As everything was working OK before the upgrade, I can only assume the corruption was caused by upgrading to 2.0v4?

Why its only affected certain users, and not others I can’t answer. But I would hope the developers who have had affected users databases sent in, should be able to see a common denominator.

I agree with you that ALL requests can’t be honoured. I also agree that not all requests are viable, and that the developers do have good ideas themselves.

Maybe they could put up a voting system on their website with a list of possible features that could be included in the next version and gauge user reaction that way?
Or summarize the user requests and allow people to add their vote of support for their preferred feature/s

As it stands the Moderators send the forum threads requesting new features to the developers. But we as users have no idea of which request is more popular etc.

In some ways I can see why they wouldn’t want user involvement. Especially if for technical reasons promised features didn’t make it for the final release. Users who had voted for those features would be bitterly disappointed.

I do appreciate that it’s difficult getting the balance right, but in my opinion they could do more.

I totally agree with you that fixes should be worked on immediately and updates of Bento should then be released ASAP.
I will forward your post to the product manager directly. We’ll see what he says.

Feature requests can’t ALL be honored, but simple ones definitely should. All requests should at least be mauled over.
But the developers also have their own ideas of new features that are sometimes pretty good as well.
I will ask the product manager if it would be possible to comment on some of the requests from users – how good are the chances, why can’t certain features be included, a.s.o.

If the duplicating bug is gone after you started with a fresh database, it seems to me that your database file was getting corrupt. Are you afraid that the application itself caused that corruption? Has it happened again with your fresh database?

I’ve been using Bento since the very beginning and the length of time between updates and bug fixes in my opinion is very poor indeed.
V1 had some tremendous bugs, granted they did release an update but the majority were not fixed, we had to upgrade to V2.

I reported an iCal / Address book duplication bug when upgrading to 2.0v4 on the 5th of May. The thread can still be seen in the reporting bugs section of the Bento forum.

My events were duplicating every time Bento was opened. In the end after my iCal events totalled nearly 52,000 and the program was freezing, I gave up on a fix, and have had to start again with a fresh database.

Tech support are aware of the bug but don’t know when it will be sorted.

Yes, I managed to export and re-import my libraries, but all related links were lost and had to be re-linked. The library icons are now all standard icons because they can’t easily be changed, making it hard to distinguish between libraries.

Other bugs and issues:

MobileMe sync bug has been around for a long time.

Various printing issues still around.

User suggestions for better calculations, “IF” for example has been requested numerous times.

Smart collections: why don’t they automatically update when used as related data??

Importing records: you can’t merge it doesn’t check for duplications.

2 year limit past and present for displaying records.

I could go on and on but a quick look on the Bento forum will show just how often the same queries and suggestions crop up time and time again. But they never seem to see the light of day.

Bento is a very good program and I’m aware its still only version 2, BUT it could be so much more.

In my opinion far more effort is required in delivering the requested features from users.
Bug fixes need correcting and releasing as updates ASAP. Not just when the next version is planned for release.

I can’t be the only user who feels let down by FileMaker over this, and I do wonder how many users or potential users have given up on Bento and moved to another software application because of it?

Regards

Scott

1) I saw when Bento iPhone 1.0 was released, I installed it
2) Synced with my Mac Bento 2.0.3 (upgrade purchase from v.1)
3) Noticed that my Address Book entries in Bento desktop had 20 duplicates (some data in some duplicates were incomplete).
4) Saw that I needed 2.0.4 for the syncing to work properly.
4) Installed 2.0.4. and synced. But no fix.

Deleting the duplicates deletes the entry. Address Book, fortunately, does not show these duplicates.

FileMaker is aware of this problem, and it’s documented in the Bento Forums. The forum administrator asked for Bento files from people having this problem. I sent mine, and they were able to duplicate the problem, and PM’d me:

From: TSPenguin Date: 05-14-2009
Hi phloem,

We have successfully received your Bento database. I tested with it and was able to reproduce the issue. I have since forwarded the database to our Testing department for their research efforts.

I will provide an update to the forum with any new information that becomes available about this reported behavior.
—-
I replied, and he wrote back to say “At this time, the Testing department is still investigating the matter and comparing behavior reports from other users experiencing the same issue.” That was on June 8.

You can read my original post on the forums that started this discussion “2.0.4 is messing things up”

http://forums.filemaker.com/fmbnto/board/message?board.id=GS&message.id=13871#M13871

In my trouble shooting efforts, my Address Book Library which had 7,000+ entries after the 20 duplicates, duplicated some more, and now it’s 23,000+.

If my Bento Address Book Library simply had the same information as my Address Book, it wouldn’t be a major issue. But, it doesn’t. The Library has a lot of specific information that’s only in Bento.

For example, I’ll be sure to make him aware of the problem I reported right here earlier: about the template export.

I don’t want to come across as Mr Angry from the UK.
But Filmmaker’s continual lackluster support in the way of bug fixes, ongoing issues and users suggestions really frustrates me!……arrrggghhhhh!!!!!!