Jun

26

Graham, Gareth Is Granting Your Request

Filed Under Bento Tips, Editorial, Templates | 2 Comments

Attention, Bento users: from today on, look for your name in the title of a new post!
Gareth, BentoUsers‘ brand new guest-contributor will make templates for you, even simple ones like this one: Gardening.
Submit your requests as a comment in the article Template Ideas, Please! where Gareth will choose his victim. This time it’s Graham’s request that tickled his fancy.

I will still give tips as well, but Gareth will do the actual work – thanks a bunch, my friend! I like the idea especially because it offers something that the new Filemaker, Inc. Template Exchange does not offer.

Gareth is a MSCE and a CCNA (computer specialists know what this means) and has been working on a Mac for three years. He loves Bento even more, after he found out that its limits can be overcome “… if you are clever and look beyond the problem. Ideas just keep popping into my head!” Gareth, I would like to add that you also have the tenacity to keep trying until you find the right workaround or solution!

Read more

May

12

The Fill Handle Functionality

Filed Under Bento Tips | Leave a Comment

Here’s a post from the Bento support forum to explain the limitations of the otherwise very useful Fill-Down feature added in Bento 2:

When using the fill-down feature in Bento’s Table view, keep in mind that this feature will NOT work when viewing a Smart Collection or a found set of records after using the search function. Otherwise, viewing your records in a standard Collection or Library when all records are being displayed, you should see the fill-down marker in the very lower-right corner of the cell that you have selected. When hovering your mouse over this (tiny) marker, your cursor should change to resemble a crosshair. When you see the crosshair, click and drag down to fill the selected value down to a defined amount of cell values below it.

May

11

Unexpected Template Exchange Behavior!

Filed Under Bento Bugs, Bento Tips | Leave a Comment

I knew about these problems for a while, but only recently discovered all the details.

In my opinion, being able to exchange templates is one of the best features added to Bento 2. It makes Bento effectively a multi-user database app and creates a global community besides the immense promotional benefits!
But there is some unexpected behavior every user who wants to exchange templates should know about.

As a starting point, here’s a description of the Bento feature: you can export the template (without any Records) of any Custom Library plus any Related Data Libraries that get attached through the inclusion of a Related Records List field. These RRLs can also be Collections from iCal or Address Book, or references to the iCal/AddressBook Parent Libraries.
You CAN NOT export the template of only a single Collection of any Library
(which is a feature I would love to see – it would even make sense to limit it to iCal/Address Book Collections/Smart Collections).

Every Parent Library template automatically includes all its Collections which is behavior you would want and expect with Custom Libraries. The problem starts when iCal or Address Book are involved. Because of the integration of those two Libraries, it’s easy to include related data of events, projects, or contact information. I even dare to say that the majority of templates will take advantage of that integration.

So here is what happens:

If you have a RRL in your Custom Library that is referencing a single Collection of iCal Events, iCal Tasks, or Address Book, then ALL your Collections will be attached to the template (like the default behavior for Custom Libraries – but this instance should be treated as an exception to the rule).
And logic tells us why this behavior is still unexpected: after all, the RRL is only referencing a single Collection. Since Bento allows us to do that, it should be man enough to handle the results correctly. You can choose NOT to include Related Libraries, but if you created custom forms, you would want to!

So whoever imports the template will be getting all your “Fishing Buddies” and “Frank’s Plumbing business” Collections, or you now have two “Friends” Collections all of a sudden (the second one will be called “Friends 1″). In the case of Address Book, these unwanted Collections will even be “conveniently” available as Groups outside of Bento in your Mac Address Book!

Secondly, you are inheriting all the Forms of the template owner. Again, the Forms you get should be limited to custom forms of the Library/Collection that is referenced by the RRL field.

Thirdly, you also get all the custom fields from those extra collections and the main Address Book and iCal libraries.

Most importantly, after I had sent them an (admittedly overheated) email, Filemaker, Inc. Management called me today, acknowledging the problem and my concerns, and promising to have it checked out.

The template exchange here at BentoUsers.com is also safe, because I’m going through the painstaking process of “cleaning up” all templates before I publish them. I import them into a test database file, delete all unwanted (unrelated) Collections, and re-export the template.

Warning: if you are planning to clean up your own templates before you export them, be aware that all Address Book Collections you delete, will also be deleted from the Mac Address Book! I don’t use any Groups, so I’m lucky.

But this elaborate workaround costs me a lot of extra time

Update (January 2010): The problem has still not been fixed, and probably never will be!

May

10

Template Ideas, Please!

Filed Under Bento Tips | 50 Comments

Here’s a good tip: if you are looking for a particular template, leave us a comment right here! There are many Bento users out there who love to figure out how to create the perfect solution.

Additional requests: please don’t ask for a template that is very simple and straightforward. Try to work on it yourself first. If you get stuck, comment right here and ask for help.
Secondly, try to include details in your requests, like field names or special features.

I’ll start: I get frequent requests for a Wedding Planner Template.

To follow my own new rules: it should include, for example, a guest list, a list of the gifts, the priest, the wedding party, the reception, tracking of different projects and side-events, like the invitations, who’s taking care of the flowers, the bridal shower, etc.
Who wants to take a crack at it?

Let the creative juices flow… and submit the finished template to BentoUsers.com! Thanks in advance in the name of all current and future Bento addicts.

Mar

19

Wanted: Enthusiastic Contributors

Filed Under Bento Basics, Bento Examples, Bento Tips, Editorial, Site Notes, Tutorials | 13 Comments

Hey, at his very moment I’m running BentoUsers all by my own lonely self. I know, I know, it seems I have this huge supporting staff behind the scenes. But that’s just a rumor. All I have is some people I can ask questions if I’m totally desperate. But I’m the only one publishing things and coming up with the ideas. That has to change! After all, the site’s main motto is:
Written By Bento Users For Bento Users. I clearly detect the plural form here and it wouldn’t sound very good to change it to the singular form…

I’m calling out to any other user, starting with my friends Dan and Barb, you know yourselves, how wonderful you are! I do appreciate the templates users have contributed. Keep them coming! But now I’m also looking for (regular?!) contributors. It could be a weekly column, the occasional tip or trick, special usage ideas, workarounds… pretty much anything. Even just someone who scours through the posts and leaves some comments on a regular basis. Point out the errors of my ways, make suggestions!

I hope I gave you some starting thoughts how to help out. Come out of the woodworks, get famous and help change the (Bento) world!

Thanks for listening…

Yours Truly, Lonesome Florian.

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