dbopm :: the database of popular music

Actors
	Actor Id	Name		Real, full, or birth name	Date of Birth		Date of Death		Birthplace	Deathplace
	Actor Id	Name		Real, full, or birth name	Date of Birth		Date of Death		Birthplace	Deathplace

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Explanatory notes for the Actors table columns.

Actor Id

Unique identifier of the actor. Specific to dbopm.

Actor Name

The name by which the actor is most commonly known.
For example: Rhonda Fleming (real name Marilyn Louis), "Whispering" Jack Smith (real name Jacob Schmidt).

Real, full, or birth name

Real, full, or birth name in the case of an individual.
For example: Marilyn Louis (known as Rhonda Fleming), Jacob Schmidt (known as "Whispering" Jack Smith).
Not applicable in the case of a group.

Date of Birth

Self-explanatory. If present in the case of a group, this will refer to the "Year first active".

Date of Death

Self-explanatory. Date of death is not applicable in the case of a group.

Birthplace

Self-explanatory. If present in the case of a group, this will refer to the location in which they began their career.

Deathplace

Self-explanatory. Place of death is not applicable in the case of a group.

How to use the Actors table.

Actor Id

Clicking on an Actor Id will open a "child" row for that actor, showing additional information such as stage productions and/or films in which the actor appeared.
The "child" row may also show a "More..." link, if more information is available. Click on the "More..." link to retrieve the extra information.
Clicking on the Actor Id again will close the "child" row.

Pagination

Paging through the data is achieved by the First, Previous, Next, and Last buttons at the foot of the table,
or by entering a page number into the text input box labelled "Page".
The text input box labelled "Page" also accepts the left and right arrow keys to move between pages.

Row Selection

Rows of data may be selected and highlighted to assist in distinguishing items which may be of particular interest.
Clicking on a row will select and highlight that row.
When a row has been selected
- Shift + LeftClick will select a group of adjacent rows;
- Control + LeftClick will enable additional rows to be selected independently of each other.
Clicking on a selected row will deselect that row.

Searching (filtering)

Searching the database is accomplished via the individual column filters at the foot of the table.
The column filters are cumulative, so you can apply multiple individual column filters to combine search terms.
Note that the more complex the search, the longer it may take - although no search should take more than a few seconds.
All searches are case-insensitive.

Sorting (ordering)

Sorting is achieved by clicking on the column headings.
Sort sequences may be cumulative. That is, a simple one-column sort may be enhanced by Shift + LeftClick on one or more other column headings, thus adding secondary, tertiary etc. ordered columns.
The initial (default) sort sequence is alphabetic by last name (ascending, i.e. A-Z).
Note that although the whole name is displayed in the "Name" column, sorting on that column will be done by last name.

Buttons

Actor name lookup

This button provides a "lookup" facility, using an autocomplete and "Actor last name begins with..." search.

Searches are case-insensitive.

Restore

This button will restore the current data table to its original state, with all filters cancelled and the default sort sequence being reinstated.

Keyboard

Use of the apostrophe.: If you are unable to find an item which includes an apostrophe, you may be using an "apostrophe" character which dbopm doesn't recognise. Throughout dbopm, the "single quote" has been used to denote an apostrophe. On a standard English "QWERTY" keyboard, the single quote is on the same key as the "@" symbol. In technical terms, the character's decimal code is 39 (equivalent to hexadecimal 27 and octal 47).