Duplicate model function in OMEdit should work without compromises

[Francesco Casella]

A very common model development pattern, particularly among beginners, is to start duplicating existing and working models, possibly putting them in a completely different package, and then applying some changes.

OMEdit currently falls short of providing this basic feature, because the duplicated models are often invalid for various reasons. Expert users can try to fix them manually, but this is not an option for beginners.

I had a discussion at the last Modelica Design meeting with Leo Gall, and basically on of the reasons why he can't start using OMC seriously with his customers is that he cannot follow this pattern. Christian Kral is also suffering with his students, and I guess many others are longing for this feature, even though they don't open tickets.

I think having a decent Duplicate functionality is definitely a must-have for 2.0.0, so I'm opening this combo ticket as a blocker for that release.

Currently open issues on this topic are: #4240, #4536, #4799, #4875, #5191, #5343, #5344, #5393. We should have them all fixed in time for 2.0.0

Of course it would be nice if at least the issues that are easier to fix are done in time for 1.14.0. @adeas31, what do you think?

[massimo ceraolo]

Maybe a cut/copy/paste on the model tree, in Dymola's way, is the most friendly way to manage and move models inside and across packages.

The absence of this feature is the first reason of difficulty for my students when using OMEdit, as Kral's, in addition to ticket #3776, which is somehow related.

If fast promotion of OMEdit usage is concerned, probably the most proper milestone for this ticket is 1.14.0, as the one of #3776. However, since I presume that #3776 is easier to solve, maybe it is correct that that ticket has priority over this one.

[Dietmar Winkler]

Just my upvote for this desperately needed feature. Basically OMEdit can not really be used for new users trying to learn from existing working examples by extending them or modifying them because of this. Not unless there is an expert at hand to help fixing broken class references.