Counterintuitive copying

[Richard Spooner]

I just can't stop :-)

To use my proposed application as an example.

Suppose I build a complex info item to describe the configuration of my product. This item has many children and grandchildren items which are a mix of both linked and stored types. Suppose now I wish to create a new configuration based upon the old one. With the implementation as it stands I cannot just copy the original configuration and make a few minor changes, I have to build the item from scratch to preserve the linked items.

With all due respects the current implementation has no advantages (does it?).