Core Concepts

This guide explains FileMaker ideas easy-fm builds on.

Mental Model

Request flow usually looks like this:

DatabaseProvider -> Database -> Layout -> Record

And sometimes:

LayoutRecord -> Portal -> PortalRecord

Provider

DataApiProvider represents a FileMaker Data API connection. Custom providers can implement other transports.

Example:

const provider = new DataApiProvider({
    hostname: 'https://example.com',
    database: 'Contacts',
    credentials: { method: 'filemaker', username: 'api-user', password: 'secret' },
    externalSources: [],
});

Provider owns formatting rules and translates semantic database operations to its transport.

Database

Database represents one FileMaker file.

Example:

const database = Database.create({ provider });

Database object handles session management, requests, layout caching, and helper methods like script().

Layout

This part surprises many new users:

FileMaker Data API works through layouts, not directly through tables.

That means:

fields must be available on chosen layout if you want to read or write them
portal rows must be exposed on chosen layout if you want to fetch them
script execution can be layout-scoped

Good practice:

create API-focused layouts
include fields needed by integration
avoid extra UI-only objects when possible

Record

LayoutRecord is one record returned from a layout.

You read and write through record.fields:

const record = await layout.records.get(123);
record.fields.Status.value = 'Active';
await record.commit();

Important:

changing field value does not save immediately
commit() sends edits to FileMaker
get() re-fetches latest version from server

Portal

Portals represent related rows returned inside parent layout record.

Portal data is not fetched automatically. You must ask for it:

const records = await layout.records
    .list({
        portals: {
            LineItems: {
                offset: 1,
                limit: 25,
            },
        },
    })
    .fetch();

Then read portal rows from:

records[0].portals.LineItems.records;

Record ID vs Business ID

FileMaker gives each record:

recordId: internal unique identifier
modId: internal modification counter

These are useful for API operations.

recordId should usually not be used as a business identifier because:

users do not recognize them
they are layout/API oriented
business rules usually belong to dedicated fields like CustomerNumber

modId is different. It is still internal, but it can be useful for change detection, optimistic locking, or checking whether a record has been modified since you last read it.

Typed Layouts

TypeScript users can describe layout shape to get better autocomplete and compile-time checks.

Minimal example:

import { type LayoutInterface, type Field } from '@jd-data-limited/easy-fm';

interface ContactsLayout extends LayoutInterface {
    fields: {
        FirstName: Field<string>;
        LastName: Field<string>;
    };
    portals: {};
}

Then:

const layout = database.layout<ContactsLayout>('Contacts_API');

Now record.fields.FirstName is typed.

Next Guides

getting-started.md for first connection and first read
working-with-records.md for create/update/delete examples
query-recipes.md for finding records
authentication-and-sessions.md for login behavior
timezones.md for date/time handling