Project Cloning History - Manually Overriding

We have two very similar scenarios we would like to be able to support. One is where we clone a project but for various reasons need to remove any traces that it was cloned from another project (such as it now referencing a different client’s project) and the other is to manually add that a project was cloned from another. We have template projects, and being able to trace where a project was cloned from is great, but given that all projects prior to that feature don’t list the cloning history, it makes it useless for tracking purposes if most projects don’t have the info.

Is this something that could be supported in the front end? If not, is there a semi-supported way to set this from the back end DB?

Hi Chris,

Thanks for getting in touch. The cloning mechanism only lists the last project it was cloned from. So if you have Project A, and you clone it to Project B, then clone B to Project C.

Project C will only see B. If you then delete Project B, project C will lose the reference to anything that’s cloned.

Will that cover your scenario of needing to clone something in secret?

We actively deter our customers to manipulate the database directly because we consider it breaking the terms of warranty, as it could potentially break something with upgrades in the future.

If you do decide to take on this risk because the cloning link is really important to you, you could update the ClonedFromProjectId in the Project table. I’m only giving you a point in the right direction because working out old cloning links and recovering them is not something we would fix for existing cloned projects.

Again, I’m not advising you to update the database, but if you chose to take on the risk carefully update 1 field in a select set of rows in the Project table, ensuring you have database backups you can restore from if there’s a complexity. It’s also why I made this thread private, hope you can appreciate the balance I’m going for in helping you now and helping you avoid a possible problem in the future.

Regards,
Nick

Hey Nick,

Completely understandable from the “private” status and not publicly advertising it. I may not go that route, as I try to avoid the back end unless it’s for custom reporting.

Thanks for the info. For what it’s worth, if it ever comes up as something configurable in the UI, count me as a +1 for that feature.

Thanks,
-Chris

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.