Bento 2 - Review of FileMaker’s Bento 2 Database Software

Bento 2 – New Features

Databases like Bento are often used for keeping track of specific projects, such as a wedding, a family reunion, or a business project.

No matter what the project is, it will probably involve communicating with project members, guests, co-planners, or support staff using Apple Mail. Bento 2 allows you to include a new field type in a database. The new Message List field lets you incorporate email messages, notes, and RSS feeds from Apple mail.

Once you add a Message List field, you can simply drag and drop email messages from Mail to the Bento Library. The Message List field displays as a small, scrollable table, with headers for Sender, Subject, Date Received, and Priority. Bento supports Leopard’s Quick Look feature, which lets you view the contents of a file without opening it. You can quickly scan through messages without opening each one, or open a specific message in Mail with the click of a button.

Bento 2’s Mail support lets you coordinate all of the information pertaining to a project in a single place. I hope that a future version of Bento will add other capabilities to the Message List field, such as the ability to automatically pull in messages that meet an Apple Mail rule. For instance, if the subject line of an email is ‘My Online Sales’ and the sender includes eBay.com, I could use a Bento Library to track all of the inquiries about the valuable collection of meteor dust I’m trying to sell online. Until then, I’ll have to manually organize messages by dragging and dropping them into a Bento Library.

Bento 2 has enhanced its table view of a database to act more like a standard spreadsheet. This makes this latest version of Bento attractive to individuals who use Excel or Numbers to keep track of lists and other items that are much easier to manage in a database.

Bento makes bringing in data from a spreadsheet truly easy. With direct support for Excel and Numbers formats, no intermediate data format is needed. Simply select the Excel or Numbers file as the import source, and Bento will create a new Library based on the spreadsheet data. Bento can also handle popular intermediate file formats including comma-separated, semicolon-separated, and tab-separated files. The new support for tab-separated files in this version allows Bento to import AppleWorks databases, which the developer of Bento tells me was one of the highly requested features from existing users.

Once you have a Library open in table view, the similarity to a spreadsheet doesn’t stop with just the look. You can easily sort a column, duplicate information from one field to other fields in the same column, or copy/paste data from one section of a table to another. Bento 2 also has a summary row that can display the sum, count, average, minimum, and maximum for the data in each column.

Bento’s new split view allows you to simultaneously see the table view and, in the lower half of the window, the form view. I find this especially handy for working with my address book. I can see all of my contacts in the Table view, and the currently selected contact in the Form view, which in this case includes images not seen in the table view.

Any changes you make in the form or the table, such as changing an entry in a field or adding a field, are immediately updated in the other view. If you search for an item, the results of the search will also update both views.

Designing forms and adding fields to existing Libraries are easier in Bento 2 than in the previous version. Within the Table view, you can simply double-click the last column, which is aptly named ‘New Field,’ and enter a new name for the field. In the Form view, you can easily drag a field from the fields list in the Source pane and drop it wherever you like on the current form. Bento 2 eliminates the distinction between form design and form usage. Forms are always open to adjustments, whether you want to edit an existing field, add a new field, or change some other aspect of the form.

Once you’re satisfied with a form, you can save it as a template for future use or to share with other Bento users. Templates can contain fields, the form layout, colors, images, and everything else that describes what a Library should look like; the only thing missing is the data in the records. I imagine it won’t be long before you’ll able to search the web for a Bento template to meet just about any database need.

Bento 2 improves on an already well-designed and highly usable product. Its ability to work with AppleWorks databases, as well as Excel and Numbers spreadsheets, makes Bento 2 a logical choice for individuals who want to leverage existing lists and data from those products.

Bento’s ease of use is one of its most important hallmarks. Databases are notoriously difficult to work with, requiring advanced knowledge of how database tables should be created and how they interact. Bento eliminates all of those worries and puts the power of organization directly into the end user’s hands.

Bento remains the most user-friendly general-purpose database application I have seen for the Mac. It’s a good solution for any individual who needs to keep track of life’s daily details. Bento few weaknesses, namely its single-user approach and its limited printing and form design capabilities, shouldn’t deter most users. For a remarkably low price of $49, FileMaker has created a database product that is truly easy to use, and reopened a niche that FileMaker Pro once occupied.

Bento earns its four-star About: Macs rating primarily because of its ease of use, in creating or customizing templates and in using a finished database. Its integration with Address Book and iCal is very welcome; in fact, it actually makes it easier to use either application. Its new split-view capabilities make it easier to view and edit data.

If you’re in need of a personal database and organizer, download the Bento 2 demo from the FileMaker web site and try it on for size.