Reassign a "master" as a "copy" CLONES

[Bad Hair Day]

C -->  D D D  --> E E E E                B

I have one object C.  I made a tiled copy of it into 3 C's, that I put elsewhere on the Page.  Then I took one D, made a tiled copy of it into 4 E's, and put them elsewhere on the page.  Unrelated to C D and E is a B object somewhere on the page.

Now, I would like to reassign C.  Instead of being the object that determines the characteristics of the D's and E's, I want C to act like a copy of B, so that B determines the characteristics of the C's, D's and E's. 

If it matters at all: at one point ALL of these things were copied from the single solitary A which is still on the page, just not in use.  I kind of keep it as a relic, just sitting off on a corner.  I know how to make a copy of A and then reassign it as a "master" that doesn't take direction from anyone on what its characteristics are. 

Thanks for reading.

BHD

[Lazur]

Hi.

Guess you are referring to tiled clones.

It doesn't necessarily needs tiling, you can create clones by pressing Alt+D once an object is selected.
Which parent object can be anything.

This case, if it was a group of even a single object, it could seed up your process.
Select "C", press Ctrl+G for the grouping, and clone the group (Alt+D).

Then, if you want to change "C" completely to look like "D", select "D", copy it (Ctrl+C),
enter the group of "C" (Ctrl+Enter or by double clicking it), select all (Ctrl+A),
delete (Del), and paste object (Ctrl+V).

[Bad Hair Day]

Hi,

Yes, this is all talking about clones. 

I think I wasn't clear enough. 

E's all look like one of the D's.

D''s all look like one C.

The C is independent.

I want to reassign the C to be a copy of a B, so that C is now identical to B.  If I change anything in B, then this also changes all the C's D's and E's. 

[Lazur]

So basically you want a B* identical looking to B but not a clone of it, to be a parent for C
while B being a separate parent for D and E.

Duplicating B (by pressing Ctrl+D once selected) you can cut the duplicant and paste into the group as suggested above.
Duplicaing creates a new object with an independent id so it won't be linked to the original one by any means as per se (although gradient fills and other style attributes can still be linked to yet another independent source stored in the defs section).

[Bad Hair Day]

Oh, uh, no. 

I have a hex.  I made a clone of it.  THe first hex now has a clone, the second hex.  So if I change the first hex to a fill of red, then the second hex automatically changes to red. 

Now, imagine a third hex.  This hex is completely independent of the first and second hex.  Let's call this one the "independent hex." 

I want to push a button and make the first hex now act as if it is a clone of the independent hex.  How do I do that?

I will know it has been done right when I can change the color of the independent hex to green, and now the first hex AND the second hex have changed to green.

[Lazur]

Theoretically you can do that via the menu option in 0.92 Edit/Clone/Relink to Copied.
The previously mentioned cloning groups workaround is easier to handle though.
Ditch the content in the first hex's parent with the objects building up the independent hex.
Doesn't need a button just entering the group by double clicking.
Exit by Ctrl+Backspace or by selecting an object outside the group.

[brynn]

Interesting....  I didn't think it was possible to do what you want.  But when Lazur mentioned relinking, I had to look it up in the manual.  It does sound possible, from what the manual says.  I haven't tested it, but here's the info:

http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Clones.html

[Lazur]

Biggest concern with clones is transformation.

If you relink the parent my guess it will still inherit the location from the original parent and you'll end up with each "updated" clones having a relative offset spread around -exactly the amount in between the original and new parent. If those clones were rotated furthermore and not just translated along the canvas it'll look way random and there is hardly anything you can do about it.

Thus you'd need the new parent to be located exactly at the positio of the old one -atop of it; or for "easier" handling, on a separate layer...

Copy-pasting contents from one group to another yet preserves the ability to "shift" the new parents contents back to position. My guess that's easier to handle.