[BUG] When I clone a channel, the dependencies are not carried over to the cloned channel

[anibal2j]

Describe the bug
I have a set of channels that I usually clone since they're the basis of my configuration for the VA. Each VISN has its own channel and as such when I get a new channel to create I clone from a known last good channel configuration.

The cloning works great except that the channel cloned does not have the dependencies selected as the channel it was cloned from. So, the code in the cloned channel does not really work.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Create a channel and make sure you have at least one dependency
2. Clone channel
3. Verify that cloned channel doesn't have the selected dependency from the channel you cloned from

Expected behavior
The cloned channel should have the same dependencies already selected as the channel it was cloned from

Actual behavior
The cloned channel doesn't have any dependencies selected at all - which makes the channel not work with all the code that's in the source/destination filters/transformers/etc.

Environment (please complete the following information):

• OS: server running on Ubuntu. Client running on Mac OS 15.5 (24F74)
• Java Distribution/Version

openjdk version "11.0.28" 2025-07-15
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.28+6-post-Ubuntu-1ubuntu122.04.1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.28+6-post-Ubuntu-1ubuntu122.04.1, mixed mode, sharing)

• Connect Version : 4.4.2

Workaround(s)
My workaround now is to go to the channel I'm cloning from, looking at the dependencies, either memorizing them, taking them down somewhere, or screenshoting, then go to the newly created channel that was cloned and manually find the dependencies and select them. When I have a channel that has more than 5 dependencies this becomes pretty error prone and time consuming.

[mgaffigan]

Related:

• Improve clone channel dialog nextgenhealthcare/connect#4206
• Cloned channels should inherit any channel dependencies nextgenhealthcare/connect#4073
• Cloned channels should inherit any code template library mappings nextgenhealthcare/connect#4072

[anibal2j]

And I would also add this that I saw in one of the NG references above:

+1 for this. Cloned channel should also go into the same group as the cloned channel. If not edited after cloning, a cloned channel should be identical to the original except for the name in every way.

[kpalang]

+1 for this. Cloned channel should also go into the same group as the cloned channel. If not edited after cloning, a cloned channel should be identical to the original except for the name in every way.

Without actually looking at the code, putting the channel in to the same group on server B as it was on server A is a bit trickier than it seems. As I see it there are two obstacles to this:

1. Groups (like channels) are identified by UUID-s. This means the groups need to have identical IDs on both servers. This is absolutely doable, but is not the default behavior.
2. A channel knows nothing about what group it is in. Only groups themselves know about their contents.

That said, this might be an interesting QoL improvement.

[xabylr]

Also keep in mind that maintaining Code Template Libraries dependencies when cloning a channel means having to edit the Libraries themselves. This is because it is actually the Libraries that include the channels, rather than the other way around (as I proposed in #35).