For your information
Bento 4 represents a complete rethink of
FileMaker’s personal database app for iOS. No longer do you have to have Bento
for Mac to use it: databases, called Libraries in Bento parlance - although
confusingly also referred to by FileMaker as ‘personal productivity apps’ - can
now be created on the iPad itself.
You
can view information as a Form or a Table, or a Split, which shows both of
those together
There are 25 preformatted Library templates
ranging from Exercise Log and Recipes to Vehicle Maintenance and Expense
tracking. Lots more are available on the Bento Template Exchange, which is
accessible from within the app.
Each Library can be customised using one of
40 available themes. Sadly, many of these have succumbed to Apple’s fondness
for skeuomorphic user interfaces (we’re looking at you, fake hand-stitched
Leather, and you, poorly rendered linen Cloth). A great deal of thought, care
and effort has been put into this revamp, but seemingly none of it was spent on
the theme designs.
There’s better news elsewhere. You can view
information as a Form, Table or Split, which shows both Form and Table.
Customising forms is easy, too. Tap on the pencil on the top right of the
screen and then tap the field you want to edit. From there, you can rename it,
hide or delete it, change the text size or background colour, or change the
data source depending on the field type. You can also add objects such as text
boxes, images and spacers, or new fields.
Tap
the field you want to add to a calculation in the Calculation Editor and choose
your arithmetical operator in another field
There are three new field types in Bento 4.
GPS location is handy, but Encrypted and Calculation are much more useful. The
former enables you to store sensitive data such as credit card numbers and
passwords securely, while the latter lets you combine the data from two or more
fields in a calculation and display the result. The Calculation Editor is well
thought out and easy to use. It displays a list of fields from the Library and
allows you to view only those with specific types -for example, Number or
Currency. You then tap the field you want to add to the calculation and then
choose the appropriate arithmetical operator and another field.
Bento for iPad can also sync wirelessly
with Bento 4.1 for Mac, allowing you to edit Libraries in one version and share
the results with the other.
There’s plenty to like in Bento 4, but
there are a couple of niggles. The first time you sync with the Mac version, it
wipes everything on the iPad and substitutes it with data from the Mac. Tough
luck if you’ve already created Libraries on the iPad. Also, while you can email
data as a CSV from the iPad version, you can’t email the Library itself. And
while Bento is supposed to allow you to sort on multiple fields, we found that
applying sort to, say, Last Name followed by First Name just re-sorted the
data, rather than sorting on both fields.
Bento’s biggest challenge might be persuading
you that you need it. While it’s a powerful and remarkably friendly tool for
collecting, processing, and viewing collections of data, there are so many
excellent, inexpensive dedicated apps for, say inventory management or exercise
logging, that many users will find it more productive and economical to opt for
one or two of those instead. If the idea of creating your own personal
databases on the iPad appeals, however, you’ll love Bento 4.
Information
Price $4.75
From App
Store
Pro Easy
to create useful databases * Easy to manipulate data * Template exchange
Con First-time
sync wipes iPad Libraries * Multiple sorting didn’t work as intended for us
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