topic Re: Use child theme modules after data entry in CMS Development

Use child theme modules after data entry

EnriAlea — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 11:50:15 GMT

Hello,

here is a simple question, can you confirm that if I change a module in use (cloning from parent to child theme) I will lost any of the data previously inserted? Is there any way to retain the data afterwards a module has changed?

Re: Use child theme modules after data entry

Jnix284 — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 21:41:47 GMT

@EnriAlea if you clone a module from the parent to child, the new module would need to be added to the page in place of the old module and the content would have to be rebuilt.

There is no way to retain the data from the original module if you've included it on pages already and you make a copy of the module in the child (unique module name, two versions available). If you overwrite the module (keep the same name, one version available), the content will be retained in the module and your changes to the code will also be available.

Hope this helps!

Re: Use child theme modules after data entry

EnriAlea — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 07:07:50 GMT

Hi Jennifer,

what do you mean with "overwrite the module"?

I forgot to say that they used a marketplace theme so the modules' code is not editable, unless cloned.

Re: Use child theme modules after data entry

Jnix284 — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 15:06:35 GMT

@EnriAlea when using a marketplace theme, there are really two options if you want to customize:

1 - create a child theme - this retains the dependency of the majority of the theme files on the marketplace version and you are able to receive updates to the theme while also being able to customize any files needed (usually modules or templates, avoid overwriting CSS/JS files and use the child.css/child.js instead)

2 - create a clone - this copies all of the files from the marketplace and creates a unique theme that's independent of the marketplace (no more updates apply), it allows you to modify any files and while some devs prefer this, I usually advise against it.

When you create a child theme, if you clone a module to the child theme, it will overwrite the parent/marketplace version by default because it has the same file name and label, but if you make those unique you can create a completely separate version.

So by "overwrite" what I mean is that any file in your child theme that has the same name as the parent/marketplace theme will take precedence - it replaces the file in the theme configuration, thus overwriting the default content.