10.12  The Reference field type

Example reference field

Example reference field, expanded in place

Adding a reference field

Purpose	Use this field to make a reference to a record that is stored in another part of the catalog.
Example	To refer to contact details, for example the person who took a particular photograph.
Edit	Click the Browse button in the field. You can then select a record from the catalog hierarchy and the filepath to that record appears in the Reference field. You can double-click on the Jump button to go to the referenced record, or you can use the "+" icon to expand the contents in line.
Field options
Class	Use this drop-down menu to select a class for the reference if you want to specify that a reference should be of a certain class. The Class menu contains a list of all available classes in the current catalog.

The difference between the Record and Reference field types is that the Record field holds an actual record that you can open and view or enter information for. The Reference field only holds a link to another record; it does not hold an embedded sub-record. You use the Reference field type if many records should refer to the same thing (for example, many Experiments may use the same Protocol, so it would make sense to add a "protocol" field to the Experiment class, and make its type a "Reference to Protocol").