A Record is an ordinary Java class with properties that are treated as data to be displayed and edited by a {@link com.smartgwt.client.widgets.DataBoundComponent}.
{@link com.smartgwt.client.widgets.DataBoundComponent}s have a concept of named fields, where values for each field are found under the same-named property in a Record.
A Record is always an ordinary Java object regardless of how the record is loaded (static data, java server, XML web service, etc).
The concept of working with Records is common to all {@link com.smartgwt.client.widgets.DataBoundComponent}s, although individual DataBoundComponents may work with singular records ( {@link com.smartgwt.client.widgets.form.DynamicForm}) or may work with lists ( {@link com.smartgwt.client.widgets.grid.ListGrid}), trees ( {@link com.smartgwt.client.widgets.tree.TreeGrid}), or cubes (CubeGrid) of records.
Individual DataComponents may also look for special properties on Records which control styling or behavior for those records, such as {@link com.smartgwt.client.widgets.grid.ListGrid#setRecordEditProperty(String)}