A Beginner’s Guide to Odoo Development: Understanding the Basics

Odoo is a powerful Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software designed to streamline business operations. It helps companies manage various processes—such as sales, inventory, accounting, and HR—in a single, integrated system.

What makes Odoo unique is its modular approach. Instead of being one monolithic application, it consists of multiple interconnected modules. For example:

• Sales Module: Tracks orders and customer interactions.
• Inventory Module: Manages stock levels and warehouses.
• Accounting Module: Handles financial transactions and reporting.

These modules work together seamlessly. When a sale is made, it automatically updates inventory and accounting records.

What is Odoo Development?

Odoo development involves two main tasks:

1. Extending Existing Modules: Adding new features to built-in modules (e.g., customizing the sales module).
2. Creating New Modules: Building entirely new applications (e.g., a hospital management system).

To develop in Odoo, you work within its framework, which provides pre-built tools and libraries to speed up development.

Understanding Odoo’s Architecture (MVC Pattern)

Odoo follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture:

1. Model (Backend Logic - Python)

• Represents database tables (e.g., Patient, Doctor).
• Uses Object-Relational Mapping (ORM), meaning you define classes instead of writing SQL.
• Example:pythonCopyDownload

  class Patient(models.Model):
      _name = 'hospital.patient'
      name = fields.Char(string='Name')
      age = fields.Integer(string='Age')

2. View (Frontend - XML)

• Defines the user interface (forms, menus, reports).

Odoo converts XML into HTML dynamically.

<form> 

​<field name="name"/> 

​<field name="age"/> 

</form>

3. Controller (Optional - Python)

• Handles custom API requests (rarely needed in standard Odoo development).
• Most requests are managed automatically by Odoo’s framework.

How to Structure an Odoo Module

Every Odoo module follows a standard structure:

1. __manifest__.py (Module Metadata)

This file describes the module:

{
    'name': 'Hospital Management',
    'version': '18.0.1.0',
    'summary': 'Manages patient records and appointments',
    'description': 'A module for hospital operations.',
    'category': 'Healthcare',
    'depends': ['base'],  # Dependencies (e.g., 'sale', 'account')
    'data': [
        'views/patient.xml',
        'views/doctor.xml',
    ],
}

2. models/ (Backend Logic - Python Files)

• Contains Python classes (models.Model) for database tables.
• Example: patient.py, doctor.py.

3. views/ (Frontend - XML Files)

• Defines UI elements (forms, lists, menus).
• Example: patient.xml, doctor.xml.

4. security/ (Access Control)

• Defines user permissions (ir.model.access.csv).
• Example: Restrict doctors from editing financial records.

Key Odoo Development Concepts

1. ORM (Object-Relational Mapping)

• Instead of writing SQL, you define Python classes.
• Odoo automatically creates database tables.

2. Modularity

• Each business function (sales, HR) is a separate module.
• Modules can depend on each other (e.g., account depends on base).

3. Security & Access Rights

• Define who can view/edit data.
• Example: Nurses can view patient records but not delete them.

4. Automated UI Generation

• XML files define forms and menus; Odoo renders them dynamically.

Example: Building a Hospital Management Module

Step 1: Create the Module Structure

hospital_management/  
├── __init__.py  
├── __manifest__.py  
├── models/  
│   ├── __init__.py  
│   ├── patient.py  
│   └── doctor.py  
├── views/  
│   ├── patient.xml  
│   └── doctor.xml  
└── security/  
    └── ir.model.access.csv  

Step 2: Define Models (models/patient.py)

from odoo import models, fields

class Patient(models.Model):
    _name = 'hospital.patient'
    name = fields.Char(string='Name')
    age = fields.Integer(string='Age')

Step 3: Create Views (views/patient.xml)

<odoo>
    <record id="view_patient_form" model="ir.ui.view">
        <field name="name">Patient Form</field>
        <field name="model">hospital.patient</field>
        <field name="arch" type="xml">
            <form>
                <field name="name"/>
                <field name="age"/>
            </form>
        </field>
    </record>
</odoo>

Step 4: Set Permissions (security/ir.model.access.csv)

id,name,model_id:id,group_id:id,perm_read,perm_write,perm_create,perm_unlink  
access_hospital_patient,hospital.patient,model_hospital_patient,,1,1,1,0  

Conclusion

Odoo development is about:

✔ Extending existing modules or building new ones.

✔ Writing Python models (backend) and XML views (frontend).

✔ Following modular and MVC best practices.

✔ Managing security and access rights.

By mastering these concepts, you can customize Odoo to fit any business need—whether it’s a hospital system, e-commerce store, or manufacturing ERP.