FileMaker Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple, has Bento
Template Exchange
(http://solutions.filemaker.com/database-templates/index.jsp), where
Mac users can post and browse many real-world uses of Bento, the
personal database from FileMaker. People interested in Bento can even
download templates and use them with a trial or full version of Bento
2 .
A Bento template is a pre-designed database form, but without any
data. A visitor who downloads, for example, the “My Wine Cellar”
template, has a ready-to-use wine tracking form — complete with
fields for winery, vintage, price and more — and can enter data for
their own wine collection. Or they can copy and paste existing
information from spreadsheets such as Excel or Numbers. Plus,
templates can be customized to meet each individual’s unique needs.
Visitors to the Bento Template Exchange can browse through the most
popular templates, the newest templates, or look through 15
categories including Business, Music and Movies, Finance, and
Cooking, Food and Wine. Templates are also searchable by typing a
phrase like “soccer team roster.”
The Bento Template Exchange includes instructions on how to download
and import templates, and how to submit Bento templates for sharing.
Bento customers are encouraged to share their templates on the Bento
Template Exchange to help potential customers imagine their own uses
for Bento.
Importing and exporting Bento templates requires Bento 2. Visitors
will find that downloaded templates are usable with the new Bento for
iPhone and iPod touch, if they synch with Bento on the Mac.