Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Filemaker Introduces Bento for Mac
- Thread starter marco114
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Here ya go!
Spanning Sync
Google Calendar to Ical two way syncing!
http://spanningsync.com/
Oh yeah... it's sweet...
Ted
Spanning Sync
Google Calendar to Ical two way syncing!
http://spanningsync.com/
Oh yeah... it's sweet...
Ted
I agree with SiliconAddict. I have Mail, Address Book and iCal open all the time. Why can't I have them in one app?
It would be nice if you had the choice to open them as a single, integrated app or as a multiple apps depending on your needs.
That would be nice. Personally I have mail open 24/7, but never want address book or iCal open. Keep 'em separated. We don't need another iTunes!
No ability to add graphics to templates (maybe I'm missing something). Limited customization. If it had that feature, I'd have no complaints.
It does have forms.
There is this concept of a library that appears to basically be a table. When creating fields for a library you can select a type that contains records from another library. So you can at least setup a simple one-to-many relationship. I haven't played with it enough to see if you can do much past that, but I suspect not.
Reports you can do by way of a find or advanced find and then print out the results. Haven't seen anything past that.
If they opened it up to scripting and Automator then this might be really cool. Or if they let people write custom data links (maybe you can do this through Leopard some how, not sure) or added more built-in ones, like iTunes for instance.
This is basically a really simply version of Access if you want to compare it to something. But there is no way to write any kind of "code" to manipulate the data or UI in anyway. Like I said, would be cool to have scripting support built-in. I'm also not sure if it's possible to access the data from a 3rd party app using JDBC or ODBC.
Just give me an apple version of entourage
: ) gadgetmacfreak & Manatee, it really does look like glorified hypercard for recipes.
I was not very impressed. It adds a lot more work but without any time savings in return. I wish someone would just make an iTunes like interface that let me add files aliases, emails, contacts, calendar, etc. all in the same place. The app should allow nested folders and smart folders and give me a column and coverflow view. Then to make it actually useful let me easily view/edit the spotlight comments, notes, and other kMDitem metadata attributes. Is it really that much to ask for?
The finder is only a couple steps away from this and one program could easily integrate everything. I like my finder and I don't want a replacement. I also don't want to have to remember if what I am looking for was imported into some other database.
: ) gadgetmacfreak & Manatee, it really does look like glorified hypercard for recipes.
I was not very impressed. It adds a lot more work but without any time savings in return. I wish someone would just make an iTunes like interface that let me add files aliases, emails, contacts, calendar, etc. all in the same place. The app should allow nested folders and smart folders and give me a column and coverflow view. Then to make it actually useful let me easily view/edit the spotlight comments, notes, and other kMDitem metadata attributes. Is it really that much to ask for?
The finder is only a couple steps away from this and one program could easily integrate everything. I like my finder and I don't want a replacement. I also don't want to have to remember if what I am looking for was imported into some other database.
I'll have to download it and have a play... but it seems that this sits in an unusual position at the moment. It doesn't play with Filemaker Pro, and Filemaker Pro doesn't work on Leopard (yet), but they've released Bento ...
I have to wonder if this means that for Leopard they've worked on a new code base entirely for Filemaker... and Bento just came out before the Pro app.
Also.. it imports/exports CSV, does that mean it doesn't play with iWork's Numbers (or Pages?). Numbers can import Excel sheets but Bento can't? (and Bento can't interact with Filemaker or MySQL which is built into OSX?).
It may be a brilliant program (I have no idea) but it just seems a little isolated within the Apple offerings at the moment.
I have to wonder if this means that for Leopard they've worked on a new code base entirely for Filemaker... and Bento just came out before the Pro app.
Also.. it imports/exports CSV, does that mean it doesn't play with iWork's Numbers (or Pages?). Numbers can import Excel sheets but Bento can't? (and Bento can't interact with Filemaker or MySQL which is built into OSX?).
It may be a brilliant program (I have no idea) but it just seems a little isolated within the Apple offerings at the moment.
I think this app has potential it just needs to go a bit further
Things I think would help this app:
* Google sync support (Calendar, Tasks, Contacts, etc.)
* Calendar view for the calendar events
* User pics in the Address book
* I couldn't see a way to report out of the data
(for example, billing reports etc.)
* ODBC Driver so I can connect the data to other apps
(Word, Excel, Pages, Numbers, other mail merge type stuff, etc.)
* More Export options (I only was able to select CSV)
* Project charts or some sort of integration with OmniPlan
Things I think would help this app:
* Google sync support (Calendar, Tasks, Contacts, etc.)
* Calendar view for the calendar events
* User pics in the Address book
* I couldn't see a way to report out of the data
(for example, billing reports etc.)
* ODBC Driver so I can connect the data to other apps
(Word, Excel, Pages, Numbers, other mail merge type stuff, etc.)
* More Export options (I only was able to select CSV)
* Project charts or some sort of integration with OmniPlan
Personal DB for iPod Touch, iPhone & iDo (Apple Tablet)
It appears to use SQLite3 as the DB engine.
The Bento app is only 53 Meg-- a skinny version that didn't contain the db definition overhead would prolly be much, much smaller.
The DB size can be less than 1 Meg
I think Bento is the forerunner of several apps that are designed (in some form) to run on both (hopefully, soon to be all three) ultra-portable OS X Devices.
This way you will be able to take all your important stuff with you (hiking, concerts,sport events, etc.), but not need to carry a laptop.
The keys here are it is:
1) the stuff that is important to you
2) defined, formatted and organized the way you want
3) can be accessed and updated anywhere, even when no phone or WiFi is available.
4) can be synced via iTunes or Back To My Mac
It appears to use SQLite3 as the DB engine.
The Bento app is only 53 Meg-- a skinny version that didn't contain the db definition overhead would prolly be much, much smaller.
The DB size can be less than 1 Meg
I think Bento is the forerunner of several apps that are designed (in some form) to run on both (hopefully, soon to be all three) ultra-portable OS X Devices.
This way you will be able to take all your important stuff with you (hiking, concerts,sport events, etc.), but not need to carry a laptop.
The keys here are it is:
1) the stuff that is important to you
2) defined, formatted and organized the way you want
3) can be accessed and updated anywhere, even when no phone or WiFi is available.
4) can be synced via iTunes or Back To My Mac
Right off the bat there are several things that I like. Obviously it integrates with address book and iCal. I've only played a bit with the Address Book part so far.
It allows me to add fields to my address book contacts that are heretofore impossible to create in Address Book. And it is very easy to do so. This allows me to do what I'd like to do in Address Book, but cannot do, which is simply create a smart album which says that the Board of Directors (via a field) for Organization A is ____ and to do so very easily.
However, I do not see a way to reverse this where I can see the new fields I've created, or "Collections" (Address Books groups) in Address Book itself. This would be ideal. But in either case, having the ability to ramp up the info on my address book contacts with very little effort is a really useful tool.
Update: So, this does potentially work really well. I do a lot of media work. So I have a media group in Address Book. In Benta I just deleted all of the names. I looked into address book and the group was empty. I then created a field that is a checkbox for media. Went through and start just checking it next to names. Did a sort by media, dumped them back in the "Collection" that was imported from Address Book. And they magically reappear in Address Book. Very easy (could be easier) and very helpful.
So here is my plan. Use Benta to create checkboxes for all of the groups I work for. Create a custom form that shows the name, company, and just the checkboxes. Now I can see for my address book people if I remembered to add them to a group. Now I just need to automate the updating. But I cannot figure out how to get a smartcollection created in Benta into Address Book. I've been looking for these features in an easy, intuitive, drag & drop environment for a LONG TIME!
It allows me to add fields to my address book contacts that are heretofore impossible to create in Address Book. And it is very easy to do so. This allows me to do what I'd like to do in Address Book, but cannot do, which is simply create a smart album which says that the Board of Directors (via a field) for Organization A is ____ and to do so very easily.
However, I do not see a way to reverse this where I can see the new fields I've created, or "Collections" (Address Books groups) in Address Book itself. This would be ideal. But in either case, having the ability to ramp up the info on my address book contacts with very little effort is a really useful tool.
Update: So, this does potentially work really well. I do a lot of media work. So I have a media group in Address Book. In Benta I just deleted all of the names. I looked into address book and the group was empty. I then created a field that is a checkbox for media. Went through and start just checking it next to names. Did a sort by media, dumped them back in the "Collection" that was imported from Address Book. And they magically reappear in Address Book. Very easy (could be easier) and very helpful.
So here is my plan. Use Benta to create checkboxes for all of the groups I work for. Create a custom form that shows the name, company, and just the checkboxes. Now I can see for my address book people if I remembered to add them to a group. Now I just need to automate the updating. But I cannot figure out how to get a smartcollection created in Benta into Address Book. I've been looking for these features in an easy, intuitive, drag & drop environment for a LONG TIME!
yeah, that doesn't sound good.
Btw, I just figured out that if you create a smart collection in Bento with Bento-only fields, that while this will not show up as a group in Address Book, you can make it show up in any of the other groups in Address Book by right clicking and choosing "Add to..." and it adds the contents to a static group which automatically updates in Address Book's groups.
I'm pretty much sold for these reasons alone. Sorry for my absurd excitement.
This seems like the central point to me as well.
If it could connect to, or at least be updated by, another FileMaker database running on the FileMaker server, then it could be really useful for deploying simplified front end clients.
Otherwise it's just another HyperCard, which unfortunately, to a lot of people just means a good way to store recipes or Christmas card lists.
Nothing wrong with that. For some people, that's a sweet app. Not for me so much, but I might use it like that as well.