Actors¶
Actors are persons, families and organisations — independent records that are created once and then used by any number of units of description. They are found under Admin → Actors.
Two ways to a unit of description¶
Actors can be attached to a unit of description in two ways:
- As a keyword — in the «keywords (actors)» field. This says: this person occurs in the content. Without a role, without a date.
- Via an event — with role, place, date and comment. This says: this person did something — they wrote the document, engraved the print, transferred the fonds.
Anyone recording the creator wants the event. Anyone noting that someone is mentioned in the text wants the keyword.
On an actor's detail page, both uses appear separately: «is involved in» lists the events, «appears in» the units of description in which the actor is a keyword.
Types¶
Six types are permanently available: person, family, corporate body, department, group and software. The labels can be translated per archive, but the types themselves cannot be extended.
Recording¶
By default, the form contains type, name, other name forms, variants, abbreviations, the dates of life or activity, description, sources and comment. Which fields appear depends on the form set.
For the dates, «ca.» can be ticked for each date and day, month or year can be left open individually — incomplete datings are therefore possible.
Actors can also be created directly from the object form: next to the selection list there is a + which opens a window with the same form. After creation the new entry is selected — the unit of description itself still has to be saved afterwards.
Linking to authority data such as GND or Wikidata is done in the right-hand column of the edit view.
Blocked actors¶
The blocked field hides an actor completely from everyone who is not logged in internally — in lists, in the detail view, in the linked units of description and in the full-text search. It is intended for living persons and information requiring protection.
Deleting¶
Actors can only be deleted as long as they are not in use. Anton refuses deletion in both of the following cases and reports which one applies:
- the actor is involved in an event,
- or the actor is entered as a descriptor on a unit of description (see Two ways to a unit of description).
To get rid of an actor, the links have to be cleaned up first — the events on the units of description concerned, the descriptors in the «is used as descriptor» register on the detail page.
Different up to v0.82.0
Until then, only events offered protection. An actor used exclusively as a descriptor could be deleted — the links were silently removed along with it.