Creating and Updating Records via OData

Intermediate

Use OData POST and PATCH requests to create new records and update existing ones in FileMaker.

What you'll learn

POST to create a new record
PATCH to update specific fields of an existing record
The difference between PATCH and PUT
Error responses and handling write failures

OData is not read-only -- POST requests create new records, PATCH requests update specific fields of existing records, and PUT can replace entire records. These operations follow standard HTTP conventions and are useful for integration scenarios where external systems need to write data back to FileMaker.

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POST: create a new record

Send a POST request with a JSON body to the collection URL:

HTTP

POST /fmi/odata/v4/MyDB/Contacts
Authorization: Basic {credentials}
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "FirstName": "Carol",
  "LastName": "Williams",
  "Email": "carol@example.com",
  "Status": "Active"
}

// Response: 201 Created
// Location header: URL of the new record

Selecting Fields and Sorting with $select and $orderby Deleting Records via OData