Actor (Authority Record) Browse & Management

A Guide for Archivists and Staff

What is it?

The AHG Actor Manage plugin (ahgActorManagePlugin) provides a high-performance browse and autocomplete experience for actors — the authority records for people, families, and organisations (corporate bodies) that create or relate to archival material. It replaces the base AtoM actor browse, which suffered from N+1 query hangs on large datasets, with a fast implementation that queries Elasticsearch directly over HTTP (no Elastica layer) and populates facets in a couple of batched queries.

The plugin adds no new database tables — it browses the standard AtoM actor data and its search index. Viewing and editing individual authority records is handled through the standard ISAAR-aligned actor screens, which this plugin's routing wires up alongside its fast browse and autocomplete.

Key features

• Actor browse (/actor/browse) backed by direct Elasticsearch HTTP queries for speed on large authority files.
• Batch facet population — sidebar facets are built with two queries instead of one-per-row, avoiding the legacy slowdown.
• Sidebar facets / filters, including entity type, languages, repository, occupation, place, subject, media types, and "has digital object."
• Sorting by name (alphabetic), with ascending/descending control, honouring the site-wide browser-sort setting.
• Free-text search with an optional field selector, plus support for the global search box redirecting into actor browse.
• Advanced search with multiple boolean criteria rows (query / field / and-or operator) and a related-authority filter.
• Multiple display modes (list, grid, card).
• Actor autocomplete (/actor/autocomplete) via Elasticsearch prefix search, with a database fallback if the index is unavailable — used by edit forms throughout the system to link creators and related actors.

How to use it

1. Browse actors. Go to /actor/browse. Results are paged and sortable; use the sort control to change ordering.
2. Filter with facets. Use the sidebar facets (entity type, language, repository, occupation, place, subject, media type, has-digital-object) to narrow the list.
3. Search. Type a name or term in the search box. To target a specific field, use the field selector; for richer queries, open the advanced search panel and add boolean criteria rows.
4. Switch display mode. Choose list, grid, or card to suit the task.
5. Open an actor. Click a result to view the authority record (/actor/<slug>). From there you can Edit (/actor/<slug>/edit) or Delete (/actor/<slug>/delete), and you can create a new actor at /actor/add — these use the standard ISAAR actor screens.
6. Autocomplete in forms. When linking a creator or related actor elsewhere in the system, start typing — the autocomplete service suggests matching actors as you go.

Tips & FAQ

• Why is browse so much faster now? It queries Elasticsearch directly and batches its facet lookups, eliminating the N+1 query pattern that made the base browse hang on large authority files.
• Autocomplete works even when search is down. If Elasticsearch is unavailable, autocomplete falls back to a database query so creator linking still works.
• Facets look empty. Facets are populated from the search index — if the index is stale, reindexing actors will restore accurate counts.
• Entity types. The entity-type facet distinguishes persons, families, and corporate bodies, helping you find the right kind of authority record quickly.
• No dedicated settings. This plugin has no admin settings of its own; browse defaults follow the site-wide AtoM settings.