svg - Raphaeljs: Copy element or set to another paper

Question

Is there a possibility of adding an element or set that exists within a paper to another paper, without creating each element twice from scratch?

Background for this: I visualize a large node graph and want to create an "overview map" in a separate paper.

Answer 1

The following set of codes adds a nw function to Raphael Set and Raphael Elements. The usage is to simply call .cloneToPaper(targetPaper) on any set or element.

(function (R) {
    var cloneSet; // to cache set cloning function for optimisation

    /**
     * Clones Raphael element from one paper to another
     *     
     * @param {Paper} targetPaper is the paper to which this element 
     * has to be cloned
     *
     * @return RaphaelElement
     */
    R.el.cloneToPaper = function (targetPaper) {
        return (!this.removed &&
            targetPaper[this.type]().attr(this.attr()));
    };

    /**
     * Clones Raphael Set from one paper to another
     *     
     * @param {Paper} targetPaper is the paper to which this element 
     * has to be cloned
     *
     * @return RaphaelSet
     */
    R.st.cloneToPaper = function (targetPaper) {
        targetPaper.setStart();
        this.forEach(cloneSet || (cloneSet = function (el) {
            el.cloneToPaper(targetPaper);
        }));
        return targetPaper.setFinish();
    };
}(Raphael));

For a sample implementation, you may check out this fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/shamasis/39yTS/

Note that if you have events on the source elements, they will not be cloned to the target paper.