ISO FileMaker Magazine

Sessions and using a Sessions table is one of those advanced concepts, which you really don't add into a solution until you're really comfortable with building a robust database within FileMaker. The concept itself isn't that hard to grasp, more it's the implementation where things get sticky.

You really need to know what's going on with regards to how FileMaker deals with context in relation to what the current layout is tied to, and how that relates to the graph - which represents the structure of your data.

Sessions, within FileMaker, require you to become familiar with creating user interface abstractions. Straight forward, simple FileMaker means the layout your user is on, is tied to the same table the user is interacting with. When a user edits a customer, they're on a layout tied to the customers table - really simple, right?

It's the inevitable growth that all database solutions experience which cause you to either require or desire the use of a session model. Using a session record as your primary interface means you need to create links to the various data sources you're representing.

If this all sounds too complex to understand within a few sentences, then watch this video for a solid understanding of how it might work in your solution.