After using Bento for a few more weeks, I am really sold on it! It’s the best database I’ve found that works with an iPhone app and I’ve tried them all. The Bento app is simple, but it serves its purpose. The real workhorse is the desktop application.
I discovered a library database template for Bento that I’m using to keep track of my books. So far, I’ve input over 900 books. What I like about this system is that I can input the books on my laptop; then sync them over to my iPhone app. I can then photograph the books with my iPhone, save the photos to my Bento app, and then sync the database back to the desktop with photos included. EASY!
What really sells me on the Bento system? I won’t lose my data. With the other apps, I’ve lost my data several times. Not fun! But, with the Bento, not only does it sync between the iPhone and my laptop, but I can also save a copy of my database to disk. This makes me very happy after all the work of putting the information in!
Now, when I’m away from my desktop, I can refer to my Bento app to access my database. I can add books through the app, sort, and do a find by any field in your database. Because I use the notes feature of the book database to input keywords for each book, I can also find books on a subject I need.
There are tons of templates available on Bento Template Exchange - everything from business, cooking, education and event planning to health, home, hobbies and time management. Check it out. You’re sure to find something that will work with your needs. Being a Filemaker product, this Bento system will only get better! It’s well worth the $49 for the software and $4.99 for the app.
Cindy, I am almost sold,
Cindy, I am almost sold, because I need such a program (with my new 3GS and new MacBook Pro after 25 years in the PC world).
Question -- is it relational? That is, as a simple example, suppose I had a lot of print books, audio books, and digital books. My print, audio, and digital books would each have a different set of fields. So, my print books might have a location based on which bookshelf. Audio books might have a source field - where did I buy it. Digitial books could have a file size. But they would be linked together by one or more fields such as author, title, etc. Then I could find, say, all the Grisham books, no matter their format.
Relational?
Bento does have some relational features, but as far as I understand, it does not have the same relational abilities as does Filemaker Pro. I set up my library using the criteria you listed above and was easily able to track the location of a book, type of book, where I bought it, etc. You can set up any number of fields on one record. Then, you do an advanced search where you select what you want to search for based on one or more fields. I did a search for all audio books, written by Cussler, purchased at B&N and on shelf #1. The results were just as I requested, as shown by the image below:
You can then sort the "found" list of books by any of its fields such as title, author, etc.; hide the fields you do not want to show up in the printed version; and print the list.
The Bento app is not as flexible.You can only do a simple search for one field, but it can be any of the fields you have created. So, you could choose to search for all books by Cussler or all items on Shelf1 or all audio books, etc.
I hope that helps.
Cindy, To clarify a little
Cindy,
To clarify a little more. In Bento, could I create three different types of records each with some different fields -- one for audiobooks, one for digital books, and one for print books. Then could I search for Cussler in one search and find instances of him no matter the format?
Another way of asking is could I have more than one type of record (that is, each record with different fields) in the same database. The records would share one or more fields in common. That way a report could be run linking the different types of records.
Update on bento
I am far from a Bento officionado but, do use it and like it very much.
There is a component in Bento called Related Records.
With it you can link to other databases, documents, contacts, mail etc.
I think that you can do just what you are talking about through related records
Bento Software
Cindy
New to i phone / Bento Mac Only? PC? This appears to be the best solution for me but I have a PC.
bdryden