01 January 2013: Happy New Year! Caller's Companion (version 1.2) is now compatable with FileMaker Go 12 for iPad, the free version, so you no longer have to pay $40 for the original version of FileMaker Go in order to use CC on your iPad. New users can simply download the new demo version of Callers Companion and transfer the CallersCompanion2.USR data file to your iPad using iTunes. Existing users will need to convert to version 1.2 using the instructions and downloadable files available at ConvertHelp. (If you do not have an iPad, it is not necessary to convert your files and there is no other benefit in doing so at this time.) thanks to everyone for their patience, it's been an extremely full year!)

16 June 2012: Caller's Companion now has 50 registered users in Canada and the US, across 24 states and provinces. Thanks to everyone for their support!

FileMaker Pro 12 News / Free Filemaker Go for the iPad (9 April 2012) - Filemaker Pro 12 was released a few days ago and I'm already getting inquiries about a version of CC that uses FM 12 because FileMaker Go, the iPad app for FileMaker based databases is now free instead of the previous $40. Version transitions, such as the rather major one from FM 11 to FM 12 can require time to test properly, so the short answer is that I will have a test Demo version available as soon as I can though it may take a few weeks. Once enough people have played around with the demo, I'll release an update that will allow you to convert to the new version. To those of you who might have recently spent that $40...sorry, FileMaker gave no advance warning that they would do this, even to developers.

Update 1.01b38 (29 Oct 2011) - Caller's Companion now support email of dances and sets directly from within the program. You can email a dance or set as text and also include a formatted PDF attachment of the same.

News Flash - 6 Feb 2011 - Caller's Companion now runs on the iPad! Nils Fredland and several other callers are calling from their iPads. If you are a current CC user and want to run CC on your iPad you need to do the following: 1) update your copy of CC to at least version 1.01b29; 2) buy FileMaker Go ($39.95) from the Apple App Store; and 3) use iTunes file Sync to transfer your CallersCompanion.USR file to the iPad. To save yourself the $40, please check back in late April or May 2012 for a Filemaker Pro 12 based version of CC that uses a new free version of FileMaker Go.

What is Caller's Companion?

Caller's Companion makes it easy for dance callers to catalog large numbers of dances and to create, edit, save and duplicate "Sets" of dances for programmed events. Caller's Companion contains detailed options for cataloging contra dances, squares and English Country Dances by Name, Author, Type, formation, level, first figure, music, and more, as well as user customizable fields.

A robust Search engine allows you to search by figure within a specific part of a dance, for example, finding all dances with a "Petronella" balance in B1. Caller's Companion has multiple print options including a number of different formats for dances and sets and a detailed "programming matrix" to make it easy to spot repetitive elements in a Set (for example, several dances in a row that contain "Men allemande Left 1-1/2").

Dance entry is fast and standardized with user customizable "Insert Call" buttons so all dances are entered with the format and phrasing you like to use. A "Source" area allows you to link one dance to the author's website, an online video, and to other related dances.

Caller's Companion is a FileMaker Pro "Runtime" application and does not require FileMaker Pro or any additional software to run, though it may also be used with FileMaker Pro 9 or 10.

For more information:

• Take the Quick Tour for a screen-by-screen look
• Watch the Intro Movie for a full run-down of all features
• Download Caller's Companion (Mac or Win) and try it yourself!

Below are a couple of screen shots of the Dances and Sets areas. See the Tour page for a more complete overview or download the fully functional demo and try it yourself.

A sample Set list for an evening...

These two screen shots are just to give you a quick idea. Please see the "Tour" page for a complete overview of all Caller's Companion's capabilities.