# Feature suggestion/question "mirrored" nodes

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/feature-suggestion-question-mirrored-nodes/50801>\
**Category:** Feature Requests\
**Created:** [9 September 2021 08:02 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/feature-suggestion-question-mirrored-nodes/50801 "2021-09-09T08:02:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![eastling](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/eastling/32/39127_2.png) [@eastling](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/eastling)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2021 08:02 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/feature-suggestion-question-mirrored-nodes/50801/1 "2021-09-09T08:02:56Z")

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Hi,  
To increase reuse of nodes it would be intresting to see a feature where it would be possible to create a node that is a mirrored copy of another node in terms of properties (except from properties that describe inteconnection and placement of such as id, wires,x,y,z).  
Subflows is good for doing this when there are many nodes involved to combine a result, but it is cumbersome if for example one just want to reuse a function block or a change node.  
Or is there some other functionality which can accomplish whats described above conveniently within Node-RED?

Best regards,  
Martin

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**Author:** ![rko](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/rko/32/45807_2.png) [@rko](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/rko)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2021 08:17 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/feature-suggestion-question-mirrored-nodes/50801/2 "2021-09-09T08:17:07Z")

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How about `link in` and `link out` nodes?

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/5/b/5b3ac07af14290b1a8639793e87f8b756c0670f5.png)

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**Author:** ![eastling](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/eastling/32/39127_2.png) [@eastling](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/eastling)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2021 08:27 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/feature-suggestion-question-mirrored-nodes/50801/3 "2021-09-09T08:27:17Z")

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Thats a valid solution as well but I think the flows will be very hard follow especially since the link in / link out names are not displayed unless you hover the mouse over them.

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**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2021 08:30 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/feature-suggestion-question-mirrored-nodes/50801/4 "2021-09-09T08:30:57Z")

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The problem with using link nodes for this kind of thing is when you call the shared flow/functionality from multiple places, the result goes to every link out node requiring you to filter out unwanted values etc. I suspect the OP needs something akin to subroutine where the execution returns to the output of the callee.

I would prefer this functionality to be built in (perhaps a feature of the link nodes) but in its absence, I use node-red-contrib-components which does this.

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**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2021 08:31 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/feature-suggestion-question-mirrored-nodes/50801/5 "2021-09-09T08:31:34Z")

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> [@eastling](#):
>
> link out names are not displayed unless you hover the mouse over them

You can set an option on the link nodes to show their name.

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**Author:** ![eastling](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/eastling/32/39127_2.png) [@eastling](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/eastling)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2021 08:38 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/feature-suggestion-question-mirrored-nodes/50801/6 "2021-09-09T08:38:05Z")

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Thanks Steve-Mcl for both your replies 🙂

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**Author:** ![knolleary](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/knolleary/32/3_2.png) [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2021 08:39 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/feature-suggestion-question-mirrored-nodes/50801/7 "2021-09-09T08:39:48Z")

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> [@Steve-Mcl](#):
>
> I would prefer this functionality to be built in (perhaps a feature of the link nodes)

We have had this on the backlog for a while - [Link Call node](https://trello.com/c/4UkvoNM1)

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**Author:** ![Steve-Mcl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/steve-mcl/32/4826_2.png) [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2021 08:49 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/feature-suggestion-question-mirrored-nodes/50801/8 "2021-09-09T08:49:25Z")

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Oooh. Never spotted that one. Nice.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/1X/d073cd938eafa2e558d7c2cd59003b3ef4963033.png) [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [23 September 2021 08:50 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/feature-suggestion-question-mirrored-nodes/50801/9 "2021-09-23T08:50:03Z")

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