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April 01, 2025 11:36
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Odoo Quick Reference Guide

Your handy companion for navigating and developing within the Odoo ERP framework, covering core concepts, shortcuts, ORM, and view basics.

Odoo Essentials & Development

Basic Navigation & UI

Main Menu

Access different Odoo Apps (Sales, Inventory, etc.) via the top-left icon.

Breadcrumbs

Track your navigation path, located below the main menu.

Views (Kanban, List, Form)

Switch between data representations using icons in the top-right (below search).

Search Bar

Perform quick searches across records. Use facets for advanced filtering.

Filters & Group By

Refine record lists using predefined or custom filters and grouping options.

Pager

Navigate through multiple pages of records in List view.

User Menu

Access Preferences, Documentation, Shortcuts, Log out (top-right corner).

Create Button

Initiate the creation of a new record in the current model.

Form View Buttons

Edit, Save, Discard, Action buttons manage record state.

Keyboard Shortcuts (General)

Alt + C

Create a new record.

Alt + S or Ctrl + S

Save the current record (Form View).

Alt + J or Ctrl + ArrowDown

Navigate to the next record.

Alt + K or Ctrl + ArrowUp

Navigate to the previous record.

Alt + Q

Discard changes (Form View).

Alt + E

Switch to Edit mode (Form View).

Alt + V

Open View Switcher.

Alt + X

Toggle the Debug Mode (if activated).

Alt + P

Open Pager options.

Alt + F

Open Filters menu.

Common Odoo Models

res.partner: Contacts, Companies, Addresses

res.users: System Users

product.product: Storable Products, Services, Consumables

product.template: Product Base Model (defines variants)

sale.order: Quotations and Sales Orders

purchase.order: Purchase Orders

account.move: Journal Entries, Invoices, Bills

stock.picking: Inventory Transfers (Receipts, Deliveries)

hr.employee: Employee Information

ir.ui.view: View Definitions (XML)

ir.actions.act_window: Window Actions

Developer Mode

Activation:
Go to Settings -> General Settings -> Activate the developer mode (usually at the bottom).

With Assets: Reloads frontend assets (JS, CSS). Slower.

Without Assets: Faster activation, doesn’t reload assets.

URL Activation: Append ?debug=1 or ?debug=assets to the Odoo URL.

Debug Menu: Appears as a bug icon in the top menu bar.

Features:

  • View Metadata (Fields, Views)
  • Edit Actions, Views, Menus
  • Run Scheduled Actions manually
  • Access Technical Settings
  • View Field information on hover

View Metadata: Open a record or view, click the Debug Menu -> View Fields / Edit FormView / Edit ListView, etc.

Technical Menu: Settings -> Technical (visible only in debug mode).

Deactivation: Click the Debug Menu -> Leave the Developer Tools or go back to General Settings.

Basic ORM Methods

self.env['model.name']

Access the environment for a specific model.

.search(domain, limit, order)

Find records matching the domain (list of tuples). Returns a recordset.
Example:
partners = self.env['res.partner'].search([('is_company', '=', True)])

.search_count(domain)

Count records matching the domain.
Example:
count = self.env['sale.order'].search_count([('state', '=', 'sale')])

.browse(ids)

Get a recordset from a list or tuple of IDs.
Example:
user = self.env['res.users'].browse(self.env.uid)

.create(vals)

Create a new record.
Example:

new_partner = self.env['res.partner'].create({'name': 'New Customer'})```

.write(vals)

Update records in the recordset.
Example:
record.write({'field_name': 'new_value'})

.unlink()

Delete records in the recordset.
Example:
records_to_delete.unlink()

.read(fields)

Read specific fields for records in the recordset. Returns a list of dictionaries.

.filtered(lambda)

Filter a recordset based on a Python function.
Example:
active_partners = partners.filtered(lambda p: p.active)

.mapped('field_name')

Extract values of a specific field from a recordset.
Example:
names = partners.mapped('name')

XML View Basics

Basic Structure:

<odoo>
  <data>
    <record model="ir.ui.view" id="view_mymodel_form">
      <field name="name">mymodel.form</field>
      <field name="model">my.model</field>
      <field name="arch" type="xml">
        <form string="My Model Form">
          <sheet>
            <group>
              <field name="name"/>
              <field name="description"/>
            </group>
          </sheet>
        </form>
      </field>
    </record>
  </data>
</odoo>

Common View Types: form, tree (list), kanban, search, graph, pivot

<record> Tag: Defines Odoo data records (views, actions, menus, etc.).

model Attribute: Specifies the Odoo model the record belongs to (e.g., ir.ui.view).

id Attribute: Unique identifier for the record within the module.

<field name="arch" type="xml">: Contains the actual view architecture.

<form>, <tree>, <kanban>: Root tags for respective view types.

<field name="field_name"/>: Displays a model field.

<group>, <notebook>, <page>: Structure elements within forms.

Attributes: string, invisible, readonly, required, widget, options, domain, context modify field behavior and appearance.

Odoo Server Commands (CLI)

odoo-bin -c <config_file>

Start Odoo server using a configuration file.

odoo-bin --addons-path=<paths>

Specify comma-separated paths to addon directories.

odoo-bin -d <database_name>

Specify the database to use.

odoo-bin -i <module_name>

Install a module. Requires -d.

odoo-bin -u <module_name>

Update a module. Requires -d.

--init=all or --update=all

Install/Update all modules found in the addons path.

--stop-after-init

Stop the server after initialization/update is complete.

--xmlrpc-port=<port>

Specify the XML-RPC port (default: 8069).

--log-level=<level>

Set the logging level (e.g., info, debug, warn, error).

--test-enable

Run tests after module installation/update.

Search Domain Syntax

Format

List of tuples: [('field_name', 'operator', 'value'), ...]

=

Equals

!=

Not Equals

>

Greater than

>=

Greater than or Equal to

<

Less than

<=

Less than or Equal to

in

Value is in a list. ('id', 'in', [1, 2, 3])

not in

Value is not in a list.

ilike

Case-insensitive ‘like’. Use % as wildcard. ('name', 'ilike', '%erp%')

like

Case-sensitive ‘like’.

child_of

For hierarchical relationships (parent/child).

Logical Operators

Default is AND (&). Use '|' for OR, '!' for NOT as prefixes. Example: ['|', ('state', '=', 'draft'), ('user_id', '=', uid)]

Module Structure (`__manifest__.py`)

__manifest__.py: (Required) Dictionary describing the module.

'name': 'My Module' (Required)

'version': '16.0.1.0.0' (Required)

'summary': 'Short description'

'description': 'Longer description (can be RST)'

'author': 'Your Name/Company'

'website': 'Your Website URL'

'category': 'Category/Subcategory' (e.g., ‘Sales/CRM’)

'depends': ['base', 'sale_management'] (List of dependencies)

'data': ['security/ir.model.access.csv', 'views/my_view.xml'] (List of data files to load)

'installable': True

'application': False (Set to True if it’s a main application)

'license': 'LGPL-3' (Or other license like OEEL-1)

Basic Field Types (Models)

fields.Char

String field.

fields.Text

Multi-line text field.

fields.Html

HTML formatted text field.

fields.Integer

Integer number field.

fields.Float

Floating-point number field.

fields.Boolean

True/False field.

fields.Date

Date field.

fields.Datetime

Date and Time field.

fields.Selection

Dropdown selection list. Requires a list of tuples [('value', 'Label'), ...] or a method name returning it.

fields.Many2one

Link to another model (foreign key). Requires comodel_name='other.model'.

fields.One2many

Inverse relationship for a Many2one. Requires comodel_name='other.model', inverse_name='m2o_field_on_other_model'.

fields.Many2many

Many-to-many relationship. Requires comodel_name='other.model'.