Nov

17

Saving Space On Forms

Filed Under Bento Tips | Leave a Comment

This little tip is for people like me who like to design the form layout pleasingly for the eye.

Sometimes I like to insert a spacer on the very left of a form so the fields don’t get so close to the edge. But the minimum width of a spacer isn’t very small. There is a different way that uses a little less space:

Add any field to an empty form. Then insert a column divider. Next add any field to the right of the new divider. Now remove the first field you added initially. Voila! The column divider moved to the left edge of the form, acting as a spacer which is narrower than a real Bento spacer.

Nov

17

User Finds Bento 3 Easter Egg

Filed Under Bento News, Bento Tips | 7 Comments

Bento user Mark found a Bento 3 easter egg (a hidden, undocumented feature): when you hold down the Option key upon launching Bento, a dialog box pops up which lets you choose any database file, set a default file, and more.

I tried it out and it displayed some strange behavior. Luckily, I had copied the database file I tested the feature with. Bento moved the file (removing it from my back-up folder where it resided). Since I didn’t specify that file as the default database, it later automatically reverted to the previous file, and the other file was gone, I couldn’t find it anywhere! I had to move the copy back into its old location by hand. Sounds a bit dangerous and complicated, right?

I recommend to use this hidden feature with big caution! So far, the documentation never mentioned the possible use of more than one database file, even though many users are using them, including myself. This would be another reason for the release of an updated version of Bento 3 that includes a new users guide! The users guide would need to include instructions on how to create additional database files.

Oct

9

How To Create Database File Sub-Sets

Filed Under Bento Tips | 3 Comments

Thanks to a very valuable comment from Vince, one of BentoUsers’ reluctant followers, I would like to give you the how-to of archiving sub-sets of your Bento database.
My personal example is the collection of race reports from my daughter’s High School sports career.

Here’s the step by step:

  1. Back up your current (complete) database file
  2. Create your sub-set of Libraries/Collections by deleting unwanted data
  3. Quit Bento and re-start which now automatically creates the finished sub-set
  4. Now, back up this new database file, naming it anything you want which creates the archive
  5. In Bento, revert to the back-up of your main database file
  6. Repeat those steps to create more sub-sets

Possibly you might also want to reduce the size of your main database file by deleting the data you saved in your sub-sets.

Note: in my case, my data sub-set consists of iCal Collections. Since Bento has a two-year limit for displaying iCal events, I also saved the Library Records separately as a .csv file. I hope that will work to trick Bento’s iCal limitation. The future will tell. Any comments appreciated!

Oct

9

Bento Tech Support!

Filed Under Bento News, Bento Tips | 4 Comments

In case you didn’t know Filemaker offers free (limited) tech support for Bento by phone. You can also report crashes and problems, of course.
The number is: 1-800-325-2747.

For more details, see the Filemaker Contact page.

Oct

6

Power Users Beware – Part Two

Filed Under Bento Bugs, Bento Tips, Editorial | 2 Comments

My problem is I’m too meticulous. I want things to run perfectly smoothly to be happy. That doesn’t mean I don’t like challenges, but when the challenge is met I want to relax again. But Bento 3 doesn’t let me relax, because it doesn’t keep its promises. Here are some of the most annoying examples:

Back to my daughter’s athletics: I created two Related Data fields side-by-side to compare results from 2008 with the ones from 2009. For this to be useful, both fields have to display the records in the same order.

Strange behavior #1: as long as I browse library records in sequence everything’s fine. But the moment I use split view and choose a record in the middle of the pack the display in the Related Data fields gets out of order AND they don’t match up anymore! Now it’s become useless for me.

Strange behavior #2: the same happens with the new Simple List field. The only good thing is I only need one field instead of two since I can enter the results from both years in the same field. So they match up at least, but still get out of order.

Strange behavior #3: Simple list field again.
You are supposed to be able to copy and paste data (says the user’s guide). If you paste spreadsheet data in Table View, all the data gets automatically distributed in rows and columns. You can’t paste something into an empty Simple List field at all. And if it has only a single cell it puts all the data in that one cell! So first you have to create enough cells so the pasted data will fit. That shouldn’t happen!

Strange behavior #4: Simple List fields again and again…
In general I like to avoid scroll bars in Bento, because they’re simply ugly. I try to design my templates so they fit on the screen, and the list fields so they contain all the data I need – all without scroll bars. It works most of the time, just takes a little extra work.
The Simple List field has two bad display problems: it shows a (redundant) empty row (for new data) even though it has a “+” icon for adding a row, and it displays an empty column (called “new column”). You can resize the empty column, making it a sliver, but whenever you restart Bento, it’s full size again! All the other List fields retain the width of their cells, NOT the Simple List field!

Strange behavior #5: Form View.
Recently I duplicated a form, because I wanted to make slight changes for displaying the final record of a collection. The duplicated form is supposed to be a separate entity. But in this case Bento 3 maintained some kind of a link between the forms. I made my changes to the duplicate and when I went back to the other form, it was messed up. SOME of the changes to the duplicate had also effected the original!

Enough for today. I will amend this article whenever I notice more of this unexpected behavior. Please also report similar problems right here.

As I commented before: Bento is just not doing its part when it comes to consistent or expected results – especially for power users.

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