Question

Is there a way to visually distinguish sitecore clones? I’m looking for a way so that anytime a clone gets created, the cloned items are in a different color.

Answer 1

Through the magic of a data provider, you can control the appearance of clones. Here is an example class:

using Sitecore.Data.DataProviders;
using Sitecore.Data;
using Sitecore.StringExtensions;

namespace Example
{
    public class CloneStyleDataProvider : DataProvider
    {
        public string Style { get; set; }

        public override Sitecore.Data.FieldList GetItemFields(Sitecore.Data.ItemDefinition itemDefinition, Sitecore.Data.VersionUri versionUri, CallContext context)
        {
            var fields = context.CurrentResult as FieldList;
            if (fields == null || fields[Sitecore.FieldIDs.Source].IsNullOrEmpty() || !fields[Sitecore.FieldIDs.Style].IsNullOrEmpty())
            {
                return null;
            }
            var newFields = new FieldList();
            newFields.Add(Sitecore.FieldIDs.Style, Style);
            return newFields;
        }
    }
}

Then add the following patch in a .config file

<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/">
    <sitecore> 
       <dataProviders>
            <cloneStyle type="Example.CloneStyleDataProvider,Example" patch:before="methodGroups">
                <Style>color:#333399;</Style>
            </cloneStyle>
        </dataProviders>
    </sitecore>
</configuration>

You can then specify CSS styles that get put into the item’s appearance/style field.