Mar

30

The Bento Database Manager

Filed Under Bento Basics 

The Bento Database Manager is a simple utility which allows you to manage multiple Bento database files more easily than you can by hand. It has been written using AppleScript and the source script is included in the download file along with an application file and a PDF user guide. The application file can be placed anywhere but your Applications folder is as good a place as any.

bento-database-manager-2.png

Please read the user guide before using the Bento Database Manager and please take special note of the various disclaimers!

Download the Bento Database Manager

Comments

62 Responses to “The Bento Database Manager”

  1. JOHN TENCICK on April 29th, 2008 6:50 pm

    WILL TAKE A LOOK ???

  2. Panny on May 12th, 2008 10:42 pm

    This is a great utility. Just one question, can this be used to help transfer databases between 2 computers – the one problem with Bento is the inability to synchronise between laptop and desktop. Can you offer any advice?

    Thanks.

  3. Simon on May 13th, 2008 9:36 am

    Hi Panny. I’d suggest you take a look at something like ChronoSync for synchronising the bentodb file across two machines. However please be aware that this will only be a file-level synchronisation so if the Bento data is edited on both machines then one of the users will lose their changes when their bentodb file is over-written.

  4. John on May 16th, 2008 6:38 pm

    Thank you so much for doing this. Greatly appreciated! Like iPhoto Buddy, The Bento Database Manager — no Bento v. 1.0 user should be without it.

  5. Simon on May 16th, 2008 7:57 pm

    Thanks John. Your comment is much appreciated.

  6. John on May 19th, 2008 5:58 pm

    One of the first things I did was to make a database file with all of the template libraries. This makes a great reference. It also shows me what all the library icons look like.

    I’ve figured out how to change a library’s icon by modifying the MySQL database by simply copying and pasting the appropriate icon code from one library to another, so having a list of all the icons in a separate database file is nice.

    Also, I hope that your Database Manager will encourage users to share their databases. A full-fledged solution someone has created with multiple libraries can now be shared and activated with your Database Manager.

  7. James Earl on May 22nd, 2008 1:00 am

    How do I uninstall this? I seem to have lost all my libraries! Please help!!

  8. Simon on May 22nd, 2008 9:12 am

    James, you can simply delete the application file from your Applications folder. You should not have lost any of your bentodb files and they should all be in you user’s Library/Application Support/Bento folder. Let me know if you need further help but the Database Manager should not have caused you to lose any of your files.

  9. Tod on October 20th, 2008 12:35 am

    @John (May 19th): Could you provide soem details on what exactly you did as well as how you cange icon code from within mySQL? And all the icons in a separate database helps you how? Not a snide remark, I’m really curious?

    I’m a new (v2) bento user.

    -tod

  10. Simon on October 20th, 2008 9:28 am

    Hi Tod. I’ll try to put together either a guide to changing the icons or a small application to do it for you since version 2 doesn’t include this feature.

    John’s comment about having a file containing the various template libraries relates to the fact that this allows him to grab an icon more easily since he has a file which contains a library for each of the different icons. When he wants to use a specific icon he can use this file to grab the raw data.

  11. John on October 21st, 2008 11:44 am

    Hi Simon. Thanks for all your work with the Database Manager. Unfortunately, I had to finally stop using it because it kept creating additional duplicates of my databases.

    Also, I’ve started using ChronoSync to sync my iMac files with my MacBook Air — including my Bento database. Since the Database Manager’s method is renaming the different databases when switching between them, I’m concerned that I risk overwriting a database during a sync with the wrong database. Until FileMaker Inc. comes up with a solution to switch between multiple databases that retain unique file names, syncing with ChronoSync seems risky.

  12. John on October 21st, 2008 11:49 am

    Simon, creating an application to change the database icons would be fantastic. I would be glad to provide my documentation as to the convoluted way I do it, but it is wordy and lengthy.

  13. Simon on October 21st, 2008 12:10 pm

    Thanks John. I think I have a fairly reliable way of doing it (which would also allow you to add your own custom icons) but I may well be in touch.

  14. John on October 21st, 2008 12:22 pm

    @Tod: The details how I changed the icon code in the mySQL database is rather convoluted. I documented it, but it is not easy reading like Simon’s tutorials.

    The reason I put all the icons in their own database was to be able to preview them easily, since Bento doesn’t give you a preview of the icons in the Template Chooser.

    I was then going to include the code for each icon, so as Simon wrote, I could easily grab the code for an icon if I wanted to change an icon in the mySQL database.

    Actually, Tod, I’ve resorted to a simpler approach. It requires knowing which icon I want before I create my database, though. I refer to a screen capture I made of all the icons and their template names. Then I create a database from the template of the icon I want and delete all the fields (except the Date Created and Date Modified fields which are locked) and start from scratch.

    Sounds obvious, but the trick is knowing which icon corresponds with each template. You can download my graphic of all the database icons and their corresponding template names here:
    Bento Library Icons

  15. Jeff Bouterma-Kbira on March 30th, 2009 9:57 am

    Gentlemen,

    Why is it that every-time I use “Bento Database Manager” a new file is created, but does NOT replace the existing one?
    It just adds an increment to the name, and I end up with:

    List_OC.bentodb
    List_OC 2.bentodb
    List_OC 3.bentodb
    List_OC 4.bentodb
    Matrix.bentodb
    Matrix 2.bentodb
    Matrix 3.bentodb
    Matrix 4.bentodb

    Any way around that?

    Jeff

  16. Simon on March 30th, 2009 2:19 pm

    Hi Jeff. I’ve no idea why you’re seeing this behaviour I’m afraid. I’m assuming that you also have a bento.bentodb file in your user’s Library/Application Support/Bento folder. This is the ‘active’ file that Bento uses so if you want to edit your Matrix data file the Database Manager should prompt you for a name for the existing bento.bentodb file if it has never been named before, renames it to reflect this name and then renames the Matrix database file to bento.bentodb.

    You’re not manually renaming these files are you?

  17. Jeff Bouterma-Kbira on March 31st, 2009 9:40 am

    Simon…
    Thank you for the promptness…
    You lost me even more!!! ;-)

    My user’s Library/Application Support/Bento folder is the ONLY location where I have a bento.bentodb file…so I am not sure I understood your question. In other words; Where else am I supposed another bento.bentodb?

    And, no I am not manually creating these files… They get created every time I use the Database Manager

    Jeff

  18. Simon on March 31st, 2009 9:48 am

    Sorry Jeff, I didn’t mean to confuse you. Your list of files didn’t include a bento.bentodb file so I just wanted to make sure that was there in the same folder too.

    I’ll have a look into this in the next day or two and now that someone else has mentioned that they have the same problem I’m sure it’s not something unique to just you.

  19. Jeff Bouterma-Kbira on April 9th, 2009 12:16 am

    Any clue, Simon, as far as what causes the problem?

  20. Simon on April 9th, 2009 2:18 am

    Sorry for being slow in getting back to you but I’m having problems getting this to occur on my Mac. I’m going to email you about this and if we get a solution I’ll post it here for others to see.

  21. Simon on May 6th, 2009 3:00 am

    Jeff, did you make any duplicates of any of the bentodb files manually? This may have caused your problem.

    In any event, I’m currently working on a new version of the Database Manager which will hopefully be the basis for several areas of additional functionality. More news soon…

  22. John on May 11th, 2009 7:57 pm

    Regarding the duplicating databases because of the Database Manager, I wrote that I had the problem in my post written 5 months before Simon’s post.

    In my October 21st post, I wrote:

    “Thanks for all your work with the Database Manager. Unfortunately, I had to finally stop using it because it kept creating additional duplicates of my databases.”

    I was hoping by now the issue would be resolved. Just revisited the Database Manager … still having the same problems.

  23. Simon on May 12th, 2009 2:05 am

    Hi John. I’ve had a look at the current version of the utility and I can’t see anything obvious that is causing this problem for some people and not others so I’m actually in the process of re-writing it from the ground-up and am also planning on including some additional features. I think that it’s going to be two or three weeks before I have something ready for release but please do keep checking the site for an announcement about it.

    Whilst I’m on the subject, does anyone have any feature requests for it?

  24. Florian on May 12th, 2009 6:00 am

    What about database switching while Bento is running? The app would just have to quit and restart Bento as well.

  25. MisterG on May 20th, 2009 12:58 pm

    I am currently using the Dropbox hack to synchronise my database between 2 machines. Do you know if DBManger works in this set up … or if it works with an iPhone.

    I could try it having backed up first, but I’m snowed under at the moment :)

    Thanks in advance

  26. Simon on May 20th, 2009 1:05 pm

    Florian, that may be possible if, as you say, the user is happy to have Bento shut-down and then re-start.

  27. Simon on May 20th, 2009 1:08 pm

    Hi MisterG. I’m not sure that it would work simply because you’re not dealing with the real Application Support/Bento folder with the Dropbox hack so the database manager may well get confused and mess things up. However the new version should be fine for it.

    That also reminds me that I need to test using the iPhone version with different bento.bentodb files.

  28. John on June 1st, 2009 1:06 pm

    Simon, any word about some kind of icon replacement? I had a method with the older version of Bento that worked, but now Bento seems to have moved a table’s icon information out its table since – I suppose -now the icons are provided in the Icons folder in Resources.

    Anyway, I had a convoluted but successful way of changing out the icon of any library that won’t work now anymore. Any help about how to do this now would be appreciated.

    Cheers

  29. John on June 1st, 2009 1:54 pm

    Simon, after just posting my comment requesting any word on an icon replacement solution, I stumbled on your post made yesterday on Filemaker’s Bento forum informing in a couple of weeks you will have a new database manager that will include an icon manager.

    I’m very excited about you bringing obvious functionality that should’ve been given with Bento in the first place.

    After database corruption, I had to export and re-import all my templates and data but now all my libraries have generic icons.

    I hope also you have been able to re-create the problem that myself and others have had with the Bento Database Manager with it continually duplicating all of the database files to the point that it became unmanageable to use it. I would certainly love for this to be fixed so that I could use the database manager again.

    Also — and I realize this may be impossible — if there’s any way to safeguard overwriting different database files, whether using archiving software like Time Machine or synchronizing software like ChronoSync to synchronize files between two Macs. I know, I know…

  30. Simon on June 1st, 2009 3:14 pm

    Hi John. Unboxer, the new name for the Database Manager, is a total re-write and will solve the problems that people have been having. Version 1 focuses on two main areas: data file management and icon management. I have some great plans for the application too and am going to try to focus on filling the gaps in Bento’s functionality as much as I can.

    Regarding safeguarding files, for Bento 1 users I’m afraid that you’re pretty much stuck with a system that renames database files so the functionality is somewhat limited but for Bento 2 files you will be able to store them wherever you like and call them anything you want and Bento will launch the data file from its real location using its real name. This means that you will have some Time Machine and backup capabilities because a file called, for example, Personal.bentodb will always be called Personal.bentodb so if you need to restore it from Time Machine you know exactly what file you are reverting.

  31. John on June 2nd, 2009 9:11 am

    That’s fantastic. Thanks, looking forward to it.

  32. John on June 24th, 2009 8:34 am

    Just checking to see how Unboxer is coming along?

  33. Simon on June 24th, 2009 2:45 pm

    It’s getting there but development has slowed down slightly because I was away for a few days for a wedding and I’m horribly busy with the day-job. It is however coming, hopefully in the next two or three weeks.

  34. John on August 27th, 2009 4:07 am

    Eagerly anticipating Unboxer!

  35. vik on September 7th, 2009 2:15 am

    how is it going with Uboxer? Maybe you need some help or ftp to upload?

    BR,
    vik

  36. Simon on September 8th, 2009 4:14 am

    Sorry for non-appearance of Unboxer and the lack of news about it. I’m still working on it but my day job has been extremely hectic over the last couple of months which pretty wiped out my own coding time. Things are calming down again now so hopefully I can get back to Unboxer again in a few days and then have an initial release out by the end of this month. It’s nearly there… I just need to concentrate on it a little more.

  37. Victoria on September 9th, 2009 11:11 am

    Hi Simon.

    Im so glad you are on the new database manager, because I have been having that problem…and am scared I will screw up my files. Otherwise I love the program. What are you and people talking about with respect to the icons? why is that problematic?

    Victoria

  38. Victoria on September 9th, 2009 11:12 am

    Oh! I mean I have been having the duplication probelm, since the install!

    It renames them as 2 or 3 etc., the next time I try to open. I have been deleting them when they are created., which is easy., but always scary….

    Victoria

  39. Victoria on September 9th, 2009 11:56 am

    Hey Simon — I just remembered something. It started to make extra databases, 2, 3 etc. after I made a new database from the switcher menu. If that is any help de-bugging that.

    Best.,
    Victoria

  40. Simon on September 9th, 2009 12:20 pm

    Thanks Victoria. The issue with icons is that people want to be able to change the icons that are shown against the library names so that, for example, you can pick something other then the generic red book.

  41. victoria on September 15th, 2009 10:03 am

    Hi Simon.,

    I forgot to ask….is your new DB manager for Bento 2? I’m still on bento 1 and holding out for Bento 3.

    Any eta?

  42. Simon on September 15th, 2009 12:09 pm

    It will work with Bento 1 and Bento 2 and will hopefully also work with Bento 3. The Bento 1 functionality will be more limited than the functionality available for Bento 2 (and 3) but it will at the very minimum allow you to manage multiple data files and change library icons.

    I’m loath to give an ETA, simply because I’d hoped to have it available long before now, but I’ll be optimistic and say late September.

  43. victoria on September 17th, 2009 10:13 am

    Thanks simon!

    Even if it does not tunr out to be late sept…..i so, so, appreciate what you’ve done!

    ps. how can it work with bento 3 if bento 3 isnt out yet?

  44. Simon on September 18th, 2009 2:12 am

    I’m working on the basis that there won’t be too many changes. I’m sure I’ll have some tweaking to do but hopefully there won’t be as many changes as there were between versions 1 and 2.

  45. Mark on October 3rd, 2009 5:27 pm

    I don’t want to use Library/Application Support/Bento as the location for my database(s). Will I still need to keep a placeholder bentodb file in that directory, then switch to the other location after I start up Bento? OR can I configure any of my databases as the default upon program launch?

  46. Simon on October 4th, 2009 10:52 am

    Hi Mark. I presume you’re talking about Unboxer being used with Bento 2 or 3 because Bento 1 still requires there to be a file called bento.bentodb in the ~/Library/Application Support/Bento folder. With Bento 2 and 3 Unboxer will allow you to store your bentodb file anywhere and call them anything. In addition, any of these file can be set as the default that will launch if Bento is launched directly rather than loading it via Unboxer. In addition, you can choose a bentodb file and launch it with Bento whilst leaving the default data file setting alone.

    Now in reality this functionality is available in Bento 2 and 3 anyway. If you hold down the Alt key when you launch Bento you will be shown a dialog that allows you to launch a bentodb file and allows you to set a bentodb file as the default file. In both cases the bentodb file need not be in the ~/Library/Application Support/Bento folder.

    So, why use Unboxer, well there are a few reasons:

    1. Unboxer displays a list of all the data file in any folders you choose to monitor.

    2. Unboxer works with multiple versions of Bento. So, for example, if you are using Bento 2 and trying Bento 3 you can identify the bentodb versions that go with each and set default bentodb files for each.

    3. When you select a data file in Unboxer you are shown a list of the Libraries in that data file so you can see at a glance if you are going to open the right data file.

    4. You can change the Library icons for Bento 1, 2 and 3 bentodb files. In addition, you can use a custom graphic as well as the built-in ones. Bento 3 allows you to change the Library icon, but only to one of their pre-defined icons.

    5. Lots more that I’m not going to divulge right now!

    The basic functionality outlined above will be permamently available in the trial version of Unboxer whilst additional features will require Unboxer to be registered once a trial period has expired.

  47. Mark on October 4th, 2009 6:52 pm

    Hi Simon. Thank you for the detailed reply. Actually, no, I was not even aware of Unboxer until I read your response. But it sounds fantastic!

    For your reference, the reason I want control over where I store my database(s), is because of security. Bento 3 finally offers some security, but really only at the field level. You can encrypt a field within a record, but the password for the entire database is just a gate keeper, the database itself does not get encrypted.

    Therefore, I want to store my database(s) inside of an encrypted container (True Crypt). That way, I can mount the container, launch Bento and point to a database within the mounted volume.

    It sounds like Unboxer is an upcoming product that will make this all possible/easier. I will certainly be keeping an eye out for it.

  48. Simon on October 5th, 2009 2:45 am

    Hi Mark. It looks like the ‘Alt whilst launching’ trick may work for you then. Simply copy your bentodb file to where you want to store it and then bring up the Bento launch options window and set that file as the default one.

  49. Mark on October 5th, 2009 7:02 am

    Hi Simon. Beautiful!!! That’s exactly what I needed. I wish I knew that a long time ago. But I still look forward to the features that Unboxer will add. I shall stay tuned.

    Thanks,
    -Mark

  50. Bento to the Max on October 7th, 2009 2:40 pm

    Hi Simon, this is John from earlier posts. How is Unboxer coming along? I am so disappointed with Bento 3’s bugs, I finally had to chunk it. I can’t believe they let this out the door.

    At least I would like to recover one feature with your Unboxer, and that is being able to swap Library icons.

    And here I am trying to export new records and templates out of my Bento 3 db, so that I can try to rebuild them now in Bento 2 since Bento 3 is so bug-ridden. It would be a helluva lot easier if I had your Unboxer and didn’t have to keep manually switching between bento.bentodb files, fearful I’m going to slip up and delete the wrong one and lose my recent data.

    I know it’s a lot of hard work, but I sure wish Unboxer would be available soon. It would give me back a little of the excitement I lost after the disappointment of Bento 3.

  51. Simon on October 7th, 2009 2:59 pm

    Hello John. No promises but I am hoping to get a beta version out to people to start testing at the end of this weekend with the tested version hopefully being released at the end of this month.

    If you send an email to simon (at) bentousers.com then I’ll add you to the list of testers.

  52. Simon on October 9th, 2009 6:03 pm

    It’s coming soon, it really is: http://emberapp.com/ottersoftware/images/digestive.

  53. Alan Briggs on October 11th, 2009 10:52 am

    A number if these problems may be resolved if you can change the database name and location that Bento uses.

    I do not see any way to do this. Does anyone know how to do this? I can’t see using Bento without this option.

    I place all my other databases and files on a central server and either replicate or synchronize from this single reference data base out onto other other computers or PDAs. It is easy to backup and restore in this manner also.

  54. Simon on October 11th, 2009 10:55 am

    That’s the problem and the whole purpose of the old database manager / new application… Bento is designed to work with one data file named bento.bentodb that sits in a specific location (the user account’s Library/Application Support/Bento folder).

  55. Mark Berry on October 28th, 2009 5:09 am

    Hi, tyanks for this manager – it’s stunning just how many problems (that shouldn’t be there in the first place) it solves.

    One question; how does it work with Bento for iPhone?

    What I mean is that presumably I can only sync one database file with the iPhone, so how do I cope with that when using the manager?

    I assume I simply set up syncing in one and only one of my database files, and then be careful to only ever sync that, but does Bento store the partnership with the phone in the actual database, or somewhere else such as a plist file? If it’s the former I should be OK, if it’s the latter, maybe not.

    Thanks,

    Mark

  56. Simon on October 28th, 2009 3:35 pm

    To be perfectly honest I’ve not tried it with the iPhone synchronisation yet. For now I’d advise being careful to only sync with the data file you’ve previously synced with and I’ll look into this fully and see if I can find an elegant way of handling it in Digestive, the follow-up version of the Bento Database Manager.

  57. Mark Berry on October 29th, 2009 9:42 am

    Thanks Simon, sounds good.

    Mark

  58. Mark Berry on November 1st, 2009 6:30 pm

    Simon,

    Just wondering, now that Bento 3 allows you to change the default database (hold option while launching), is there likely to be a way to support that in the manager (or in Digestive)?

    I tried altering the directory path in your script, but although it appeared to run fine, some strange things happened when creating a new database. This might have been due to the fact that the folder I was specifying was one synced with my iDisk though; it could have been something to do with sync conflicts?

    Mark

  59. Simon on November 4th, 2009 4:23 am

    Hi Mark.

    Yes, the built-in data file selection system will be supported in as much as anything you set as the default data file in it will be picked up via Digestive.

    I really need to remove the script because it seems to be causing more problems that it solves these days! Digestive will be out in the next few weeks (definitely before Christmas, probably in November) so if you can hang on a little longer then life should get much easier.

  60. Shane Fawkes on December 12th, 2009 5:08 pm

    Hi Simon,

    Just tried going back to the emberapp.com link to see about any developments. I don’t remember setting up any notification requests with Ottersoftware. Will those still get pushed out to us when this goes public (alpha, beta, v1.0, anything)?

    Looking forward to it.

    Regards,
    Shane

  61. Simon on December 15th, 2009 8:28 am

    Hi Shane,

    Sorry that there hasn’t been much progress or news about Digestive recently. Both the day job and home life have been really hectic and look like staying that way until early January. However, the database manager is now a top priority.

    The best way to keep up to date with it would be to check my blog at http://www.ottersoftwareblog.com and possibly subscribe to its RSS feed. I will also mention progress in my @ottersoftware Twitter stream.

    Simon

  62. Simon on January 17th, 2010 8:23 am

    I’ve just posted a quick note on the BentoUsers site about the state of Digestive. You can read it here or jump straight to the article on my blog that it relates to here.

    For simplicity I’d ask for any further comments about Digestive to be posted there please.

Leave a Reply