change a simple name

 

To change a card's name, just go to edit > name on the card's menu.

 

After editing the name and clicking the "Rename" button, you will be notified of any effects on other cards.

 

Note that it is generally safe to change simple card names, even when those cards have some special meaning in Decko.  For example, the *read card is a Setting card that is used to control read permissions on Decko.  But suppose you have a Spanish language site and want to rename the card's name to "*leer".  In the Decko code, this card is referenced by a special codename, so renaming *read to *leer should not impact functionality.

 

update references

 

 

If there are references (eg links or nesting) to the current name from other cards, you will be prompted to choose to update them or leave them as they are.  If you leave them as they are, those cards will then have references to an unknown name.  As is always the case with unknown names, those references will work again as soon as a card with that name is created.

 

Note that explicit CQL references are not yet tracked and therefore do not update automatically.  So if you have an explicity search for all "Company" cards and you rename the Company card, you will need to update the relevant CQL by hand.

 

change one compound name

 

Compound names are key to structuring cards, so managing these names is key to managing structure.  It's important to understand that changing one compound name will not impact similar compound names.   It will merely change how one card fits into the bigger picture.

 

 

For example, suppose you want change Filbert+history to Hazelnut+history.  You can do this in exactly the same way that you change simple names (via edit > name in the menu).

 

But making this change will NOT change the name of the Filbert card.

 

 

change many compound names 

 

Changing any card's name will automatically update any compound name of which the name is part.  Changing A to Z will change A+B to Z+B.

 

More concretely, suppose you change the card named "Filbert" to be "Hazelnut".  What all impacts does this have?

1. This will automatically change all cards where "Filbert" is part of the name.  For example, if there is a card called "Filbert+history", then that will automatically be changed to "Hazelnut+history".
   
   
2. You will be given the option to change the content of all cards that  refer to "Filbert" or to any of the cards changed in #1.  These "references" can be a links or nesting.  In our example above, Nutella refers to Filbert in a link, and can therefore be updated automatically upon rename.

Both #1 and #2 above work in only one direction.  For example, If you change "Filbert+history" to "Hazelnut+history" (or "A history of Filberts", "History+Filbert", or anything else),  it will not impact the "Filbert" card. Changing A affects A+B, but changing A+B does not affect A.

 

change contextual names in structure rules

 

Similarly, changing the content of a card will NOT affect the name of another card.  This has occasionally confused Deckoers in the process of updating *structure rules.

 

For example, suppose you have a cardtype called Company, and the company is formatted to include a +address card.  Editing the structure rule to change "+address" to "+street address" will NOT automatically alter any existing +address cards.  Decko has no way of knowing whether this change is intended as a rename or the removal of one field and addition of another (eg removing +address and adding +phone).  An edit of this sort only changes formatting; it won't rename or delete any other cards.  It may make it appear that the +address cards have disappeared, but they're still around; they just won't show up on your Company cards any more.  Decko never deletes cards unless you explicitly tell it to (and even then it really just adds them to the trash).

 

To make this change, you could instead rename "address" to "street address."  As outlined above, this will automatically update all the +address cards to +street address.