How to deep-copy a QGIS memory layer?

Question

I struggle with creating a deep copy of a memory layer in QGIS. Whenever I modify the layer copy, the original gets modified, too. Can anybody point me to the mistake I am making in the following code:

def createMemoryLayer(self, layerName, sourceLayer):
    # create empty memory layer
    memoryLayer = QgsVectorLayer(
        QgsWkbTypes.geometryDisplayString(sourceLayer.geometryType()) +
        "?crs=" + sourceLayer.crs().authid() +
        "&index=yes",
        layerName,
        "memory"
    )
    memoryLayerDataProvider = memoryLayer.dataProvider()

    # copy the table structure
    memoryLayer.startEditing()
    memoryLayerDataProvider.addAttributes(
        sourceLayer.fields().toList()
    )
    memoryLayer.commitChanges()

    # copy the features
    #memoryLayerDataProvider.addFeatures(
    #    [QgsFeature(feature) for feature in sourceLayer.getFeatures()]
    #)

    # DEEP copy the features
    features= []
    for feature in sourceLayer.getFeatures():
        f = QgsFeature(feature)
        f.setGeometry(QgsGeometry(feature.geometry()))
        features.append(f)
    memoryLayerDataProvider.addFeatures(features)

    return memoryLayer

see the commented-out lines for what I had thought to fix with the lines thereafter. According to the API docs, QgsFeature(QgsFeature) and QgsGeometry(QgsGeometry) both create deep copy of the original object.

Any clues?

Answer 1

tl;dr

The error was not in the code presented. Rather, later on, I modified the features’ QgsAbstractGeometry without first creating a deep copy of it. The trick is the .clone():

abstractGeometry = feature.geometry().geometry().clone()
# … do something with the geometry
feature.setGeometry(abstractGeometry)

long answer

I still have not figured out how exactly QGIS copies layers/features/geometries/abstractGeometries.

It seems though, that upon copying a QgsMemoryLayer’s features to another QgsMemoryLayer, the QgsAbstractGeometrys are kept as mere references and in effect point to the same place in memory.

My plugin’s script then changed single vertices of the QgsAbstractGeometrys:

abstractGeometry = features[featureId].geometry()
abstractGeometry.moveVertex(
    QgsVertexId(p, r, v, QgsVertexId.SegmentVertex),
    QgsPointV2(x, y)
)
features[featureId].setGeometry(abstractGeometry)

… and by that inadvertently changed the QgsAbstractGeometry which actually was shared between the original and the copied memory layer.

There is nothing to be changed in the code listed in the question. Rather, a deep copy of the QgsAbstractGeometry is needed before it is modified (by calling its clone() method). The above code needs only minor modification:

abstractGeometry = features[featureId].geometry().clone() abstractGeometry.moveVertex( QgsVertexId(p, r, v, QgsVertexId.SegmentVertex), QgsPointV2(x, y) ) features[featureId].setGeometry(abstractGeometry)

Answer 2

You do not need to start an edit session for copying attributes/features. After adding the attributes you should update the fields and I think your also over complicating adding the features, try:

# copy the table structure
memoryLayerDataProvider.addAttributes(sourceLayer.fields().toList())
memoryLayer.updateFields()

features= []
for feature in sourceLayer.getFeatures():
    features.append(feature)
memoryLayerDataProvider.addFeatures(features)