This option could be used for registering which tapes (Child Media) are inside which boxes (Parent Media); or for organising files, where one file (Child Media) can be stored on multiple hard drives (Parent Media).
n.b. In order to use the Parent Media functionality, the "Has Parent Media" box must be ticked in the Library Settings in the Server Setup.
Example 1: A bunch of reels in a box
Create the Parent Media first. In this example the Name contains the word BOX at the end.
Next, create the reels that are within that box. These will be the so called Children. To make it easy, mark the previously created Media and in the dropdown menu select Multiple New Media From Selected, next select the quantity.
Next multi-select the Media for the reels and from the dropdown menu select Add To Parent Media, search for the Media and click on it to choose it.
Then enter each separately and change the name if necessary and fill in the rest of the data. You can click on the Parent Media tab to see which Parent this Child belongs to. You can open the Parent Media from here.
When you open the Parent Media, you can click on the Child Media tab to see which Children belong to this Parent Media. To add more Child Media use the Add Media field at the bottom. To remove Child Media, click on it to highlight in yellow, right click and select Remove.
Example 2: A file stored on multiple drives
Once the file and the drives have been created - each as Media on the corresponding Library -, open the Media for the file, click on the Parent Media tab and use the Add Media field at the bottom to search and add the different drives where this file is stored on.
Dispatching
When dispatching a parent Media OUT, farmerswife will ask if it should also add the Child Media to the Dispatch. This is because maybe you are dispatching the whole box of reels, and in that case the related Media are dispatched as well.
If you instead dispatch a child Media OUT, it will ask if it should remove the child Media from its Parent (e.g. remove the reel from the box).
If you dispatch a Media IN, it will ask if you want to add the Media to any Parent.
Likewise, when changing the Location of a Parent Media, the system also offers to change the Location of all its Child Media.