Getting Started with Fluidinfo

Chapter 5. Programming with FOM

The Fluid Object Mapper (FOM) serves the same purpose as an Object Relational Mapper (ORM) in the context of traditional relational databases. In other words, it provides object-oriented access to Fluidinfo.

In contrast to the lower-level fluidinfo.py, FOM is quick and convenient, hiding many of the implementation details from the developer. However, it is similar to fluidinfo.py in that it is a synchronous library—it pauses program execution while it waits for responses from Fluidinfo.

Like fluidinfo.py, FOM requires Python 2.6 (or later) to work and can be installed using exactly the same tools and techniques described for fluidinfo.py:

$ easy_install fom
$ pip install -U fom

Furthermore, the source code is hosted online and you should be able to download it or clone the project using the bzr source control tool. Once you have the source, you can install FOM by changing into the source directory and typing the following command into your shell:

$ python setup.py install

(You may need some sort of administrative privileges for this to work.)

FOM Fundamentals

FOM is to Fluidinfo as an ORM is to a relational database. It’s built of two layers:

1. A low-level thin wrapper for the actual REST API, which has functionality similar to the fluidinfo.py library.

2. An object-oriented layer built on the low-level API.

FOM binds to a session. You can optionally log in to a session or you can remain anonymous. The following Python shell-based example illustrates basic use of ...