  Is this something that may be available to do in upcoming versions?  Or perhaps the option to bring existing actions along with a paste? For instance, when an object is copied, maybe a text box prompts the user to choose whether or not they'd like it's actions to be copied as well?  
Right now, I can copy the object and paste it, I then have to copy the actions which come out blank when pasting. 
Thanks! 
Scott
0 (0 Votes)

RE: Feature Request - Copying/Pasting Objects with actions?
Answer
9/8/20 7:26 PM as a reply to Scott Sheridan.
Hi Scott,This is a tricky one. I assume you're talking about copying and pasting across pages. We've looked into it before (copying actions with objects), and we always get stuck in the mud of unintended consequences. What happens if you copy multiple objects? Where will it paste the actions (on top of existing actions)? If every copy and paste has a dialog box that you must click through, that would slow down a very common practice. We have not landed on a solution where the pros outweigh the cons, or that matches most use cases.

That being said, there are some things that make this easier.
  1. In our next release, you will be able to copy all the actions in an entire canvas, and then paste them all at once! You'll still need to repair the actions (point to the appropriate objects), but the structure will be there. This is probably the closest to what you're asking for.
  2. You can currently use tags to make your actions more generic. Then when you copy the object (that has a tag) and the action (that works based on that tag) you won't have to repair the action. https://www.screencast.com/t/iGs7zbVhV2b Is this more efficient than copying and pasting actions and repairing them? Depends on how many times it is reused.
  3. You could create your own template. Usually the effort of creating a template, saving it, importing it, applying it, and then customizing it is not worth the time - often copying and pasting is faster for a specific task. It also depends on what parts need to be customized.
  4. If you copy and paste an entire page to use as a starting point for your new page, it will copy all the objects and actions. Obviously this doesn't help if you've already built the page and are adding functionality later, but if you know ahead of time that a particular page is going to be similar to an existing one, then it might make sense to use that as a starting point.
  5. Masters - if your button is only used on certain pages, but it's always in the same place, you could put it on a Master and fire a Global Event to do whatever it needs to do. And then selectively choose which pages use that Master.
Which solution is best depends on what you're doing, and how much of it is being reused vs what needs to be customized each time it is used.

If you want to email us with the details of your particular use case, we can take a look and offer our recommendation.

Hope that helps!
0 (0 Votes)

RE: Feature Request - Copying/Pasting Objects with actions?
Answer
9/9/20 1:30 PM as a reply to Navdeep Dhillon.
Thanks, Nav.  I'll give some of those suggestions a try!  
Scott
0 (0 Votes)