With your filemaker.yml file, you can load the configuration into the registry.

require 'filemaker'

Filemaker.load!('./filemaker.yml', :production)
server = Filemaker.registry['default']
server.databases.all # Show all your databases

The registry will give you back a single server instance where you can use to tag which database and layout you want to query and write data for. Note: You can have multiple registry if you have many FileMaker server with different hostname.

api = server.database[:candidates].layout[:profile]
api = server.db[:candidates].lay[:profile] # Shortcut
api = server.db[:candidates][:profile]     # The same

With the api instance, you can perform find, new, edit, and delete CRUD requests.

resultset = api.find({ name: 'Bob' }, { max: 10 })
resultset.params # Useful for debugging the parameters that get send to FileMaker
resultset.xml    # The raw XML
resultset.count
resultset.total_count

You will get back a resultset which is enumerable so you can directly iterate over your records.

resultset.each do |record|
  name1 = record[:name]
  name2 = record['NaMe']
  name3 = record.name

  # Access your portals hash
  record.portals
end

As you can see, to get back the individual field, you do not have to worry about String, Symbol, or case sensitivity.

Using those low-level api can get frustrating pretty fast. If you want some sort of ORM mapping, you can include Filemaker::Model to your data model. This will give you many conveniences like a query DSL and persistence framework. You can expect your Rails form to work as well as JSON and XML serialization. Callbacks and validations are also provided.

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

require 'bundler/setup'
Bundler.require

Filemaker.registry['default'] = Filemaker::Server.new do |config|
  config.host         = ENV['FILEMAKER_HOST']
  config.account_name = ENV['FILEMAKER_ACCOUNT_NAME']
  config.password     = ENV['FILEMAKER_PASSWORD']
end

class Job
  include Filemaker::Model

  before_save :geotag_location

  database :jobs
  layout :job

  # Make use of kaminari gem
  paginates_per 50

  # Taken from filemaker.yml config file, default to :default
  # Only use registry if you have multiple FileMaker servers you want to connect
  registry :read_slave

  string   :job_id, fm_name: 'JobOrderID', identity: true
  string   :title, :requirements
  datetime :created_at
  datetime :published_at, fm_name: 'ModifiedDate'
  money    :salary

  validates :title, presence: true

  belongs_to :company
  has_many :applicants, class_name: 'JobApplication', reference_key: 'job_id'

  def geotag_location
    # before_save callback
  end
end

The following data types are available:

• string or text - String as TEXT
• integer - Integer as NUMBER
• number or money - BigDecimal as NUMBER
• date - Date as DATE
• datetime - DateTime as TIME/TIMESTAMP
• object - Filemaker::Model::Types::Attachment as CONTAINER
• email - Filemaker::Model::Types::Email

CONTAINER will just be a URL string.

The following data type options are available:

• fm_name - Map the attribute name to the FileMaker field name
• identity - Identify which attribute is to be act as an ID

The following relations are available:

• has_many - Will automatically infer the identity attribute to be the reference_key
• belongs_to - Will append _id to the foreign key as the reference_key
• has_portal

For relation, class_name and reference_key are typically inferred, but you can override.

In your Gemfile

gem 'filemaker'
gem 'kaminari' # For pagination

Place filemaker.yml file into your config folder and write your data models as you would normally.

As always, the model is just for data model, it is your judgement how your want to tightly coupled it to your domain models.