Software I use: Bento versus FileMaker Pro

In a number of previous blog posts (see Handy hint: Dictation and feedback; and Surviving the semester: Tracking Students) I've talked about the use of Bento, which is a very easy-to-use database type package, in teaching.

I been using Bento for over two years, and it has proved to be extremely useful, and very powerful. I've used the application for tracking student attendance in class, marks, and also progress on a number of projects (see Handy hint: Dictation and feedback; and Surviving the semester: Tracking Students) I've talked about the use of Bento, plus I keep a record of all these blog posts in Bento. However, I'm just about to start a major new project and I felt that Bento didn't really have the power that I needed (read, it didn't possess the true relational qualities to be found in full-blown database packages - see Do you speak my language: D is for Database, debug, DNS) and therefore I thought it might be a time to look at its big brother FileMaker Pro.

Last week I downloaded a trial version of FileMaker Pro to give it a try, and to see how it had changed). (I had previously used FileMaker Pro a lot during my PhD and post-doc days and I found it to be a truly useful and easy-to-use program.) Having used Bento for the last couple of years, and not used Filemaker Pro for about 10 years, I had great hopes that FileMaker Pro would bring me the power of a true database package, combined with the ease of use of Bento (after all both packages are made by the same company). But sadly I was disappointed.

FileMaker Pro may be a really good and useful database package, however it really falls short in the modern age of mobile computing. For example, with Bento it is incredibly easy to have a database hosted on a desktop machine, and then synchronise it with versions on your iPhone and iPad. This works seamlessly over the local wireless network, and all it requires is a touch of a button. I had hoped that FileMaker Pro would offer the same functionality, sadly it does not.

FileMaker Pro can be used on mobile devices as FileMaker Go is available. However, for it to work you have to have FileMaker Pro running on a desktop machine, connected to the Internet. This may not seem to be a problem, but it is when you're working in an environment in which you have no Internet connection, because you cannot access the database back on the office machine. It also means that you have to remember to leave FileMaker Pro running and on a machine that can't go to sleep. (It should be pointed out that you can copy the Filemaker Pro database from the desktop machine to the iPhone or iPad for off-line use, and then copy it back. However, with this approach you run the risk of accidentally updating the wrong version and then ending up with two versions of the same file, neither of which is completely accurate.)

It really surprises me that FileMaker Pro has not sorted out this problem. I can appreciate the complexities of trying to synchronise databases between different computers and systems, but this should be a fairly simple task if the underlying data structure is correct.

One possible solution I have experimented with is using Dropbox. The idea here is to have the database on Dropbox and then connect to it using FileMaker Pro and/or FileMaker Go. That is, the databases hosted on Dropbox, which handles the synchronisation, and then is accessed remotely using FileMaker Pro and/or FileMaker Go. However, this also proved to be less than ideal solution as it relies on Internet connection, and FileMaker Go, whilst it can read a file on Dropbox, it cannot save any changes back. Hence no synchronisation.

So, in my opinion until FileMaker Pro actually resolves the issue of off-line synchronisation it is not really a valid or valuable tool in the mobile era.

Disclaimer: I do not work for the company that sells and/or produces any of the above programs, and I do not get a 'kick-back' from the companies for writing this article. I do, however, routinely use the programs in my teaching, I do find them extremely useful, and so I thought I would share my experience.

2 Comments

May 29, 2012 | 04:22 PM

Posted By: Nick Morris

Thanks for the comment.

Yes, I am aware of the scripting option but that requires (as I understand it) that you come up with a script for each database you create and that is a lot of extra work.

I am also aware that you can send the file back to the desktop version, but this runs the risk of having multiple versions of the same file in different edit states. So again, not a good solution.

And, I had also previously looked at GoZync (the solution you suggested above), but found it prohibitively expensive. So that was a non-starter.

If you look at the ease and simplicity of the Bento solution you are left wondering why FileMaker doesn't use something similar.

May 29, 2012 | 01:58 PM

Posted By: Didier Daglinckx

Dr Morris,

As there are a lot of possible scenarios to synchronize your Filemaker database, you can script it yourself.

I came across one of the possibilities this morning, look at http://www.scoop.it/t/learning-filemaker/p/1860960958/unlocked-filemaker-templates

And btw yes, you can send back to your desktop Filemaker informations to update it.

Software I use: Bento versus FileMaker Pro

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