Zak Siddiqui
opened 2 days ago
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There is currently no dedicated Copy action for an issue/PR description or comment that puts the original Markdown on the clipboard.
What exists today:
- Quote (next to Edit/Delete on comments) inserts the full comment Markdown into the reply editor as a blockquote. From there you can select and copy it, then discard the reply if you only needed the text.
- If you can Edit the description/comment, opening the editor shows the raw Markdown so you can select-all and copy.
- Selecting rendered text and using the browser copy shortcut copies plain/rendered text, not Markdown.
- Fenced code blocks have a copy control, and clicking an inline
codespan copies that snippet.
So there is no one-click “copy description/comment as Markdown” yet, and selecting formatted text does not recover the underlying Markdown. A Copy control beside Quote (or similar) would be a new feature; please say if you want this tracked as an enhancement.
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I'm worried about the extra weight of client code if we try to enhance it. It's imperative to keep OneDev highly performant.
Ideally, we would not want to weigh down the server by having to compute exactly which of the text is bounded and then retrieve it as markdown, because we do not want to increase the compute cost of the OneDev SaaS Server.
Furthermore, we would not want to increase the client-side footprint for a feature that many would say is frivolous and unnecessary.
Consider the best balance of how this can be implemented whilst minimizing compute on the server and minimizing client-side code weight.
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Agreed — any Copy enhancement should stay tiny.
Balanced approach (if we add anything at all): a whole-description / whole-comment Copy next to Quote.
Why that stays cheap:
- Description and comment bodies are already stored and loaded as Markdown when the page is rendered. There is no need for the server to figure out which rendered text is “bounded” and convert it back to Markdown, and no extra compute cost on click beyond reading a field that is already in memory.
- OneDev already has a small clipboard helper (
CopyToClipboardLink). Reusing that pattern means the client cost is essentially one extra control and a short copy script — not a new feature stack. - Quote already uses the same stored Markdown; Copy would be the same data with a simpler client action (clipboard instead of inserting a blockquote into the reply editor).
What we should not pursue: selection-aware “copy the Markdown behind highlighted rendered text.” That needs either heavy client mapping from DOM selection to source Markdown, or server-side reverse conversion — both conflict with keeping SaaS compute and client footprint low for a convenience feature.
Practical takeaway: keep using Quote or Edit when you need Markdown today. If a dedicated Copy is still worth tracking later, scope it strictly to full-body copy via the existing clipboard helper.
Does that address the concern, or would you still like the lightweight full-body Copy filed as an enhancement?
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LGTM
Please create draft issue text as a comment in this issue.
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Question answered; draft enhancement text posted above for filing when desired.
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Draft for a follow-up enhancement issue:
Title: Add lightweight Copy action for issue/PR description and comments
Type: Improvement
Priority: MinorDescription:
Summary
Add a Copy control next to Quote (or equivalent) that copies the full issue/PR description or comment Markdown to the clipboard.
Motivation
Users sometimes want to share a description or comment while preserving Markdown. Today they must use Quote (into a reply editor) or Edit (when permitted) to reach the raw Markdown. A dedicated Copy action would make that one click.
Scope
- Full description / full comment body only
- Copy the already-loaded Markdown source (same data Quote uses)
- Reuse the existing
CopyToClipboardLinkpattern - Place the control beside Quote on comments, and in a comparable place for the description
Out of scope
- Selection-aware “copy Markdown behind highlighted rendered text”
- Any server-side reverse conversion from rendered HTML to Markdown
- New client libraries or significant client footprint growth
Constraints
Keep server compute and client code weight minimal: no extra request on click beyond reading Markdown already present for the page; no new feature stack.
Related discussion: issue #2970
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Previous Value Current Value Open
Closed
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| Type |
Question
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| Priority |
Minor
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| Assignee | |
| Labels |
No labels
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Question
Is there a quick way to copy a description or a comment?
Motivation
The ability to quickly copy a description or a comment to the clipboard enables easy sharing of content.
Preserving the markdown would also preserve the original intended meaningfulness of the text when sharing it.
Possible solution
This could be achieved by either adding a
Copybutton to the same row that contains theQuotelink.Alternatively, and this would be much more advanced, would be to enable the user to highlight the section of the description or the markdown that needs to be copied. Instead of copying plain text, it copies the actual markdown of formatted text.