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On October 17th, Applelinks' Charles Moore gave a great review of Bento 2. What I'd like to do here is provide a more detailed exploration of FileMaker and Bento, and explain why both are excellent database programs which serve two completely different customers. The fact is, Bento is an amazingly simple, easy to use database that requires no knowledge on how to create a database. FileMaker is an amazingly powerful database that is very simple (when compared to other databases), but requires creating every field, every relation, and every structure of a database. Admittedly, this is much more complicated and more work than many people need. Thus, there is Bento (and to borrow a phrase from the early days of Apple), a database "for the rest of us."

First off, a quick comparison Between Bento and FileMaker.

	Bento	FileMaker
Provides	A very simple yet powerful database for the Mac that doesn't require any special knowledge of database creation.	A (relatively) simple and very powerful database for the Mac that does require knowledge of database creation.
Requirements	Mac OS X.5.4 or greater, Intel Mac.	Mac OS X.4.8, G3 through Intel Mac
Price	New: $49 or $99 Family Pack (5 users)	Upgrade $179, new: $299

I've been a FileMaker user since 1985. I started with version 1, and have been using and creating databases the whole time. You can see some of my past FileMaker reviews here (FM 9), here (FM 8), here (FM 7) and here (FM 6) amongst other reviews I've done on FileMaker. I am not an expert FileMaker user, but I do understand the basic dynamics of what a database is and how it works (at least in regards to FileMaker).

A database is simply a collection of data that is organized in such a way as to let the user easily find what he/she is looking for, and presenting any found data in a meaningful way. A classic database example is a collection of business cards. When you get a new business card for (say) a plumber, do you place it under "P" for plumber, "M" for maintenance, "H" for house maintenance, "B" for Bob (the name of the plumber), "S" for sink...you get the idea. When you go to your card catalogue, what should be a simple search could take some time because of the potential ranges of how you put the single card away. Alternatively, with a database, each item of data becomes a separate field where you can do a search in any one and/or all fields to find a specific item. While "Bob" may not seem a likely search for a plumber, if you searched for both "Bob" and "plumber," you are more likely to have a tighter search than simply "plumber" or "Bob." Similarly, if you are at a conference and talk with a guy from Milwaukee and can't remember his name, but you think it starts with a "T," you could do a search for Milwaukee and names that starts with "T." Try that on a 50 page paper roster.

However, more than just finding records, a good database lets you work with the data. That is, one should be able to have calculations of the data contained within the database such as one can do with a spreadsheet. It is because of the familiarity of spreadsheets that many people maintain database-like data (e.g., names and addresses) in spreadsheets. Also, spreadsheets are easy to "grok." To help people see their data in a more familiar setting, one of the pleasant additions to Bento 2 is spreadsheet views of their data. To assist the user, one of the new default views of any library is the Table view, always seen on the far left side (shown below just under the word "Address Book"). To make a good thing even better, Bento 2 also provides a split view so that one can see the data in any template as well as a spreadsheet view as shown below. One of the added benefits of the split view is that it's very easy to scroll through a lot of data and then click on a specific file for complete viewing.

Despite the ease of use, you can't generate unique reports from a spreadsheet program (e.g., Excel or Numbers). One of the most important things a database can do is help you generate a "found set." If you have 5,000 records and want to find a unique group from within those records (e.g., all plumbers named Bob), a good database can help you quickly narrow down that list considerably. Imagine how much fun the web would be without Yahoo or Google to focus down on all of the possible web sites out there to a smaller "found set" of the ones that have the issue you want to study.

Overall there are three dynamics to a database:

1. The creation of the database: This means identifying appropriate fields, laying out those fields in a fashion that allows entering the data easily and obviously. The database creator may make one layout for entering data, another layout for finding data, and a third for reporting the same data. It's common for a database to have many layouts, each for a specific purpose. In addition to layouts, a database may have built-in calculations for some fields as well as scripts (macros) that increase efficiency.

2. Data entry: A database is only as good as its data. The old adage "garbage in, garbage out" also has the converse: "wonderful stuff in, wonderful stuff out." Regardless of the quality of the data placed in a database, someone has to get the data into the database.

3. The ability to find what you are looking for in the database and the ability to generate reports out of the database.

No matter how you enter data or how you search for what you have, everything has to start at the first point, the creation of the database. This is where Bento is absolutely amazing.

To be precise, FileMaker is not a database, per se; rather, it's a database creating/running application. That is, you create in FileMaker a database document that must be run in FileMaker. Likewise, Word is not a novel creation program, it is a text document program that let's you create whatever kind of text document you want to create (similarly, you read those documents in Word). If you do not already have a FileMaker database to work with, when you open FileMaker, you can either open a pre-made template that you can customize, or you start by creating all of the fields you want in your database, what kind of fields they are, how the fields interact with each other, where they are going to be located on the page, what kind of fonts will be used in those fields (and what size), what the page will look like, etc. Once you've created this, you can start entering data.

Bento's approach is very different. When you first start Bento, Bento already has fields, and it already has "your data" populated in those fields. This data comes right from your Address book and Calendar programs. There in an invisible grid contained within Bento, so if you chose to move fields around, other fields automatically slide around to make room. There are numerous pre-made templates you can change on the fly.

An advantage of FileMaker over Bento is that you have complete control on the font color, size, and character of everything you place in a layout. In Bento, you take what you get. If you do not like the way a font looks in one template, try another one of the 31 different templates. If you do not like the size or choice of the fonts in one template, try another template. All of these templates are nothing more than a skin for the data. None of them affect the data in any way. Admittedly, some of them were designed by people who's sense of taste is only in their mouths, but there is choice. Below are three examples of the same layout with different templates (skins).

One of the biggest advantages of Bento is also its biggest limitation...depending on what software you use on your Mac. If you use Mail and make extensive use of the Mac "Address Book" program in addition to your Mac's calendar program, you will be praising the benefits of Bento to every stranger and acquaintance. When you first open Bento, every one of your Address Book and iCal entries will be ready and waiting for you. Bento uses the information in those programs directly in Bento's "Address Book," "iCal Events," and "iCal Tasks." The data is not linked to Bento, it is the data from those applications. Bento uses those programs' data directly and interactively. The other dynamic of this is that if you use Yahoo.mail, Entourage, or any other application for your addresses and calendar events, Bento will not display any of the information. This doesn't mean you can't use Bento, but that if you use (say) Entourage, after entering the data into entourage, you will have to either transfer your data into Bento via several steps, or re-enter the data again into Bento. If you do use Mail, Address Book, and iCal, as you enter data in Bento, it will be ready and waiting for you when you open the Apple applications. Obviously, if other applications in the future ever provide the hooks for Bento to work with them, such double-entry will not be necessary.

For many years, FileMaker was a "flat file" database. That means that one database could not interact with a separate database. For example, you could have a database of people and their address and another database of purchases made by those people. If you changed the address of anyone in the people database, there was no formal link to the purchase database. If you wanted to send out a mailing to everyone who bought something in the past year, it was no small task. And if someone had moved over that past year, it was not likely to have been updated in the Sales database. In FileMaker 3 (1995), FileMaker became relational, and the previous scenario became a piece of cake to accomplish. The trick was that you, the database creator, had to set up this arrangement in FileMaker. You were responsible to link to separate databases so their data interacted. It's much easier to do this in FileMaker than other databases, but you do have to know what you are doing.

As stated, to create a database from scratch with FileMaker, you first need to define each field and identify what kind of fields each field is. That is text, number, date fields, etc. Then you need to establish where on a blank screen each field should go. You also need to identify the size of the font for each field, as well as which font and what color. You may want to create calculations for some of the fields as well as scripts to perform functions. If you want a relationship between two different collections of data, you first need to establish a common field (such as a customer or part number) across both collections. Then, when making a relationship between two different tables (a single database collection is called a table), you need to link the two common fields. Once that link is created, then inter-active dynamics of two tables are possible.

In Bento, each database is called a library, and linking the two tables (to a degree) is as easy as dragging one library into another's layout, as seen below. There, I'm dragging the "Items Sold" library into the Customers library. You can decrease or increase the size of this grid of data by dragging any of the eight white handles. You do not need to create a common field between the two libraries; any relationship is done internally by Bento. In the example below, I had earlier placed a "sale" of a "t-shirt, blue" in the "Items Sold" to me library. As I'm dragging the "Items Sold" library into Customers, you can see that it recognizes that sale and is showing that items being "sold" to me.

If the "Sale" was for more than the single t-shirt displayed, by clicking on the "Add related record from a list" pop-up, one can select any of the items that have been added into the Items Sold library and add it to the list in the Customer library. Anything that is added to one will show up in the other.

Before you toss out your accounting software, be aware that I was unable to create anything more than list collections. That is, I could not create a relationship that deleted items out of the Inventory library as items were being sold in the Items Sold library. That's not to say you can't do summary fields in Bento; you can, and I show them below. But there's a big difference between a summary field and structural calculations of data.

Summary fields are simply a sum total of a collective number from a collection of fields. Let me explain why this is special: If you have a collection of numbers in an Excel spreadsheet, obtaining a sum from a collection of rows or columns is not big deal. However, let's say you want to get the sum of a single cell on 20 different pages; that's a bit more complicated. In Bento, all it requires is simply clicking on the bottom right icon in a related list of data. In FileMaker you have to create a special layout region called a Sub-summary or a Grand-summary and place fields that have been defined to do those summaries in those special regions.

Below you see the icon after having been clicked on to make the summary row active. Whatever is in there will be summed, counted, averaged, or display the max or minimum amounts. Compared to doing the same operation in FileMaker, the is easier than falling off a log.

Without a doubt, the biggest limitation of Bento is that the data is contained in effectively multiple locations on your computer rather than within a single document. Despite that, in the File menu is an option to "Back up Bento data." However, when you select that option, you get the message below. After clicking the OK button, you are given the option to OK the backup of "some" data. The data saved within this document is limited to text and links that you've entered into Bento, excluding the data that is found in the Address Book and iCal. Thus, backing up a single Bento database essentially requires that you back up this document, your address book, and your Calendar.

You can Export your data from Bento. As shown below, you can export into data that is specific to Numbers (Apple's spreadsheet program that is part of iWork), Excel, or Text. in addition you can now (in Bento 2) export and save any template designs you've created. In fact, there is a growing collection of templates that people have created and are now sharing (do a google search on "Bento templates"). Nonetheless, the data and templates are all stored out and saved as separate items that need to be re-grouped and put together at a later time.

A FileMaker document, by extension, contains everything of that database: the data and the layouts. You can transfer this information to another computer, and you can share the data with other FileMaker users. If your data is kept on a server, a group of FileMaker users can equally interact with the same data. There is no end in your interaction with that data. With Bento, there's no single file that you can transfer to another computer and/or share with anyone else. Beyond sharing your templates, your database is your data and that's on your computer.

Finding records in Bento is limited because it can only do Boolean searches within a single library. That is, while you can drag other libraries into another library for limited relational dynamics, you cannot search in the Address Book for items purchased even if items purchased is sitting in the Address Book layout that you are staring at. Thus, you cannot search for all Bobs that purchased t-shirts. On the other hand, I earlier talked about trying to find people in Milwaukee who's name starts with "T." That, you can do after flipping over to "Advanced Search" because all of those fields all exist in the same table.

Printing from Bento is an interesting display of conservative efficiency. With FileMaker Pro, any collection of data can have any number of layouts, and any of those layouts can be tweaked as needed for printing purposes. Bento, like FileMaker, can have multiple layouts for any given database, and any of these layouts can be used for printing. Thus, you can have one layout for lists and another layout for reports. However, if you want mailing labels, you need to appreciate the cleverness of how the Bento programmers chose not to reinvent the wheel. Remember how Bento uses the data from Apple's Address Book? If you've ever tried to print from there, you might have noticed that you can print labels, envelopes, lists, or even a Pocket Address Book layout. Thus, if you have a collection of customers or BFFs within Bento, when you go to your Address Book, you will find that collection of customers and/or BFFs. From there, you can print your mailing labels as needed.

Otherwise, like FileMaker, you can print as many records as can fit on a page. By decreasing the number of items on a template, you can print more records per page. That's pretty straightforward. One of the benefits of FileMaker is that you can adjust the locations and sizes of each field to the pixel to make maximum benefit of the available space. With Bento, as stated earlier, if you do not like the size and/or color and/or choice of a font, try a different template.

In short, if you think you need a database but are not sure, it doesn't get any better to start with Bento. It will give you a taste of what working with a database is like, and it is a pleasure to work with. There are an amazing number of people who think that working with a spreadsheet is just as good as working with a database, and these people are just plain wrong. However, moving from a spreadsheet to FileMaker is not for everyone, so Bento makes this move into a database format simply amazing.

Despite the ease of use and tremendous benefits of having your Address Book and iCal data shared with Bento, there's a lot you can't do with Bento. Then again, Bento costs $50 while FileMaker costs $300. It does not appear that you can upgrade from Bento to FileMaker with any discount, and that's a pity. I feel many people may get Bento and enjoy the dynamics of working with databases, and thus want to upgrade to FileMaker, but will get no credit for having purchased Bento. I hope FileMaker Inc. reconsiders this.

So, the final difference between Bento 2 and FileMaker Pro is that Bento 2 provides spectacular ease of use and a reasonably powerful database while FileMaker is a fully developed, very powerful database that can run anything from a recipe collection to a large business. Please see some of my past reviews (links above) to get a better handle on what FileMaker can do. Meanwhile, I hope to see some of the interface dynamics from Bento 2 in the next version of FileMaker. We will see.

Learn more about:

• FileMaker Pro
• Bento 2

___________ Gary Coyne has been a scientific glassblower for over 30 years. He's been using Macs since 1985 (his first was a fat Mac) and has been writing reviews of Mac software and hardware since 1995.

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