Wireless keyboard & Bento integration?

[giradman]

Purchased Bento and plan to use the program for a variety of databases, including one for recipes - using the Apple BT wireless keyboard for data entry.

Starting w/ the recipe database (called a library in Bento) - I've entered a half dozen recipes and the keyboard works fine w/i each field but I cannot figure out how to use the keyboard to jump to the next field?

The 'return' & 'arrow' keys seem to function only w/i a field; so I've been having to touchscreen the next field - not a major problem but I was hoping to do all from the keyboard.

There are a bunch of extra keys (w/ names like 'function', 'command', etc.) but I'm assuming these have to do w/ using the keyboard on a Mac computer? The limited manual does not explain these extra keys or their purpose.

Any suggestions or experiences w/ using a keyboard w/ Bento would be appreciated - TIA!

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

I've moved this to the Help section with a permanent re-direct from the original location, because I thought it would receive better attention there.

Tim

 

[twerppoet]

The Shift Tab combo seems to move between fields, sort of. But I can't predict where it will go, and since so many fields need a special keyboard to make entries it doesn't seem very useful.

While playing I discovered that shift combos and the cursor keys will select text. Shift by itself selects single letter or lines. The shift option key seems to select words or Paragraphs. I didn't take the time to figure it all out, but the Control and Command keys also have different selection effects.

 

[giradman]

Thanks TP - I've been trying certain combinations of those keys but did not seem to do much - not sure if there is a better manual for this keyboard but the one in the package is pretty much worthless in explaining the purpose of all of these 'extra' keys.

 

[twerppoet]

Thanks TP - I've been trying certain combinations of those keys but did not seem to do much - not sure if there is a better manual for this keyboard but the one in the package is pretty much worthless in explaining the purpose of all of these 'extra' keys.

The keyboard was designed for the iMac, but most of the function keys do work with the iPad. For instance, the little sun keys will control screen brightness, the play/pause keys will start and control bacground music, the volume/mute keys work, and the eject key at rhe far right will raise and lower the touch keyboard when you are editing text.

The F3 - F6 keys do nothing that I am aware of.

 

[giradman]

Well, I've reviewed the Bento forum on the Filemaker website, and have also received personal email from then concerning my questions.

Bottom line - there is NO way to progress to the next field using the wireless Apple keyboard (the 'tab' as already evident does not work!).

Not a BIG issue but irritating - this would only be corrected in an update to the Bento program which likely may not occur - who knows?

A more irritating issue for me (maybe I left this in another thread?) is that there is no way to backup your Bento libraries (except via iTunes) - but if your computer crashes w/ iTunes, why is there not an option to either backup iTunes or the Bento libraries?

For a company like Filemaker (around for decades) to not address these rather 'simple' issues is unconscionable - I'm just not going to spend HOURS entering data into a number of Bento libraries w/o having multiple backup options - any one else having these reservations?

 

[giradman]

Just wanted to reactivate this topic in trying to find a solution to backup my Bento libraries in addition to iTunes w/o disk imaging my entire laptop's HD!

Now, there is a solution here iTunes: Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive to backup the entire iTunes library to an external drive - there are multiple steps but the process seems direct and fairly simple - but I really don't want everything since I'm not entering a LOT of data in the other apps.

Under the iTunes folder in 'Music' (i.e. using Windows Vista), there is a folder 'iTunes Media' which seems to contain all of the apps on your devices syncing to iTunes - as can be seen in the attachment, Bento is present as a file (of large size according to the properties); I'm assuming that as one types in data into this program and re-syncs w/ iTunes that these are saved in this file? If so, could one simply save this file to an external HD or USB thumb drive?

Just curious if anyone else has been going through this process of figuring out how to do extra backups of just a limited number of apps? Thanks for any comments -

 

[twerppoet]

That is just the app. It won't include the data files. Those are included in the backup file, which can not be read or restored without iTunes, and then only by restoring the entire iPad.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4079

There is another thread going on about Bento backups. The short of it is that you can not sync, backup, or export Bento databases at this time unless you also have the Mac with the OS X version.

 

[giradman]

That is just the app. It won't include the data files. Those are included in the backup file, which can not be read or restored without iTunes, and then only by restoring the entire iPad.


iPad: About backups

There is another thread going on about Bento backups. The short of it is that you can not sync, backup, or export Bento databases at this time unless you also have the Mac with the OS X version.

Thanks TP for your additional comments on this issue - reviewed the link, and after all my searching and leaving messages elsewhere, the Bento program is certainly lacking some crucial features, at least for me!

Well, I'm not planning to buy a Mac computer w/ the DT app, so will need to simply decide whether to enter more recipes into this Bento program or switch to another option - will consider - thanks again! Dave