objectCopy

objectCopy ( object : object ) : object
objectCopy ( object : object , option : integer ) : object
objectCopy ( object : object , option : integer , groupWith : object ) : object
objectCopy ( object : object , option : integer , groupWith : collection ) : object

Parameter	Type		Description
object	object	->	Object to copy
option	integer	->	kShared: return a shared object
groupWith	object	->	Shared object to be grouped with the resulting object
groupWith	collection	->	Shared collection to be grouped with the resulting object
Result	object	<-	Deep copy of object

Description

The objectCopy command returns an object containing a complete (deep) copy of the properties, sub-objects and values for the object.

By default, objectCopy returns a regular (not shared) object, even if the command is applied to a shared object. Pass the kShared constant in the option parameter to create a shared object. In this case, you can use the groupWith parameter to associate the shared object with another collection or object.

The groupWith parameter allows you to designate a collection or an object with which the resulting object should be associated.

Notes

• objectCopy can be used with an entity selection object. By default if kShared is omitted, a non-shareable entity selection is returned. If kShared is passed, a shareable entity selection is returned. In this context, the groupWith option is useless since an entity selection does not have a locking identifier.
• The same principle applies to entity selections stored inside properties of object. However, the command is optimized when kShared is passed and a nested entity selection is shareable: the same entity selection reference is returned in the resulting object.
• Datastore, dataclass, and entity objects are not copiable. If objectCopy command is called with them, a null value is returned

Example 1

This example illustrates the deep copy of an object containing a sub-object:

var ob1, ob2, ob3 : object

ob1 = {info: {a: 20; b: 30}}  
    //ob1: {"info":{"a":20,"b":30}}
ob2 = ob1 //another reference to the same object
    //ob2: {"info":{"a":20,"b":30}}
ob3 = objectCopy(ob1) //deep copy of the object
    //ob3: {"info":{"a":20,"b":30}}

ob1.info.b = 1000 //modify ob1 and thus ob2
ob3.info.a = 5000 //modify the deep copy
    //ob1: {"info":{"a":20,"b":1000}}
    //ob2: {"info":{"a":20,"b":1000}}
    //ob3: {"info":{"a":5000,"b":30}}

Example 2

We want to copy the regular (non shared) person object into the sharedPerson shared object. To do this, we must create a shared copy of the object (sharedPerson).

 var person, copy, sharedPerson : object
 var text : string

 text = documentToString(file("/SOURCES/person.txt")
 person = jsonParse(text) //person is a standard object
 sharedPerson = newSharedObject()
 copy = objectCopy(person,kShared) //copy is a shared object

  //So it can be put in sharedPerson
 use(sharedObject)
    sharedObject.person = copy
 end

Example 3

We want to copy sharedObj in sharedColl but since they belong to different shared groups, a direct copy would result in an error. We must make a copy of sharedObj and designate sharedColl* as shared group for the copy.

 var sharedObj, objCopy : object
 var sharedColl : collection

  //sharedObj belongs to a shared group
 sharedObj = newSharedObject("lastname","Smith","address",newSharedObject("city","New York"))
  //sharedColl belongs to another shared group
 sharedColl = newSharedCollection(newSharedObject("lastname","Brown"))

 objCopy = objectCopy(sharedObj,kShared,sharedColl)
  //objCopy is now in the same shared group as sharedColl

  //So objCopy can be put in sharedColl without error
 use(sharedColl)
    sharedColl.push(objCopy)
 end