Bento uses forms to display data from a library or collection. You can create as many forms as you need for different purposes. Forms may vary in which fields are displayed and how the fields are arranged.

There is a video tutorial to accompany this article. Watch the video here.

Before creating a new form, it is a great idea to plan out on paper what you would like the form to look like. This does not have to be very detailed but it can save a lot of time when creating the form. Consider things like where the fields will be, how much space you want between them and how many columns to display.

When creating forms, first show the form tools either using the command in the View menu or the button at the lower right of the Bento window.

Create a new form using the + button in the upper right of the window or the command in the Forms menu. Give the form a short but descriptive name.

Now you can start dragging fields onto the form as required by your plan.

Once you have all the required fields on the form, select each and adjust text size and object size. Click a field name to select a field.

There are five choices for text size. Use the Text Size tool or Crtl-click or right click the field to choose.

The white grab handles on a field allow you to resize the field wider, taller or both. Blue guidelines help you to make fields the same width. Narrow fields can be positioned next to each other. Bento snaps the fields into position making it easy to line them up.

Field labels can be above or beside the fields on a form. You have a choice of three sizes. Make your selections for each form in the Forms menu.

If you want a multi-column layout, add a column divider object to the layout. The column divider can be moved left or right to adjust column widths.

You can also add vertical space in a column with a Spacer object. Add a new Spacer object, then position and resize as needed. Spacer objects can also be used between fields to insert horizontal space.

When you have laid out your form, you may decide to change the theme. Select a new theme from the Themes tool or Choose Theme in the Forms menu. Bento retains the layout but changes the background appearance and font.

If you have designed a form for printing, choose Print from the File menu. Bento displays a preview of the form. You can adjust paper size and orientation, and choose which records to print.

Bento makes form creation quick and easy. Create as many forms as you need to vary the display and printing of data in your Bento libraries.

The results of the TweetPoll are in! Thanks to all who voted.

We received a total of 82 votes in the poll where people were asked:

What are your favourite new features in FileMaker Pro 10?
(select all that are important to you)

The most popular new features were (each with ≥30% of respondents listed):

1. Script triggers 85%
2. Set Field By Name script step 62%
3. Dynamic reports 56%
4. Send email via SMTP 37%
5. Insert in tab order 35%
6. Enhanced File Recovery 30%

We can show that 80% of the voter selections (320 in total) were cast for the features listed above. So, for the poll audience, this is what they found important to them in FileMaker Pro 10.

The stand-out winner was script triggers with 85% of all voters. And with good reason. This is a huge step forward in user interface design for FileMaker Pro. Feedback from the FileMaker Developer Conference in August showed a lot of developers learned a lot about script triggers. After almost a year, developers are still coming to grips with what script triggers can do (and also how script triggers can be misused).

The new script step, Set Field By Name, was also very popular (62%). This script step can save a lot of hard coding by allowing you to calculate the name of the field you are setting (as well as calculating the value you are setting it with). It is a powerful addition to the existing Set Field script step that was also a revolution when it was introduced many versions ago.

It is also interesting to note the features not rated highly - features such as new themes and templates, Bento integration and an enhanced Quick Start screen. These features are directed at FileMaker beginners. Although it was not asked in the poll, we suspect that many of the voters were higher level developers and that these features would be less relevant to their use of FileMaker Pro.

The full results of the poll are shown below: