Hello!
Although I used FileMaker 3-4 years ago to build a nice database to organize my material, research, and notes for my creative writing projects (and I still use that same database today), I haven't actually built anything new in FileMaker since then, so bear with me!
My current objective is to create something that approximates a merger between the 'Starter Solution – Contacts' and the 'Starter Solution – Content Management' templates.
The 'Contacts' starter solution template is a pretty great foundation for what I need in order to organize personnel because I'm doing a pretty large project wherein I will be working on a variety of smaller creative productions for which I will be collaborating with dozens of actors, actresses, musicians, writers, photographers, videographers/filmmakers, models, etc.
The 'Content Management' template is only so-so for what I would like in order to organize a database of material, ideas, and notes (I will be primarily authoring or writing most of the scripts and sketches to be performed or produced as well as being the overall manager of all the creative content made).
One concrete problem is that I'm having trouble creating a conditional value list, where I first select the "medium" or the type of content that will ultimately be produced (writing, still photography, or video/film), then according to my selection, the options for the next field will be narrowed down to a pre-determined set of choices (for example, if I chose 'still photography,' my options for the next field would be something like: "nature photos, portraiture photos, action photos, architecture photos, object photos," etc.).
I did find a guide for doing this, but it's not quite working for me. If anyone knows the best (and possibly simplest!) way to achieve this, I'd very much appreciate it if you shared this with me.
Anyway, I would also like other fields on Content Management database, like logistical information (date and time of production, location of production, etc.). But a key feature I would like is for it to be connect with the Contacts database. By this I mean that I can plug in perhaps 3-4 potential actors who might be compatible to cast for a specific role in a specific script in the Content Management database, and after plugging them in, I'd like for there to be some kind of button or function where I can click each of the candidates' names (or click a button next to each name) and be directed to their record or profile in the Contacts database (which will have their bio, photos, contact info, etc.).
I appreciate any tips! I know I can find all of this out simply by researching more, but I was just hoping perhaps someone had a quick solution, as it seems like the need for combining these two types of databases might arise fairly often.
Thanks!