How to make a composite content type

Question

I would like to create a content type that has some unique fields but its other fields are references to other existing nodes (not a parent-child relationship but many to many relationship).

I have looked in entity reference module or field collection? Is there another way of doing this?

For example I have a synthesis report made up of smaller topics. I want this report to have a name and author but then it needs to reference multiple of these smaller topics (which are a content type of their own).

I could maybe make a Taxonomy term for every synthesis report?

Answer 1

The simplest way is to use the Entity Reference module. You can add fields to your content type which are a reference to other entities, like taxonomy terms, nodes, etc.

Note: You can combine it with field collection, but you need to understand that a field collection is not the same thing. A field collection lets you group fields so you can re-used them. For instance if you have multiple addresses, you can create a field collection with street, zipcode, city, etc. But in itself, it's not an entity. Entity reference lets you point from one entity to another.

Answer 2

You can use both References and Entity Reference module, then you can add a Reference field (Node Reference if using References module) or Entity Reference (in case of using Entity Reference module) , and then set the number of values for that field to 'Unlimited' (if you don't know how many references is needed for each report exactly).

PS. Entity References is more complicated to work with but it presents much better features in comparison by References Module.