THEMES : Copying and pasting themes does not work as one expects (2 Comments)

Issue report by MrWatson

Product

FileMaker Pro

Version

13

Operating system version

Win/Mac

Description of the issue

Copy & pasting themes works extremely differently to copy & pasting all other FileMaker object types.

Here is a summary of the perceived differences:

FM-objects: Importing or copying and pasting FileMaker objects (Tables, Scripts, Custom Functions) produce the same result - it DOESN'T MATTER which you use.
FM-themes: It DOES MATTER which you use: Whereas Importing a theme produces an identical, updatable theme copying and pasting produces a non-updatable THEME IMPOSTOR

FM-objects: Copying and pasting matches all referenced objects BY NAME
FM-themes: Copying and pasting matches all referenced objects BY INTERNAL NAME (=> leads to IMPOSTORS)

FM-objects: You can visually check all references before you paste, to make sure it will work.
FM-themes: You CAN'T visually check all references before you paste, to make sure it will work, (BECAUSE the internal names are invisible - and because you cannot see which styles a theme contains).

FM-objects: You CAN copy and paste the contents of objects in order to update them (e.g. you can update a script by pasting new script steps into it; ditto tables + fields ).
FM-themes: You CAN'T copy and paste styles in order to update a theme. (You can only paste layout objects - and should you

FM-objects: You CAN'T update an object by re-importing/pasting the same object into FileMaker - You HAVE TO paste its CONTENTS.
FM-themes: You CAN UPDATE a them by re-importing (but not pasting) the same object into FileMaker - You CANNOT paste its CONTENTS.

FM-objects: You CAN rename objects without breaking references-by-id to them. (Ref-by-name of course breaks, but NOT Ref-by-id)
FM-themes: You CAN'T rename themes without breaking reference-by-id to them - After renaming update is no longer possible - EVER AGAIN.

FM-objects: You CANNOT copy and paste objects between languages without breaking them.
FM-themes: You CAN copy and paste themes between languages without breaking them.

@TSGal: please treat all these entries about themes & styles as a single packet and pass on to development. It may not be a single bug, but it is all relevant to the big picture, thank you.

Russell Watson

Steps to reproduce the problem

Copy and paste themes between files; copy and paste other objects between files, compare the differences in behavior (see description)

Expected result

I expect the theme clipboard to work (pretty much) like any other FileMaker object clipboard (see description)

Actual result

It works very differently (see description)

Exact text of any error message(s) that appear

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Configuration information

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Workaround

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