# Objective
#13432 added proper reflection-based cloning. This is a better method
than cloning via `clone_value` for reasons detailed in the description
of that PR. However, it may not be immediately apparent to users why one
should be used over the other, and what the gotchas of `clone_value`
are.
## Solution
This PR marks `PartialReflect::clone_value` as deprecated, with the
deprecation notice pointing users to `PartialReflect::reflect_clone`.
However, it also suggests using a new method introduced in this PR:
`PartialReflect::to_dynamic`.
`PartialReflect::to_dynamic` is essentially a renaming of
`PartialReflect::clone_value`. By naming it `to_dynamic`, we make it
very obvious that what's returned is a dynamic type. The one caveat to
this is that opaque types still use `reflect_clone` as they have no
corresponding dynamic type.
Along with changing the name, the method is now optional, and comes with
a default implementation that calls out to the respective reflection
subtrait method. This was done because there was really no reason to
require manual implementors provide a method that almost always calls
out to a known set of methods.
Lastly, to make this default implementation work, this PR also did a
similar thing with the `clone_dynamic ` methods on the reflection
subtraits. For example, `Struct::clone_dynamic` has been marked
deprecated and is superseded by `Struct::to_dynamic_struct`. This was
necessary to avoid the "multiple names in scope" issue.
### Open Questions
This PR maintains the original signature of `clone_value` on
`to_dynamic`. That is, it takes `&self` and returns `Box<dyn
PartialReflect>`.
However, in order for this to work, it introduces a panic if the value
is opaque and doesn't override the default `reflect_clone`
implementation.
One thing we could do to avoid the panic would be to make the conversion
fallible, either returning `Option<Box<dyn PartialReflect>>` or
`Result<Box<dyn PartialReflect>, ReflectCloneError>`.
This makes using the method a little more involved (i.e. users have to
either unwrap or handle the rare possibility of an error), but it would
set us up for a world where opaque types don't strictly need to be
`Clone`. Right now this bound is sort of implied by the fact that
`clone_value` is a required trait method, and the default behavior of
the macro is to use `Clone` for opaque types.
Alternatively, we could keep the signature but make the method required.
This maintains that implied bound where manual implementors must provide
some way of cloning the value (or YOLO it and just panic), but also
makes the API simpler to use.
Finally, we could just leave it with the panic. It's unlikely this would
occur in practice since our macro still requires `Clone` for opaque
types, and thus this would only ever be an issue if someone were to
manually implement `PartialReflect` without a valid `to_dynamic` or
`reflect_clone` method.
## Testing
You can test locally using the following command:
```
cargo test --package bevy_reflect --all-features
```
---
## Migration Guide
`PartialReflect::clone_value` is being deprecated. Instead, use
`PartialReflect::to_dynamic` if wanting to create a new dynamic instance
of the reflected value. Alternatively, use
`PartialReflect::reflect_clone` to attempt to create a true clone of the
underlying value.
Similarly, the following methods have been deprecated and should be
replaced with these alternatives:
- `Array::clone_dynamic` → `Array::to_dynamic_array`
- `Enum::clone_dynamic` → `Enum::to_dynamic_enum`
- `List::clone_dynamic` → `List::to_dynamic_list`
- `Map::clone_dynamic` → `Map::to_dynamic_map`
- `Set::clone_dynamic` → `Set::to_dynamic_set`
- `Struct::clone_dynamic` → `Struct::to_dynamic_struct`
- `Tuple::clone_dynamic` → `Tuple::to_dynamic_tuple`
- `TupleStruct::clone_dynamic` → `TupleStruct::to_dynamic_tuple_struct`
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