Q:

Editing field value of a parent

I have my Case object linked to the Contact object with a lookup field (Contact__c). What is the best way to modify the value of a field in a Contact record from the Case record, when there's a contact selected?
For example, I have a Case with the Contact__c lookup populated. I want to modify the value of a picklist in the Contact, from the Case.

A:

If you are looking to do this from the a Case page layout, unfortunately I don't believe this will be possible. A page layout uses a StandardController which doesn't have any functionality innately built into it to save any object but the main object of the controller.
Programmatically this is very simple. You just need to update each object separately, but that won't help you for a page layout.

