Most important tip:
don’t just import a Template into your main (maybe only) database file!
For this purpose I keep a “fresh” Bento 3 database file on hand, in my Bento back-up folder. Then I save (back up) my current data and revert to the fresh database. Then I import the Template. Since I’m not using any Address Book Collections, I don’t have to worry about them. If you are using Collections (Groups), then make a list of them first, so you can check which new ones are added during import.

If you don’t have a fresh Bento database file, here is how to create one:
back up your current database file, quit Bento. Find the main database file at: user/library/application support/bento. Delete the bento.bentodb file. Re-start Bento; a fresh database file is automatically created. Now back up that file and call it “Freshbento3Data” or something similar. Now you can revert to a fresh database file any time you need to.

After you import a Template into a fresh Bento database file, check for strange Collections in Address Book and iCal. After you make sure which ones might be used by the Template, delete the stray Collections. Same goes for Forms.
In addition, you might get all Address Book/iCal Fields from the creator’s Bento. It’s too much work to deal with that issue in detail, just don’t be surprised if you run into some strange Field names once in a while…

Now you can re-export the cleaner Template and import it into your main database or any sub-set you’re using.

Happy templating…

Now, all iCal events with an End Date on or after 1/1/2008 will never be removed by Bento. In case you didn’t know, Bento had a four year window for events, based on the current date. Any event which was older than 2 years was automatically deleted from Bento (not from iCal). In case you had added custom information, that data was instantly gone for good, even from back-ups!

Good job, Ryan!

What about your New Year’s resolutions: stop smoking, going to the gym, taking a yoga course to get more relaxed? Are they still on track?

Finding motivation to keep healthy habits is often hard. In my opinion, Bento can help you in an easy way: create a simple Check Box  field in you iCal Events Library! And check it in Bento when you’re done with your task. It helps me personally a lot.

My tips for a sports calendar

• Create a calendar in iCal called “sports.” Than create a simple Smart Collection for the “sports” calendar in Bento and add a check box called “task completed.” Move it into the first column in Table View.
• Create dates when you want to go to the gym. If you’d like to add notes use the notes field or an Encrypted field, then the notes are not displayed in iCal (Bento 3).
• Let iCal remind you one day in advance so you can get your gym bag ready the night before.
• When you come home from the gym, check the check box in Bento. I recommend using Split View, then you can see your progress over the last couple of weeks. Feel satisfied and proud!
• This also fits, for example, when you maybe paid for 20 massages or something else: you know your dates, when you were there, and when the package will end.
• And if you are a young man living on your own, it maybe helps with the housekeeping

Why encrypted notes in a calendar?

My gym, for example, is health-oriented. It’s not so much for body-builders, but to motivate people who sit in the office all day to get some exercise. Or to help people with back pain. So there’s a doctor, a physiotherapist, and special instructors in my gym. That’s why you might want to keep your notes private.
They won’t appear in iCal, so your colleagues at work can’t see them when they look over your shoulder, and you can look at them at home in Bento for Mac or iPhone. This is the advantage of the iCal integration in Bento: you can add a personal touch & convenience to your calendar!

Once Digestive has been launched there will be a further announcement on the BentoUsers site.

Simon

In the Bento print dialog, you can create a PDF of your database. On the bottom left just select “open PDF in Preview” to check it out. You can then save the file from the Preview application. I’m using a 15″ MacBook Pro and I design most of my templates to fit on that screen without scrollbars, even leaving the Library pane visible. With that set-up you can fit two Records on one (letter, portrait) page. Looks great, and you can leaf through your Libraries like they are picture books!  This is a safe way of creating an extra back-up as well.

Feel free to play with all the print dialog settings. Of course, you have to create a PDF from each form. But in Preview, you can combine two or more PDFs into one, so you have many additional options to create a “custom” database view, including mixing different Form views. If you use Landscape orientation you can get a full screen view of a single record, especially if you create a custom page size in the print dialog.

Enjoy!

Recently I received a Template for evaluation that included a Smart Collection from Address Book. The author chose to include Address Book as a Related Library. To do that you just have to click a check box in the “export Template” dialog. The result was that I got all of his 39 Address Book Collections in the bargain! That also means that 39 new groups were created in Mac Address Book!
As described in my article Unexpected Template Behavior Bento can’t make the distinction if you just have a Related Data field of one Address Book Collection in your Template. It includes all Forms and Collections!

Since I know now for a fact that the Bento team won’t fix this bug for the time being, here are some tips and workarounds:
Whenever you can, don’t include Address Book or iCal Libraries in your Template, so you don’t run into this problem at all. In other words, don’t check anything in the “include these related libraries” box (template export dialog). Your Related Data Fields will still be there, the user of the Template just has to create the iCal/Address Book Collections himself. Simply include a Form called “Template Notes” or similar, where you explain what the user has to do to make the Template complete, for example the exact criteria for a Smart Collection. While you’re at it, include a description and other usage notes on that Form, like we do here at our download pages at BentoUsers. Many users will appreciate that, especially the novices who rely on downloading Templates.

There are some exceptions. If your (Related Data-) Address Book Collection uses custom Fields and/or a special custom Form, you should include Address Book as a Related Library. To make it easy for the user who downloads such a template, here are some tips to “clean” it up before exporting it:

When you’re done with your Template, make a backup of your Bento data. If you have several unrelated Address Book Collections (like many people), also make an archive of your contact file in Mac Address Book.
Now you can start cleaning: delete all Mac Address Book groups that are not part of your Bento Template (it’s easier to do this in Mac Address Book because you can delete the whole batch at once). Next delete all Forms from Bento Address Book that are not relevant to your Template, from the main Library and the Collection(s). Note that every Library and Collection has to have at least one Form. So just leave any one Form in the main Library. You could even name it “delete me.”

Now your Template is ready for export! All the user (importer) has to do is delete one Form from his main Address Book library (the “delete me” Form). Finally, you can restore your Mac Address Book and your Bento data from the archive/backup you made earlier.

Another case I ran into myself a few times is the desire to export the Template of a single iCal Collection. An example is the Cross Country Template of my daughter’s running races. Since Bento doesn’t allow you to export a single Collection, you have to do more cleaning up first. It’s slightly simpler because Bento’s iCal Collections don’t affect the Mac iCal application. So all you have to do is backing up your Bento data and then delete all other Collections and irrelevant Forms. Again you have to leave one Form in the main iCal Library.

There you are! Next month we’ll talk a little bit about importing “dirty” templates.

More bad news today…

Be careful when downloading templates from the Bento Template Exchange at Filemaker. Apparently, they accept most templates without checking them out first. Many are designed very poorly, some are even corrupt. Also, inexperienced users in the forums complain, because they don’t even know how to use the templates without instructions.

We don’t have that many templates here on our site, but our quality control and service is included:
I will not publish a template without testing it first and improving it, if necessary.
Secondly, every template will be described as to its features and usage and will include original-size screen shots.
Finally, you can always leave comments, especially useful for any open questions.

Tip: remember, a template is only a starting point. Your exact personal needs might be different. So read the user’s guide to help you modifying a template.

I was working in iPhoto, moving some pictures around and all of a sudden the Bento icon in the dock is jumping!

How can Bento crash while it’s running only in the background???

It’s just a little thing, but I do want to put it out there, if just for its strangeness…

On my daughter’s new Macbook Pro, Bento displays a white canvas for html files in a File List Field (Grid View). Other files display a nice thumbnail, like PDF files or Rich Text files. On my own (two years old-) Macbook Pro, the html files DO have a thumbnail! Why would it happen on one computer and not on another? Our computers are very similar, both running Snow Leopard.

If anyone experiences the same little oddity, please leave a comment.

Bento 3.02 info and download page

Only two specific fixes are listed (both had been reported here on BentoUsers.com), for the rest it just says “other user-reported issues.” It would have been very helpful to get a complete list of bug fixes, or if it would have said something like: “Bento 3 is now more stable.” The latter would be the most important fix.

Well, let’s try to be positive: this update is a step in the right direction, since it shows the willingness of the Bento team to keep testing the program and at least address SOME of the inconsistencies. I will report any specific bug fixes I might find by chance…

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.

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.

“I opened Bento 3 today to find it crashes after typing my password. I did this three times. Restarted my PowerBook Pro twice. On the 4th try, it worked and asked me if I wanted to back up my data. I am also using Snow Leopard.”

Comment: crashes like this seem random – why does it work the 4th time? Bento 2 was much more stable. No crash reports to speak of.

Addition (Nov. 25): I had another crash today myself: I simply edited a text field (adding a few words) while it happened. I restarted Bento and reverted to a back-up of my database. First a strange thing happened: when I tried to edit the same text field, the new entry disappeared when I tabbed out of the field! The same thing happened several time, and then Bento crashed again.
Now I restarted Bento and duplicated the record in question, then deleted the original one. Now the edit worked fine. So somehow, that single text field was corrupted! Very, very strange and disconcerting!

(Nov. 28): This is maybe the craziest Bento crash: my active application was iPhoto. When I woke up my Mac, the Bento icon in the dock was jumping: Bento 3 had crashed while it was idling in the background!

It consists of two ugly themes and two templates. The templates are designed for Bento 3, the themes should work in any Bento version.

The first Holiday Pack was very nice. The Themes were also designed in a way that I found many good uses for them. This time no special fonts, a color that hurts your eyes and background pictures that tile badly… I have nothing else to say.

When you drag a movie into a Media field, Bento fits it to all four borders, totally ignoring the movie’s aspect ratio.

This is extremely annoying to me, because I like to make my Media fields as big as I can and my layout somewhat dictates the shape of it. With still images it works great – Bento always keeps the correct aspect ratio and you can zoom the image in and out and move it around within the Media frame.

For movies there are no editing options at all and the aspect ratio is never perfect.

If anyone has a workaround for this bug or has figured out something about editing movies in a Media field that I haven’t, please come forward!