Add a link to the contextual menu / or a tab for cloning the node

I definitely agree with you. This patch...

1. Moves the Action button to a Tab beside "Edit"
2. Adds Contextual Links

I'm not sure about having an extra button in the Node Edit form. Don't want to clog up the UI too much... Never used FastToggle before, what does it do?

+1 For this patch also. Anybody coming from a 6.x version will expect a clone "tab". Also, depending on your theme, without this patch it appears that the module is not working. Not all themes support action links at this point.

I saw comments elsewhere that clone shouldn't be a tab, but the only reason I found was that "D7 UX guidelines suggest it should be an action link". I can't find where this is the case, if someone could post a link that would be appreciated.

At the end of the day a client will wonder why all of the things he does to pages (edit, track, grant) are in the tabs and 1 special option, "clone this node", appears below them, all by itself.

I'd also like to see the UI updated proposed.

I'd love to see this UI fix as well. Cheers

cloning is an action, so I think it should stay an action link in my opinion.

making it also a contextual item is ok.

Hi pwolanin,

This is a great module! It's very useful and has saved me a ton of time in terms of creating new content, but I'm wondering why you are so resistant to creating a 'Clone' tab. It's been brought up a number of time in the issue queue and you have stated your reasons for not wanting to do it (Cloning is an action), but if users are asking for it, why not give them the option of having it as a tab? You could offer the option and explain that using the option is not compliant in your opinion.

Isn't the very heart of Drupal customizing the interface to your liking? I be interested in knowing how many people have already made this patch...

Thanks so much for your contribution to Drupal, I can't imagine the collective man hours you have saved for Drupal users world wide!

I tend to agree with pwolanin. What would be the purpose of having a separate clone tab? The module just either a) clones a node, saves it, and displays the edit form (i.e. the Edit tab) for the saved node or b) creates a new node before saving it and presents the node edit form. The only reason another tab is needed is if another form/page with content different from any of the other tabs is used. Since the existing Edit tab is just re-used, why would another tab be needed?

cloning is an action, so I think it should stay an action link in my opinion.

Editing is also an action though... Grrrr, D7UX.

We're using D7 as a framework to build an application on top of it. So, it contains quite some business logic to model a several non-Drupal typical flows. One of the first things we disabled were contextual links and rely on the local task tabs. So, when I installed node clone, it took me 20 minutes to realize that something was a bit off when I didn't get an extra "clone" tab although I expected one to pop up.

I agree: while the datamodel of the object we're operating on is the same, conceptually editing and cloning are two different actions. Then again, I don't see any real reason why one would treat actiontype links any different on the local tasks menu or the action tasks menu.

@wonder95 tab looks cleaner IMHO than just a link floating around.

@Rob Loach, patch in #2 works great, thanks.

@pwolanin: can we make this a setting? 'Show as tab', 'Show as link', if that's acceptable I'm willing to write patch.

+1 to option vs module hack

I also would like to have this as an option in the module. Until that is fixed you can use this tiny module http://drupal.org/project/node_clone_tab

Just a thought: Maybe somebody could take Rob's work in #2, and make an extra 'Update option' entry in the admin/content(Find content) page dropdown list for 'Clone node'. If you check one of the existing pages, & select 'Clone node', it could kick you out to Rob's interface. this would make things clean, & would make it quite easy to use(especially, as you often go there if you want to add content anyway). I haven't really thought about how to handle it if somebody checked several pages at once: Possibly they could be presented to the user one after the other, somewhat the way Views presents a series of fields to you to make settings on when you make multiple additions.

#1571964: Clone content Tab is a duplicate of this task, favouring the 'Add a new tab beside "Edit"' option.

Re #4, "Not all themes support action links at this point" - as I mentioned over there, the Delta Blocks module can be used to add the Action Links in a block.

Personally I'm in favour of the Tab, though this may be largely due to a fear of change. I can see that it makes sense as an Action Link.

I think there're multiple use cases and the patch in #2 handles them well:

1/ Node view (full page)
Show it as an action link or as a tab

2/ Node edit (or on another tab)
Show it as a tab since action link isn't accessible

3/ Rendered nodes in a list/view
Show it in the contextual links

Maybe add a setting to the module so site admins can select which one they want to be visible?

+1 to this.

I never use action links. It's not something which I use in the final site so I turn them off when I first start on a new design/development. For this reason I don't think a module should ever use menus/links other than the administration overlay/menu.

Personally I think at the very least it should be displayed in 'Operations' on the content page. Fairly logical to me.

If there aren't there really should be UI standards to develop with, there are so many modules with random implementations.

There is a UI Standards section in the d.o docs. It's somewhat sketchy and bullet-pointed but there may be some info in here to give us a direction...

A local action is appropriate when "User wants easy access to an action related to the data or content of the page." It specifically mentions "Add" links (so, when you're looking at a list of entities - content, products, etc - and want to add a new one; it doesn't relate to a single content item, and doesn't make a lot of sense as a tab as it's a volatile, one-off "action").

A tab (helpfully referred to as "Local Task" in development terms) is useful when you have "Too much information or too many kinds of information to fit on a single page" or "A settings page which does not fit in the configuration section but has a related page with listed data."

I think by those definitions "Clone" would be an action. "Edit" is considered a "settings" or "configuration" page, so it gets its own tab, but "Clone" does not affect the parent item at all. It goes somewhere else and makes a new thing, just like an "Add" link would.

#20: that's the theory, but I think it has to be practical as well. For some sites we have nodes we 5+ tabs (besides view and edit) mainly to add extra functionality, in those cases it sure is handy to have a tab for 'Clone'.

improved title.

@JeffNutting, #16 (regarding a clone link/action on the admin/content page): perhaps your suggestion is better off in #1161924: No "Clone" link in operations column of Content page, or in a separate issue.

@johnv: I just put it in this thread because given the type of discussions here, it seemed most relevant here. If you think it would be better off as a separate issue, go ahead & move it - I'd prefer not to clutter up the 'blogosphere' with new issues, just because I happened to 'notice something' -- unless this is the way people expect it to work.

I didn't really think my suggestion (#16) was relevant to the discussion in #1161924.

Thanks for the feedback, though.

Jeff

Generally it's best to keep each task/issue separate, so they can be neatly closed when they're done - otherwise you get issues that look like they're still causing problems when in fact some or most of it has actually been resolved, or protracted discussions about related topics with the same result.

Suggestions for improving a module come under the heading of "feature requests". Integration with the admin/content listing seems like an useful feature, and would be worth creating a separate issue for so people can give it the attention it deserves.

(On a related note - comments on issues don't get titles of their own, be careful not to type your intended comment title into the "Issue title" box!)

re: #20 - yes, I agree which is why I made the change.

Further suggestions

no patch?

Just my 'two cents' upon the MENU_LOCAL_ACTION / MENU_LOCAL_TASK discussion.

I now have DamienMckenna's patch in for some weeks. At first, moving the 'Clone' to a tab instead of an Action link gives a cleaner UX.
However, all other tabs are about viewing/acting upon 'this piece of content', even the EDIT tab..
When you click 'Clone', you do not act upon 'this piece of content', but you 'add new content (copying from som old content)'.
Just like the print module adds a 'send this page' link (aka inline-link instead of action-link).

So, even tought this 'action link' might seem out of sync (ad normal user never ever see the admin/content page, where this also appears ) I am now in favour of the as-is situation.

Let's see it as an encouragement to create more action links!

@johnv the problem is that use cases differ, see #21

So my idea is to add all of them and add a setting so each site owner can choose what to show where, problem solved.

I applied changes from #2 and it works like a charm. Ultimately this should be a module setting.

When upgrading from D6 to D7 some clients complained they couldn't find the clone tab anymore. For consistency I think one should be able to make a choice where to have this action sit.

Cheers

Plus a hack to leave the longer title text for local action, but not contextual links.

committed.

How are you supposed to clone a node without a tab if you are viewing the node? The contextual menu only appears for blocks, and I shouldn't have to go to /admin/content to find the page.

The "Clone" action is provided as an "Action link" if you're viewing the node. I'd suggest reading this issue thoroughly, there's a lot of discussion about which types of menu item / api integration to leverage (and why).

Heh thanks for the help. Guess it's time to update my theme, I wasn't aware of that variable.

Okay I read everything here (only after spending a bunch of time looking for the tab after an install).

I really liked it on the tab area - only users with editing access typically have need for this feature and the small distraction an extra tab brings seems harmless. And it's an awesome option! When it's make sense its as important as edit some might say!

Half the time it seems action links don't work and they certainly are not obvious. I guess it's theme to theme but that is not an issue with a tab.

Want to mention here also Views has an option to include the Clone Link which works great!

My thanks to all contributors.

Neil

http://drupal.org/project/node_clone_tab

I used also this: module http://drupal.org/project/node_clone_tab
Works just fine!

#44: Your patch won't work. Each time you change the setting, you'll have to clear your menu cache to register the new type. Besides, there's a good reason why it's set as a constant, not a dynamic value. Because the type of menu item is, well, constant. Unless you implement an explicit hook_menu_alter. Which is inherently a part of the API while your patch pretty much mimics the same behaviour.

I agree with the arguments in the discussion above. The clone link should be a contextual link, not a local task. If you really want/need the link available as a tab: use hook_menu_alter in your own custom module.

see #20 and #26. I think what's in the module is correct for D7+ UI standards.

Currently, the UI for this module in the recommended version 7.x-1.0-rc2 looks like it is shown in the attached screenshot. Is this intentional?

Just in case someone - like me - just wants a clean UI: There is a module to fix this: https://www.drupal.org/project/node_clone_tab

I can not telll how the current dev release looks because the package is broken:

$ drush dl node_clone-7.x-1.x-dev
File node_clone-7.x-1.x-dev.tar.gz_date=1416365880 is corrupt (wrong md5 checksum). 

I'd appreciate any update on this issue.

Thank you!

Wow, that was quite the read! After all the years it looks like the argument to move it to the tabs (or at least provide an option to do so) didn't happen. Personally, I would prefer the option to exist in this module, rather than to add another module. However, if this has been discussed for 3 years I doubt my 2 cents will count for much.

I think comment #9 sums up my feelings on it. Love this module, just wish I had the option inside the module itself to move the button to suit my needs. I can say that all my clients that have seen the location of the clone link have been surprised and confused about it's location. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked about it. It's now become standard practice for us to at the very least style it to look like the tabs and now it looks like we are leaning towards the Node Clone Tab module functionality as part of our standard install too.

I know this is "closed", but just for anyone else who wants this to function as a tab, regardless, and can't be bothered installing another module, here's how to modify this one:
Either apply the patch, or edit the clone.module file, round line 51. Set the title, remove the title callback and arguments, change the type to MENU_LOCAL_TASK. Done.

-    'title' => 'Clone content',
-    'title callback' => 'clone_action_link_title',
-    'title arguments' => array(1),
+    'title' => 'Clone',
-    'type' => MENU_LOCAL_ACTION,
+    'type' => MENU_LOCAL_TASK,

@pwolanin, could you please let us know why you are not willing to integrate the functionality of the Node clone tab module into yours?

In addition to comment #55 if you already have a custom module in place on your site I would just add the hook from the Node clone tab module and avoid the extra module installation:

/**
 * implementation hook_menu_alter();
 * @param unknown_type $items
 */
function YourModuleName_menu_alter(&$items) {
  // Change node clone menu item to a tab instead of an action
  $items['node/%node/clone/%clone_token']['type'] = MENU_LOCAL_TASK;
}

If you want to avoid code the Node clone tab module works just fine. I'd avoid hacking the module manually as updates in the future become more involved ;)

NOTE:
The Node clone tab module alters a link that doesn't contain the %clone_token at the end which didn't work for me. I had to update the link item array name to what I included in my module above. With that said the Node clone tab module might not work as an option for you. The code above does though :)

The commit in 2014 added a contextual link. I don't think it should be a tab, but yes, you may need to style the local actions to be more obvious.

A tab should be an alternate view of the same data (not creating something new), so I think this is following the "normal" D7 UX pattern.