The first step of course is logging in. Logging in protects your Amazon AWS credentials which are stored on the file system in an encrypted format. Bolso does not transmit your AWS credentials nor does it store them in SimpleDB, they remain in an encrypted form on your computer.

To change the credentials Bolso uses to access SimpleDB just click the icon in the menu bar with the little blue wrench. This component also allows you to add/change the Bolso license key when necessary.

Adding domains is easy and self explanitory as is refreshing the list of domains you have created in SimpleDB. A domain, along with its items can be (permanently) removed by clicking the red icon next to each SimpleDB domain name.

Clicking a domain in the SimpleDB domain list will load that domain's meta data which can be viewed by mousing over the icon highlighted in the picture to the right. The domain name shown is the active domain which queries can be run against and/or the items in the domain viewed. To make another domian active simply click on the domain name in the list of SimpleDB domains you've created.

Clicking the icon highligted in the image to the right will bring up the 'Add Item' window allowing you to add a new item to the active SimpleDB domain. You can add attributes and values to the item as well. When you are finished adding attributes click the save button to save the item in the active SimpleDB domain.

Clicking the icon highligted in the image to the right will bring up the query component. Bolso attempts to simplify the query process for SimpleDB by providing a 'fill in the blank' query procedure saving you from having to type in the query manually, reducing syntax errors. All of the SimpleDB query comparison operators are available, just fill in the name of the attributes and conditions in the appropriate text boxes and click the run query button. Bolso provides a more SQL-like format which most people are used to.

The image above shows the results of running a query against the active SimpleDB domain. The box usage for the last query run is shown on the right side and there is a graph charting the box usage as you run queries. Below the graph is a summary of the query using the SimpleDB query syntax. If you click on an attribute value for one of the query results you can edit the value and save the new value for that item by clicking the save icon. The save icon will appear in the item widget when you change the value for an attribute. The item widget also allows you to add additional attributes as well as deleting them. You can also delete the item from SimpleDB by clicking the red delete icon for the qppropriate item widget.