First of all, thank you very much for making this software! It is wonderful to find an alternative to the now dead Bento.
These are the little issues I’ve observed in my Bento import:
1) Time calculations such as a date+3 weeks=new date do not seem to be possible. While on this topic it would also be nice to display time by user defined measures (like in Numbers) such as weeks, weeks+days, etc. Working with the default seconds is a bit silly.
2) We often used the networking feature to be able to log-in from another account, it would be nice to add that back in if that even works with iCloud.
3) We seem to have a bug when duplicating an entry, which cause the program to crash. We have to use blank entries.
4) There is some funkiness in text fields in layouts. I’ve copied and pasted some only to have them disappear on me. Seams you have to make them from scratch. The text insertion box is also odd in that it results in a collapsed text box that has no size to begin with. This leaves you double-clicking on an invisible box to start writing and then later adjusting the size of the box to see your text. Lastly, sometimes text boxes move a little after exiting the layout tools, but going back in and resetting them does eventually get the job done.
5) It would also be nice to have index cards as a paper size option for the layouts (3 X 5 inches). We work around this by using the rulers to keep the layout within the Index card dimensions on a larger paper form.
Thanks, Brendan! It looks like your suggestion (to use Bento’s Export Template function) worked well! I appreciate your prompt responses!
I do find that Tap Forms is rather slow. I’m consistently seeing the beach ball while using the program and there is a substantial delay. I’m hoping that, with future updates, the app will run a bit smoother?
Tristan
Hello Tristan,
You may be better off using the Export Template function from Bento rather than exporting the CSV file. Unless your Bento version is too old and doesn’t have the Export Records along with the Export Template option. That was a version 4 feature I believe.
I just did a test export from Bento to a CSV file and for me anyway, it looks like it exported the File Encoding as UTF-8.
Thanks,
Brendan
I used the label function in Bento to make a club member directory in PDF format. I’m experimenting with Tap Forms and I think I can do it, but since I have the first name and last name in two separate fields, it’s hard to get them looking nice because it leaves a big space between the first and last name. Same thing with City, State Zip for mailing labels. The only solution I can think of is to make another field that combines those entries and to manually enter both the first and last name in that field. But that seems so cumbersome. Is there a better way?
Brendan,
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
The file I’m importing is a .csv export from Bento. Do you know which encoding I should choose?
Thanks,
Tristan
Tap Forms 3.0
Mac Pro Mid 2010, 16 GB, 2.8 GHz Quad Core
I have a form with 714 records and 81 fields and Tap Forms runs unbearably slow. For pretty much anything I do, anywhere I click I get a beachball for 15-20 seconds or more. Sometimes several times in a row.
It’s a database imported from Bento, so I thought some housekeeping would help. I did all four Preferences>Maintenance steps, I completely reset Tap Forms and then imported the records I had previously exported as xls.
Nothing helps. Is this to be expected at 700+ records? Bento wasn’t lightning fast but never would is have stalled like this.
What can I do?
Hi Brendan. I have the same issue, running a MacPro in 10.9 and my Macbook on 10.10. Would it somehow be possible to upload the TF database to a cloud drive (e.g. Dropbox, Copy…)? So I could access the same file (not at the same time though) with two computers. I am doing this with my Bento Database.
Hi. I am a new user to Tap Forms, as of 2 days ago. Bento’s ability to do conditional searches stopped working when I upgraded to Yosemite – no idea why – and I needed a new platform. Tap Forms got some very good reviews so I am hoping it works for me. I have a few libraries, one of which is pretty large – about 5000 records (multi-year expense reporting)- and a few others nearing 1000 records each. There are some non-complex calculations in the data base, but there are a lot of them. I am running on an Apple Air, mid-2012 model, 8Gs of memory, and a 2 GH core. My problem: every keystroke seems to freeze the screen for seconds at a time. Very frustrating. And it makes it painfully slow to even scroll to the bottom of the list. I have read the other forum entries, and realize that there may be an automatic recalculation issue, but I am unsure how to address it.
Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks much. Looking forward (I hope) to being a satisfied user of Tap Forms.
Hi,
Can you choose which databases to sync on the iPhone and iPad like Bento? I don’t want everything on my iPhone, just certain databases.
Brendan,
I am a former Bento user who has been using TapForms for a few months. Over the past several weeks, I have slowly made the transition to iOS 8, an iPhone 6 (from an iPhone 4), Yosemite, and iCloud Drive (in that order).
I am running Tap Forms on my iPhone, MacBook Pro, and iMac. I also have my son (13 years old) learning to use TapForms on his MacBook Pro. So far, so good with TapForms.
I appreciate the forum postings, especially those from the users who troubleshoot the initial versions of iOS8, Yosemite, iCloud Drive, and TapForms (both iOS8 and Yosemite). After watching the postings for a couple of weeks after a new release, it has allowed me to carefully decide when to upgrade the various software.
Thanks to Brendan and everyone for continually making this a great App.
So my current status is:
Macbook Air: TF runs fine, it says it syncs to iCloud, but there are no visible signs of it since i can’t see it in iCloud-drive
iPad: Synced all of my forms but not my entries. Moved another database from Bento to TF and the form is synced but none of the over 200 entries that is visible on my Macbook air
iPhone: I have reinstalled the taprooms app, 5-10 times, logged in and out of iCloud and iCloud drive. Once a while the iCloud sync says that i need to activate iCloud drive the next time i see only my iphone in the devices. And occasionally i see all my units but normally the sync date and time for my macbook is wrong (there is a later sync available).
However I do not trust the sync and are very upset about these issues since i need my forms to work properly! I am also not aware if my main files are safe on my macbook (except for the time-machine backup). Are they on the iCloud drive?
Brendan, these issues needs to be solved asap, if it is an apple-issue let us know.
Caat, I imported your test file and was able to import your addresses with a few modifications to the Import Bento Template code. It’ll support it in the next update.
Tap Forms is supposed to delete the associated files when you delete a form as it goes through all of the fields first, then deletes all of the associated files for those fields. I’ll have to do some tests on that. Perhaps I broke something in that area at some point.
Thank,
Brendan
I just purchased Tap Forms for Mac and iOS today because Bento kept crashing on a newish iPad upgraded to 8.1. My Mac is running Mavericks and I prefer not to update to Yosemite. I have not turned on iCloud Drive. Documents and Data are still viable on the iPad. I found the post about the encryption key business and added one in my KeyChain access. The iPad seems to be set up properly. On my Mac, however, I keep getting this notice (see attachment)
I’m perplexed because in the iCloud pref pane Tap Forms is listed and checked in the options window of Documents and Data. I’ve even shut down two-step verification for the moment. Any guess what the issue might be? I’m at a loss.
Oh, the Bento import went flawlessly and I was able to figure out the few tweaks needed to have everything just right. Now when sync is working I’ll be one happy camper!
Thanks,
Welles
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Thanks Brendan
I see there is one calculation field in my database which was imported from the original Bento file – I don’t need it but can’t see how to delete it.
I don’t know what that means, Leo. I created one with just a few contacts and sent that. Meanwhile, I trashed the previous import, I made sure the address fields were in both Overview and Details in Bento and I tried again. No luck. It appears to import everything … even things I haven’t actually put in my template, but are just options … EXCEPT … contact info: address, email, phone. These are the 3 things that are connected to Apple Contacts directly. Even though I set it in sys prefs to allow access to my contacts.
I feel like I should just uninstall and start from scratch. I just want to know that once I trash the app, it will be available for me to download again, from the app store, without having to pay again.
(And, FWIW, the associated files were not deleted when I deleted the form. I had to do that individually by going into the database, which was a real pain because I had started another form (associated files all reside together) from which there were things I didn’t want to trash. That’s a problem. We should at least have an option of deleting the associated files (i.e. photos, mp3s, etc) for that form when we delete the form. That crap can chew up an awful lot of disk space.)
