Odoo Inheritance

Odoo Inheritance

Goal

Modify behavior and appearance of existing Odoo applications without touching their source code.

1. Python Inheritance (Extension)

Add fields or methods to an existing model (e.g., res.partner, res.users).

• Attribute: _inherit = 'existing.model.name'
• Note: Do NOT define _name (unless you want to create a copy/prototype inheritance).

Example:

class ResUsers(models.Model):
    _inherit = "res.users"

    property_ids = fields.One2many("estate.property", "salesperson_id", string="Properties")

• Method Overriding: Use super() to maintain existing logic.
  • create(vals): Modify vals before calling super.
  • write(vals): Modify vals or trigger logic after super.
  • unlink(): typically define @api.ondelete instead.

2. View Inheritance

Modify an existing XML view (Actions or Views).

• Model: ir.ui.view
• Field inherit_id: Reference to the parent view's XML ID.
• Field arch: Use xpath expressions to locate and modify elements.

Example:

<record id="view_users_form_inherit_estate" model="ir.ui.view">
    <field name="name">res.users.form.inherit.estate</field>
    <field name="model">res.users</field>
    <field name="inherit_id" ref="base.view_users_form"/>
    <field name="arch" type="xml">
        <!-- Find the notebook and add a page inside it -->
        <xpath expr="//notebook" position="inside">
            <page string="Real Estate Properties">
                <field name="property_ids"/>
            </page>
        </xpath>
        
        <!-- Or find a specific field and add something after it -->
        <!-- <xpath expr="//field[@name='email']" position="after"> ... </xpath> -->
    </field>
</record>

XPath Locators

• expr="//field[@name='description']": Find field by name.
• expr="//group": Find the first group.
• expr="//page[@string='Description']": Find page by label.

XPath Positions

• inside: Append to the end of the element's children.
• after: Add as a sibling after the element.
• before: Add as a sibling before the element.
• replace: Replace the element (Use with caution!).
• attributes: Modify attributes (e.g., make a field invisible).

  <xpath expr="//field[@name='phone']" position="attributes">
      <attribute name="required">1</attribute>
      <attribute name="invisible">1</attribute>
  </xpath>
  

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