Magic Database™ Help
Find Trick
This screen provides the primary value of The Magic Database. Unfortunately, it might seem to be the most complicated. (That's why you should read the Tutorial.) You can use this screen to search the database for any combinations of Author, Book, Keyword, Sleight, Prop, or Notes. Of course, you can also search by trick name. You may also restrict these searches to tricks or sleights in books, props or utility items; alone or in combination.
The top portion of the screen is divided into two sections. The leftmost section has seven tabs: Trick Name; Person; Book, Keyword; Sleight; Prop; and Search Notes. These tabs are used to enter the criteria used for a search of the entire database, or a search among those tricks that were found in the previous search(s).
The right hand section of the form, labeled "Search for:" has four check boxes: Tricks in Books; Sleights in Books; Physical Tricks; and Props/Utilities. These check boxes can be checked or unchecked (before or after a search) so that only those categories checked will be displayed in the Answer Grid.
Underneath the search tabs is a set of five radio buttons that allow you to change the order of the tricks retrieved by your search. These buttons allow you to view the data sorted by: Trick Name, Book title; Author ( or Magician/Creator), Price, or Time Entered (the first trick entered will be the first displayed; the last entered will be the last displayed.) Clicking on any of these radio buttons will immediately re-sort the Answer Grid, so you need not do multiple searches to see data in the order you desire.
Under the sort buttons are buttons for the four major functions of this screen: "Search Database", "Search Answer Tab.", "Clear Answer Tab.", and "Restore Ans. Tab." To the left of these buttons is a "Not" checkbox. Checking this box will search on the "negative" of the condition specified in the tab. (e.g. if the Keyword tab is active, and the Not checkbox is checked. The search will be for all those tricks that do NOT contain the specific keyword(s) selected.)
There are a few ways to enter search criteria in the Trick, Author/Magician or Book tabs. You may enter the first few letters of the name you wish to search for, and all tricks that start with those letters for the trick name, author or book will be returned.
If you wish, you may click on the down arrow symbol on the right of the data entry field to display a scrollable list of all the items in the database.
If you click on the "Keyword", "Sleight", or "Prop" tab, you will see the search options look like:
In this tab, you can move one or more items from the left hand list box, to the right hand list box. When you initiate the search, all the tricks will be returned that have ANY of the items in the right hand list box. (This is equivalent to a logical OR.) If you fail to select any items before starting the search, you will get a message telling you that at least one item must be selected.
How to Enter Search Criteria
Trick Name; Person; Book
You may enter a partial name, or a complete name to be searched. Tricks will be returned in the Answer Table whose Name, Author, or Book/Video Title match all the letters you've entered. (The search is NOT case sensitive.)
In other words, if you enter the letter "a" in the "Trick Name" field, of the "Trick" tab, you will get back all the tricks that start with an "A." If you enter "har" in the "Author/Magician" field of the "Person" tab, you get back all the tricks who have an Author, Creator, or Magician with those first three letters. (e.g. Ben Harris, Paul Harris, David Harkey.)
Besides typing a name in this field, there are two other ways of entering a search criterion.
- Click on the Down Arrow of the name field. This will bring up a scrollable list of all the items in your database that you may select. You may scroll through this list with your mouse, and click on the desired choice. You may also type in some characters, which will position the list at the appropriate point, where you may now select an item by clicking on it.
- Type in the first few letters of the item you want to enter, and press the Down Arrow key. This will bring up the first item in the database that starts with the letters you've entered. You may scroll through these items with the Up and Down Arrow keys.
Keyword; Sleight; Prop
You may select one or more items to search by moving attributes from the left to the right list box. All tricks containing ANY of these attributes will be added to the Answer Table.
Notes
You may enter any characters you wish to find in the "notes" field. There is a check box you may select if you want the search to be case sensitive.
Buttons on the Find Trick Screen
Search for: (Check Boxes)
You may use these check boxes to restrict the types of trick shown in the Answer Table. These boxes may be checked before or after you do a search. If you check or uncheck any of these boxes when there are tricks showing in the Answer Table, it will be adjusted accordingly.
Check All; Clear All
Checks or clears the check boxes. This can facilitate selecting those items you want to see in the Answer Table.
Sort by: (Radio buttons)
Changes the sort order of the tricks in the Answer Table.
Not (Check box)
Checking this box causes the database search to return all the items that do NOT meet the search criterea. In most cases, we recommend you not use this button in conjunction with the "Search Database" button, as it may produce a slow search, depending on the size of your database. (See the Tutorial.)
Search Database
This will use the criterea in the Active Tab to find items in the database, and add them to the Answer Table. This will Add these items to any other items currently in the Answer Table. This feature is helpful in doing "Or Logic." (See the Tutorial.)
Search Ans. Tab.
This button will search the Answer Table for those records that meet the criteria in the current tab. Only those records that match these criteria will be displayed in the Answer Table. This function is used to implement "And logic." (See the Tutorial.)
Clear Ans. Tab.
Clears the Answer Table, enabling you to start a new search.
Restore Ans. Tab.
This will restore the Answer Table to its status before the last search. This is useful if you make a mistake in one step of a series of searches. It is also useful if you have a query that cannot be handled in a "normal" series of steps. (See: Problem queries.)
Close
Exits this screen, and returns to the previous screen.
Prints the items in the Answer Table.
Export
Creates a file of those items in the Answer Table suitable for importing into another database.
Manipulating the Answer table
Once a trick is in the Answer Table, it can be selected for editing, or deleted. Additionally, the entire Answer Table can be printed or exported. In order to facilitate printing or exporting, individual tricks can be removed from the Answer Table.
You may move the columns of the Answer Table by clicking on the column header and dragging the column to the position you prefer. You may also resize the columns by clicking and dragging on the column dividers in the column header area.
Edit a Trick
To edit an individual trick, you can:
- Double-click on it.
- Right-click on it, and select "Edit" from the Pop-up menu.
- Scroll to it with the Up or Down Arrow keys, or your mouse, and press Enter.
Remove a trick from the Answer Table
Before printing or exporting tricks in the Answer Table, you may wish to delete some of them. Simply right-click on the trick, and select "Remove From Ans. Table" from the Pop-up Menu. This will delete the trick from the Answer Table only, the trick WILL remain in the database.
Delete a trick from the database
If you want to delete a trick from the database, right click on it, and select "Delete" from the Pop-up menu. You will see a message warning you that it is dangerous to delete a trick from the database without first looking at all the information on the Edit Trick screen. To delete the trick, click on "Yes," to keep it, click on "No." (We do strongly recommend you only delete tricks when you are in the Edit Trick screen.