Definition copy

Copy of the object definition, that is of the entire object, rather than just the occurrence as is the case with the occurrence copy.

The definition copy creates a new object. The occurrence, which is created when creating the definition copy, refers to the new object.

You can create copies of objects. When copying an object, you can decide whether you wish to create a new object (a definition copy) or a new object symbol for an existing object (an occurrence copy).

It makes sense to create a definition copy for an existing object if a new object is to have properties similar to those of the source object.

For example, you have modeled the object Plant 1 and specified its properties. You now wish to create the object Plant 2, which has properties similar to Plant 1. In this case, it is advisable to create a definition copy of Plant 1. Object Plant 2 is thus given all the properties of object Plant 1, but exists independently of it. You now simply need to change the properties that differ from those of object Plant 1, for example, by changing the name to Plant 2.

This involves significantly less work for you than creating the object from scratch and having to enter all the properties again.

Some attributes are not copied when the definition copy is created. For example, it does not make sense to copy the identifier of an object because the identifier represents a unique ID of an object.