AEM Forms FDM(Form Data Model) setup for multiple Rest API

[narendragandhi]

I have been delving deeper into AEM Forms features overall such as Adaptive Forms and Interactive Communication. I wanted to reach out to community to check on how is everyone managing the FDM in AEM Forms ? The examples that I come across are mostly based on Salesforce and Microsoft which are more RDBMS style. I wanted to get inputs on how the similar setup would look like for a scenario where you have multiple Rest API providing inputs that needed to prefill the Adaptive Form / Interactive Communication. Do you create separate data source per Rest API and then combine them in a common FDM ? Or keep a one to one mapping between each data source and FDM ? Looking forward to discuss and learn some suggestions / best practices on this topic.

[Pranay_M]

Hi @narendragandhi,

Thank you for raising this question about managing Form Data Models (FDM) in AEM Forms. This is a very relevant topic as FDM design plays a key role in reusability, maintainability, and performance of Adaptive Forms and Interactive Communications.

To help you explore this further, please find below a set of useful resources and documentation:

• Overview of AEM Forms Data Integration
  Forms Data Integration Overview

• Configuring Data Sources (REST, SOAP, OData, JDBC, etc.)
  Configure Data Sources

• Creating and Working with Form Data Models
  Create Form Data Model
  Work with Form Data Model

• Using FDM in Adaptive Forms / Interactive Communications
  Use Form Data Model
  Invoke FDM Services from Adaptive Forms

• Tutorial (Hands-On)
  Create Your First Form Data Model

Additionally, there are practical blogs that demonstrate FDM integration with REST APIs using Swagger/OpenAPI specifications:

• Using External Data Sources in AEM Forms with OpenAPI

• AEM Forms Data Model Integration Example

I hope these resources will provide you with clarity on structuring FDMs across multiple REST APIs and help in evaluating whether to use separate FDMs per data source or a composite model.

Thanks
Pranay