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FileMaker Go, an app from FileMaker, is available for US$39.99 at the App Store.
For managing personal information on the iPad, it's hard to beat Bento, a database application targeted at consumers and single-handed businesses. Heavy-duty data crunchers, though, have a different set of needs, not the least of which is working with databases created by Bento's big brother, FileMaker Pro.
To meet those needs, FileMaker, a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), has introduced FileMaker Go for the iPhone and iPod touch ($19.99), as well as the iPad ($39.99). It allows users of those machines to work on databases created with FileMaker on those devices. Performing database operations on gadgets like the iPhone can be a bit challenging, but the expansive display on the iPad makes the tablet feel like a natural extension of a desktop or notebook.
You can massage FileMaker databases interactively or offline. Better yet, many of the functions of the desktop version of the database program are preserved on the Go version.
Databases can be loaded into an iPad is several ways. You can access databases stored on FileMaker Server. If they're stored on a Mac or PC, you can tap into them via a local wireless network or through the Internet with a WiFi or 3G connection. You can also load databases into an iPad with the file-sharing feature in iTunes, as well as by attaching them to an email message or sucking them in from a file sharing site on the Web.
Instant Flipping Between Views
When working with a file on a live connection, such as FileMaker Server, changes made to a file are instantly made in the hosted file. If you're working offline, you'll have to replace the online file with your local one. Unfortunately, there's no automatic synchronization.
With the iPad app, you can view, edit and search for information in any FileMaker database. You can also add, modify or delete information in a database's records. What's more, you can open multiple files, as well as multiple windows within a database.
Your experience with FileMaker Pro is transferable to the Go version, too. Pro features supported by Go include Tab controls, quick find, Web viewers, External SQL, data sources, containers, portals and most scripts.
As might be expected, database views flip from portrait to landscape instantly.
Slot Machine Menus
As with many programs that arrive on the iPad from the desktop, the tablet's touch interface adds a casual dimension to performing tasks that make them more fun to perform than when they're done on the desktop.
Double tapping a record enlarges it. Another double tap takes it back down to normal size. Tap a field in a record, and it's ready to be edited.
Some of FileMaker's attractive graphic touches, many borrowed from Bento, are part of Go. For instance, when you tap a date field, a "slot machine" window appears. You choose a month, day and year by swiping a column that rolls like the wheels in a slot machine.
Making changes in the same field in multiple records can be done very quickly. When you make a change in one record, you can rapidly advance to the same field in the next or a previous record by poking either end of a slider control.
Leave Notebook at Home
By poking a Record Detail button, you can access several views of a record or the entire database. Record Detail, for example, shows the entire record, a view suitable for making changes in the item.
The Record List view displays the records in a worksheet-type table format. Poking a row will pop you back to a detailed view of the record.
You can define other views, too. You might want a summary view to display the total cost of items in an inventory database, for instance, or a catalog view to view records that contain text and graphics, such as product pictures.
For iPad users of FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Go is another reason to leave the notebook at home and take your tablet with you on the road.
