The Table field object records don’t have a form itself, so there’s no form to navigate to. The Table field is basically a reproduction of Bento’s Simple List field, which is just a table of values and not a true relationship, unlike the Link to Form field. So that’s why there’s no navigation from a Table field to another screen. But doesn’t mean I couldn’t pop something up at some point to get to a full editor for each record or something at some point.
I hadn’t heard that Rosetta 2 was being discontinued with OSX 28. That’s news to me and quite the shock. But I did just read about that here and it’s true. Ugh.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/06/10/macos-27-will-be-the-last-operating-system-to-fully-support-rosetta-2
The thing I need to think about is how do I continue to afford to develop Tap Forms Pro if I were to simply remove the 10 record limit from the subscription? Anyone could then just download the app, maybe even just buy the app for 1 month, get all their data into it, then cancel the subscription and continue to use it. Yes, perhaps it would be in a fully read-only state, but I believe even in a read-only state there’s a lot of value with having all your data at your fingertips. I’m sure a bunch of companies would love to pay for just one license of Tap Forms Pro and then distribute copies of a read-only, essentially free version of Tap Forms Pro to an entire sales team without having to pay.
If I were to offer a lifetime option, it would have to be probably a 5x price over the yearly fee. What if someone were paying annually for more than 5 years? Should they then be able to transition to the lifetime license without having to pay the lifetime license fee? How does that work? What’s the point of subscriptions then if I just go back to the one-time payment, free updates, new features, and free support forever then?
I completely understand the concerns you have about losing access to your data if something bad were to happen. But that’s also why I allow you to export ALL your data at any time no matter if you are subscribed or not. No 10 record limit.
That includes CSV as well as full archive files (.tfparc). A .tfparc file is just a .zip file with a .tfparc file extension. You can rename the extension to .zip, double-click to unzip it, then see inside there’s a data.json file which contains all your data, plus a folder containing all the media files. The data.json file could be reverse engineered by another programmer quite easily. Well, it would be quite a bit of work, but that’s par for the course. It’s just not impossible since the data and form structure is all there inside the file. It’s the same idea I used to figure out how to import Bento .bentoTemplate files into Tap Forms. It’s not impossible and it’s not rocket science. Just a bunch of hard work and motivation to make it happen.
Exporting CSV files would allow you to import your data into a number of other apps including Numbers or Excel. So the data wouldn’t be totally lost. It just wouldn’t be displayed in the nice format that it is in Tap Forms.
Lots to think about. But it’s a good conversation to have.
Thanks,
Brendan
@Cornelius Fischer – Brendan writes that the export records function will still function completely, even if only 10 records are showing. So you can export a full csv file of your data and re-import them into an older version of TapForms.
He just isn’t updating the older versions, so you won’t be able to “pin” an important record on TapForms 5, but if you still have that on your computer, you will be able to read the Tap Form Pro records.
It’s probably a good idea anyway to regularly export full CSV files anyway, just as a back-up. I switched to Tap Forms 3 when I heard that Bento was being dropped by Apple. (It was a good move anyway, as I like Tap Forms better). But, I don’t think that the newest app version, itself, will immediately stop working. And I am pretty sure you will get some kind of App Store warning about securing your data before they remove the app, as they are responsible for collecting subscription fees.
Does this new TapForms Pro have integration with Apple Contacts? That’s the one feature from Bento that would make me want to pay for this upgrade.
Hi Brendan,
I’m a longtime tapforms user, ever since Bento disappeared. so i was anxious to try Pro. One of the things i allways missed out was a report generator.
So i was excited to see this in Pro, however, I see this option is grayed out .
How do I start making a report ?
Thks for your reply (and keep up the great work :-) )
Same here. Used Bento until it was dropped, then started using Tap Forms. I need more insensitive to go subscription based. I really prefer licensed, and would happily pay a reasonable price for the new version.
Same situation. I love the program and have used it since they killed Bento.
I would have quickly paid for an upgrade, but subscriptions are a non-starter for personal use software.
I have been a Mac User since 1989. There are a few programs that have been around from the start. Over the years I have accumulated a core of must have programs for my Mac environment. I migrated here from Bento. Tap Forms is a keeper. I have had no problem paying for all the versions I need (iPad, iPhone and desktop, etc.). I say all of that to say I understand the subscription model BUT you will need to develop a perpetual license at some point for the Pro version. I will have no problem paying for whatever versions or licenses I need (at a decent price). Keep up the good work.
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This topic was modified 7 months, 3 weeks ago by
sean.
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This topic was modified 7 months, 3 weeks ago by
sean.
I have a bento document that I’m continuing off of and have added a few additional fields, and now I would like to order them to be able to use the “Tab” keyboard key command to go to the next field to the right in the visual layout display (the view with the background). Is this possible? Currently the Tab key does jump to another field, but I cannot figure out how to control which one it goes to next.
p.s. Thank you so much for developing this software! I spent a lot of time building my Bento database so to be able to not loose this data and continue to develop the document is AWESOME!! Thank you so much!!!
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This topic was modified 11 months, 3 weeks ago by
Jeff Timp.
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This topic was modified 11 months, 3 weeks ago by
Jeff Timp.
Thanks, Brendan. That worked. I now see all records by default when I select the Movies form.
As a follow-up question, do you have any recommendation for using Documents vs. Forms to contain individual databases? I have 13 separate Forms in a single Document. Is there a material risk that corruption within a single Form could affect the entire Document? Would it be “safer” (although less convenient) to have separate Documents for each individual Form (or perhaps for a small number of related Forms)?
I’ll comment that I have been using Tap Forms for many years (since Bento was discontinued in 2013) and have not encountered any significant issues or bugs with it, so I don’t think there is much risk either way. I’m primarily curious whether I should take this opportunity to reorganize my databases.
Thanks again.
Hello. Loving Tap Forms as a bento alternative. Thank you so much for making this wonderful program!! Wondering if the following is possible. This is something I use in Apple’s Numbers program all the time, so hopefully it’s possible in Tap Forms as well.
Is it possible to select multiple entries from a numbers type column and have them sum? I know how to sum the entire column which is great, but I’m looking to sum only what I have selected, for example enteries 6-10 only. But then be able to quickly choose another set of entries, for example 1-8 and sum it. I’m hoping I dont need to create calculations for each of these as what I want summed quickly changes often or I’m sorting by a different column etc, but I guess maybe a work around would be some sort of master calculation that I then edit? Any help would be appreciated and thanks again for all you do!!
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This topic was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by
Jeff Timp.
Thanks!
Have $ in hand to purchase this when released
My internal HDD is small, 250gb
As I continually add Tap Forms documents filled with documents and photos, I see my internal hdd filling up.
May have to try the manually move to external drive for now until you release.
Thanks again for a sensational program. Bento left me in the dust with no alternative, until Tap Forms.
I have 27 fields, about 8 of which often have a lot of text.
Indeed, the .csv documents contain errors indicated to me by the site https://csvlint.io/ (file size 200 MB maximum). The format, although in UTF-8, is indicated in ASCII-8 according to this site.
I installed a demo of Bento on an old Mac, I managed to obtain around 2500 entries by importing a Taps Form 5 document. Quotation marks pose the most problems, because they close a field.
Next, I’m going to extract 5-10% of the data (that I need) from Bento to Taps Form.
I will provide feedback.
Modern CSV software should also help me (or use Excel or Libre Office) for extraction and purging of problems?! Thanks you.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by
Marc H.
Hello,
We just purchased TapForms (version 5.3.37) for both Mac and iOS after learning about its ability to import our old bento database and on the ability to see our database on both our iOS and MacBook Pro, but we are running into issues here that have us very concerned. After successfully importing our bento database and setting up the MacBook & iPhone to sync (nearby sync), my brother was editing the layout on the MacBook (OS 14.2.1) and when opened the app on my phone, and the changes he made were reverted back! e.g. he changed some fields to be web sites instead of text, but an important (and scary one) was he removed an entry on the laptop that was blank probably 5min before I opened the app on my phone, but as soon as I opened my phone app and checked the sync status (which turned green) the deleted entry was put BACK into the document on the laptop!!
Our plan is to use this software to keep track of our inventory (about 4,000 items with tiny jpeg images – database size is roughly 250 MB), and this has us very worried that changes we make to inventory numbers, locations, etc could revert or change to previous states without us knowing!
Any advice on how to make this work? Is there a way to make the MacBook be the “master” file so any changes it makes are priority? Or even better, is there a way to make the laptop the only one that can make changes? I don’t understand why the file changed back to a previous state once the iOS version was opened and would appreciate any help you can provide.
Thanks so much,
Jeff
Hello everyone,
Does anyone know of a Music Library Template for Tapp Forms?
I have a music collection I would like to arrange in a logical format, listing Title, Group- Artist/Composer, Tracks, Musicians, Year, Format.. etc
I wish I had made one in Bento, then transferred it to Tapp Forms, like I did with my wine cellar.
Cheer’s!