Drag or copy and paste

Many elements can be moved from one area of the system to another in a number of ways: dragging and dropping an element from one position to another; using Cut, Copy, or Paste from the Right-click menu or from the Edit menu; pressing the Cut, Copy, or Paste icons from the Toolbar or window toolbar icons; or using Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C or Ctrl+V see Keyboard commands.

In some cases the system performs the copy and paste of a shortcut to the original element rather than a copy in the new position, see the headings below for full details. For example in the case of moving an action to a host, it is a shortcut that is created. When an element is copied to a new place, it has the name "Copy of..." prefixed to the old name. Furthermore when one element is copied so too are its constituents, so for example the source and target data sources of a data transfer action will be copied along with the action if they are not already included in a project. Where you have separated systems you will use Load/Save definitions, see also further discussion of copying between systems below.

• To drag and drop: You can drag between nodes in the Explorer tree. For example an activity listed in an expanded activity node under Actions in Project A, can simply be dragged to the Activity node in Project B. Dragging and dropping between projects leaves the original intact and pastes a replica copy in the new position, i.e. drag and drop is the same as copy and paste in some circumstances, and copy shortcut in others. The system will use which ever is appropriate for the chosen destination. Dragging an action from one project to another is a copy and paste, resulting in a full copy being created so that you now have two identical actions on the two projects. You can alter the new one for example without altering the original from which it was copied. However when an action is dragged from a project to a host, it is a shortcut rather than a replica copy that is created in the new position. In this case altering the action in one place will make changes to the action in both positions. An shortcut action on a host for example will change if the original on the project is altered, since there are not two independent replicas of the action in this case. See discussion of Paste, Shortcut below.

• To Cut , copy : Select the action or data source you wish to make a copy of then use the Cut, Copy options in the Edit menu, the Cut or Copy icon from the toolbar, choose Cut or Copy from the right-click menu, or use the standard Windows shortcuts Ctrl+X (cut), Ctrl+C (copy). When you choose to cut or copy, the element selected will be saved to the system clip board, and you can select a destination to paste a copy or shortcut to the selected element, see below.

• To Paste , Shortcut : Having cut or copied an action or data source to the clipboard, (see above) you now select the destination to which you will move this element. Having selected a node in Explorer you have the options to use Paste or Short Cut options from the Edit menu, use the corresponding toolbar icons, choose these options from the right click menu for the element, or else use Ctrl+V, one of the Keyboard shortcuts. Whether you have the Paste or the Shortcut option enabled will depend on your selected destination. For example to copy an action between projects Paste is offered, and in this case a full copy of the action or data source is created that will be independent of the original from which it was copied. However if the action is to be copied to a host, then only Shortcut is offered, see note below.

Please be aware that changes made to the shortcut element in the either the original or the new position will also change the element in the other position, since this is a shortcut rather than a new copy of the original element. So for example altering an action on that project has been dragged to a host will alter the action on the host as well as the project, and vice versa.

Copying will copy components as well: When any element is copied, either by drag and drop or other methods, all component elements are copied as well.  For example copying a data transfer to another project also copies the data sources associated with that transfer.  Copying an activity automatically copies constituent actions and sub-activities.  If events have been defined for the action you will also be prompted to copy them. When events are copied to a host, it is a full copy of the event that is created not a shortcut, see Copy event.

Copying between systems: It can be useful to save action or data source definitions to separate applications, i.e. separate instances of the management console running on separate systems. You might want to do this for example when you want to reuse an activity defined for some separate task, or if someone has developed an action elsewhere that you can reuse. In this case, as you cannot drag and drop within a single application you will need to use the Load or Save definition option, which creates a file that can be imported or exported across systems, see Load/Save definitions for more.

Same name: Where your copy includes an element with the same name as one already on the project or host, you will see a warning message that gives you these options:

Re-use, Re-use all: Choose this if you do not want the new element. In this case the existing item will be used. Choosing "Re-use all" will re-use every existing component element with the same name as an existing element, without further prompting.

New, New all: Select to copy the new item, and use this item as a component of any copied complex actions or data sources. In this case the new element will be given the name Copy of...., i.e. "copy of" is appended to the name so that it can be distinguished from the element that already exists. Pressing New all accepts this response to all elements with the same name, without further prompting.

Related topics include Actions overview, Load/Save definitions Toolbar, Keyboard shortcuts, Copy event.