Coding guidelines

This page introduces the Odoo Coding Guidelines. Those aim to improve the quality of Odoo Apps code. Indeed proper code improves readability, eases maintenance, helps debugging, lowers complexity and promotes reliability. These guidelines should be applied to every new module and to all new development.

Warning

When modifying existing files in stable version the original file style strictly supersedes any other style guidelines. In other words please never modify existing files in order to apply these guidelines. It avoids disrupting the revision history of code lines. Diff should be kept minimal. For more details, see our pull request guide.

Warning

When modifying existing files in master (development) version apply those guidelines to existing code only for modified code or if most of the file is under revision. In other words modify existing files structure only if it is going under major changes. In that case first do a move commit then apply the changes related to the feature.

Module structure

Directories

A module is organized in important directories. Those contain the business logic; having a look at them should make you understand the purpose of the module.

  • data/ : demo and data xml

  • models/ : models definition

  • controllers/ : contains controllers (HTTP routes)

  • views/ : contains the views and templates

  • static/ : contains the web assets, separated into css/, js/, img/, lib/, …

Other optional directories compose the module.

  • wizard/ : regroups the transient models (models.TransientModel) and their views

  • report/ : contains the printable reports and models based on SQL views. Python objects and XML views are included in this directory

  • tests/ : contains the Python tests

File naming

File naming is important to quickly find information through all odoo addons. This section explains how to name files in a standard odoo module. As an example we use a plant nursery application. It holds two main models plant.nursery and plant.order.

Concerning models, split the business logic by sets of models belonging to a same main model. Each set lies in a given file named based on its main model. If there is only one model, its name is the same as the module name. Each inherited model should be in its own file to help understanding of impacted models.

addons/plant_nursery/
|-- models/
|   |-- plant_nursery.py (first main model)
|   |-- plant_order.py (another main model)
|   |-- res_partner.py (inherited Odoo model)

Concerning security, three main files should be used:

  • First one is the definition of access rights done in a ir.model.access.csv file.

  • User groups are defined in <module>_groups.xml.

  • Record rules are defined in <model>_security.xml.

addons/plant_nursery/
|-- security/
|   |-- ir.model.access.csv
|   |-- plant_nursery_groups.xml
|   |-- plant_nursery_security.xml
|   |-- plant_order_security.xml

Concerning views, backend views should be split like models and suffixed by _views.xml. Backend views are list, form, kanban, activity, graph, pivot, .. views. To ease split by model in views main menus not linked to specific actions may be extracted into an optional <module>_menus.xml file. Templates (QWeb pages used notably for portal / website display) are put in separate files named <model>_templates.xml.

addons/plant_nursery/
|-- views/
|   | -- plant_nursery_menus.xml (optional definition of main menus)
|   | -- plant_nursery_views.xml (backend views)
|   | -- plant_nursery_templates.xml (portal templates)
|   | -- plant_order_views.xml
|   | -- plant_order_templates.xml
|   | -- res_partner_views.xml

Concerning data, split them by purpose (demo or data) and main model. Filenames will be the main_model name suffixed by _demo.xml or _data.xml. For instance for an application having demo and data for its main model as well as subtypes, activities and mail templates all related to mail module:

addons/plant_nursery/
|-- data/
|   |-- plant_nursery_data.xml
|   |-- plant_nursery_demo.xml
|   |-- mail_data.xml

Concerning controllers, generally all controllers belong to a single controller contained in a file named <module_name>.py. An old convention in Odoo is to name this file main.py but it is considered as outdated. If you need to inherit an existing controller from another module do it in <inherited_module_name>.py. For example adding portal controller in an application is done in portal.py.

addons/plant_nursery/
|-- controllers/
|   |-- plant_nursery.py
|   |-- portal.py (inheriting portal/controllers/portal.py)
|   |-- main.py (deprecated, replaced by plant_nursery.py)

Concerning static files, Javascript files follow globally the same logic as python models. Each component should be in its own file with a meaningful name. For instance, the activity widgets are located in activity.js of mail module. Subdirectories can also be created to structure the ‘package’ (see web module for more details). The same logic should be applied for the templates of JS widgets (static XML files) and for their styles (scss files). Don’t link data (image, libraries) outside Odoo: do not use an URL to an image but copy it in the codebase instead.

Concerning wizards, naming convention is the same of for python models: <transient>.py and <transient>_views.xml. Both are put in the wizard directory. This naming comes from old odoo applications using the wizard keyword for transient models.

addons/plant_nursery/
|-- wizard/
|   |-- make_plant_order.py
|   |-- make_plant_order_views.xml

Concerning statistics reports done with python / SQL views and classic views naming is the following :

addons/plant_nursery/
|-- report/
|   |-- plant_order_report.py
|   |-- plant_order_report_views.xml

Concerning printable reports which contain mainly data preparation and Qweb templates naming is the following :

addons/plant_nursery/
|-- report/
|   |-- plant_order_reports.xml (report actions, paperformat, ...)
|   |-- plant_order_templates.xml (xml report templates)

The complete tree of our Odoo module therefore looks like

addons/plant_nursery/
|-- __init__.py
|-- __manifest__.py
|-- controllers/
|   |-- __init__.py
|   |-- plant_nursery.py
|   |-- portal.py
|-- data/
|   |-- plant_nursery_data.xml
|   |-- plant_nursery_demo.xml
|   |-- mail_data.xml
|-- models/
|   |-- __init__.py
|   |-- plant_nursery.py
|   |-- plant_order.py
|   |-- res_partner.py
|-- report/
|   |-- __init__.py
|   |-- plant_order_report.py
|   |-- plant_order_report_views.xml
|   |-- plant_order_reports.xml (report actions, paperformat, ...)
|   |-- plant_order_templates.xml (xml report templates)
|-- security/
|   |-- ir.model.access.csv
|   |-- plant_nursery_groups.xml
|   |-- plant_nursery_security.xml
|   |-- plant_order_security.xml
|-- static/
|   |-- img/
|   |   |-- my_little_kitten.png
|   |   |-- troll.jpg
|   |-- lib/
|   |   |-- external_lib/
|   |-- src/
|   |   |-- js/
|   |   |   |-- widget_a.js
|   |   |   |-- widget_b.js
|   |   |-- scss/
|   |   |   |-- widget_a.scss
|   |   |   |-- widget_b.scss
|   |   |-- xml/
|   |   |   |-- widget_a.xml
|   |   |   |-- widget_a.xml
|-- views/
|   |-- plant_nursery_menus.xml
|   |-- plant_nursery_views.xml
|   |-- plant_nursery_templates.xml
|   |-- plant_order_views.xml
|   |-- plant_order_templates.xml
|   |-- res_partner_views.xml
|-- wizard/
|   |--make_plant_order.py
|   |--make_plant_order_views.xml

Note

File names should only contain [a-z0-9_] (lowercase alphanumerics and _)

Warning

Use correct file permissions : folder 755 and file 644.

XML files

Format

To declare a record in XML, the record notation (using <record>) is recommended:

  • Place id attribute before model

  • For field declaration, name attribute is first. Then place the value either in the field tag, either in the eval attribute, and finally other attributes (widget, options, …) ordered by importance.

  • Try to group the record by model. In case of dependencies between action/menu/views, this convention may not be applicable.

  • Use naming convention defined at the next point

  • The tag <data> is only used to set not-updatable data with noupdate=1. If there is only not-updatable data in the file, the noupdate=1 can be set on the <odoo> tag and do not set a <data> tag.

<record id="view_id" model="ir.ui.view">
    <field name="name">view.name</field>
    <field name="model">object_name</field>
    <field name="priority" eval="16"/>
    <field name="arch" type="xml">
        <tree>
            <field name="my_field_1"/>
            <field name="my_field_2" string="My Label" widget="statusbar" statusbar_visible="draft,sent,progress,done" />
        </tree>
    </field>
</record>

Odoo supports custom tags acting as syntactic sugar:

  • menuitem: use it as a shortcut to declare a ir.ui.menu

  • template: use it to declare a QWeb View requiring only the arch section of the view.

These tags are preferred over the record notation.

XML IDs and naming

Security, View and Action

Use the following pattern :

  • For a menu: <model_name>_menu, or <model_name>_menu_do_stuff for submenus.

  • For a view: <model_name>_view_<view_type>, where view_type is kanban, form, tree, search, …

  • For an action: the main action respects <model_name>_action. Others are suffixed with _<detail>, where detail is a lowercase string briefly explaining the action. This is used only if multiple actions are declared for the model.

  • For window actions: suffix the action name by the specific view information like <model_name>_action_view_<view_type>.

  • For a group: <module_name>_group_<group_name> where group_name is the name of the group, generally ‘user’, ‘manager’, …

  • For a rule: <model_name>_rule_<concerned_group> where concerned_group is the short name of the concerned group (‘user’ for the ‘model_name_group_user’, ‘public’ for public user, ‘company’ for multi-company rules, …).

Name should be identical to xml id with dots replacing underscores. Actions should have a real naming as it is used as display name.

<!-- views  -->
<record id="model_name_view_form" model="ir.ui.view">
    <field name="name">model.name.view.form</field>
    ...
</record>

<record id="model_name_view_kanban" model="ir.ui.view">
    <field name="name">model.name.view.kanban</field>
    ...
</record>

<!-- actions -->
<record id="model_name_action" model="ir.act.window">
    <field name="name">Model Main Action</field>
    ...
</record>

<record id="model_name_action_child_list" model="ir.actions.act_window">
    <field name="name">Model Access Children</field>
</record>

<!-- menus and sub-menus -->
<menuitem
    id="model_name_menu_root"
    name="Main Menu"
    sequence="5"
/>
<menuitem
    id="model_name_menu_action"
    name="Sub Menu 1"
    parent="module_name.module_name_menu_root"
    action="model_name_action"
    sequence="10"
/>

<!-- security -->
<record id="module_name_group_user" model="res.groups">
    ...
</record>

<record id="model_name_rule_public" model="ir.rule">
    ...
</record>

<record id="model_name_rule_company" model="ir.rule">
    ...
</record>

Inheriting XML

Xml Ids of inheriting views should use the same ID as the original record. It helps finding all inheritance at a glance. As final Xml Ids are prefixed by the module that creates them there is no overlap.

Naming should contain an .inherit.{details} suffix to ease understanding the override purpose when looking at its name.

<record id="model_view_form" model="ir.ui.view">
    <field name="name">model.view.form.inherit.module2</field>
    <field name="inherit_id" ref="module1.model_view_form"/>
    ...
</record>

New primary views do not require the inherit suffix as those are new records based upon the first one.

<record id="module2.model_view_form" model="ir.ui.view">
    <field name="name">model.view.form.module2</field>
    <field name="inherit_id" ref="module1.model_view_form"/>
    <field name="mode">primary</field>
    ...
</record>

Python

Warning

Do not forget to read the Security Pitfalls section as well to write secure code.

PEP8 options

Using a linter can help show syntax and semantic warnings or errors. Odoo source code tries to respect Python standard, but some of them can be ignored.

  • E501: line too long

  • E301: expected 1 blank line, found 0

  • E302: expected 2 blank lines, found 1

Imports

The imports are ordered as

  1. External libraries (one per line sorted and split in python stdlib)

  2. Imports of odoo

  3. Imports from Odoo modules (rarely, and only if necessary)

Inside these 3 groups, the imported lines are alphabetically sorted.

# 1 : imports of python lib
import base64
import re
import time
from datetime import datetime
# 2 : imports of odoo
import odoo
from odoo import api, fields, models, _ # alphabetically ordered
from odoo.tools.safe_eval import safe_eval as eval
# 3 : imports from odoo addons
from odoo.addons.web.controllers.main import login_redirect
from odoo.addons.website.models.website import slug

Idiomatics of Programming (Python)

  • Always favor readability over conciseness or using the language features or idioms.

  • Don’t use .clone()

# bad
new_dict = my_dict.clone()
new_list = old_list.clone()
# good
new_dict = dict(my_dict)
new_list = list(old_list)

  • Python dictionary : creation and update

# -- creation empty dict
my_dict = {}
my_dict2 = dict()

# -- creation with values
# bad
my_dict = {}
my_dict['foo'] = 3
my_dict['bar'] = 4
# good
my_dict = {'foo': 3, 'bar': 4}

# -- update dict
# bad
my_dict['foo'] = 3
my_dict['bar'] = 4
my_dict['baz'] = 5
# good
my_dict.update(foo=3, bar=4, baz=5)
my_dict = dict(my_dict, **my_dict2)

  • Use meaningful variable/class/method names

  • Useless variable : Temporary variables can make the code clearer by giving names to objects, but that doesn’t mean you should create temporary variables all the time:

# pointless
schema = kw['schema']
params = {'schema': schema}
# simpler
params = {'schema': kw['schema']}

  • Multiple return points are OK, when they’re simpler

# a bit complex and with a redundant temp variable
def axes(self, axis):
    axes = []
    if type(axis) == type([]):
        axes.extend(axis)
    else:
        axes.append(axis)
    return axes

 # clearer
def axes(self, axis):
    if type(axis) == type([]):
        return list(axis) # clone the axis
    else:
        return [axis] # single-element list

value = my_dict.get('key', None) # very very redundant
value = my_dict.get('key') # good

Also, if 'key' in my_dict and if my_dict.get('key') have very different meaning, be sure that you’re using the right one.

  • Learn list comprehensions : Use list comprehension, dict comprehension, and basic manipulation using map, filter, sum, … They make the code easier to read.

# not very good
cube = []
for i in res:
    cube.append((i['id'],i['name']))
# better
cube = [(i['id'], i['name']) for i in res]

  • Collections are booleans too : In python, many objects have “boolean-ish” value when evaluated in a boolean context (such as an if). Among these are collections (lists, dicts, sets, …) which are “falsy” when empty and “truthy” when containing items:

bool([]) is False
bool([1]) is True
bool([False]) is True

So, you can write if some_collection: instead of if len(some_collection):.

  • Iterate on iterables

# creates a temporary list and looks bar
for key in my_dict.keys():
    "do something..."
# better
for key in my_dict:
    "do something..."
# accessing the key,value pair
for key, value in my_dict.items():
    "do something..."

  • Use dict.setdefault

# longer.. harder to read
values = {}
for element in iterable:
    if element not in values:
        values[element] = []
    values[element].append(other_value)

# better.. use dict.setdefault method
values = {}
for element in iterable:
    values.setdefault(element, []).append(other_value)

Programming in Odoo

  • Avoid to create generators and decorators: only use the ones provided by the Odoo API.

  • As in python, use filtered, mapped, sorted, … methods to ease code reading and performance.

Propagate the context

The context is a frozendict that cannot be modified. To call a method with a different context, the with_context method should be used :

records.with_context(new_context).do_stuff() # all the context is replaced
records.with_context(**additionnal_context).do_other_stuff() # additionnal_context values override native context ones

Warning

Passing parameter in context can have dangerous side-effects.

Since the values are propagated automatically, some unexpected behavior may appear. Calling create() method of a model with default_my_field key in context will set the default value of my_field for the concerned model. But if during this creation, other objects (such as sale.order.line, on sale.order creation) having a field name my_field are created, their default value will be set too.

If you need to create a key context influencing the behavior of some object, choose a good name, and eventually prefix it by the name of the module to isolate its impact. A good example are the keys of mail module : mail_create_nosubscribe, mail_notrack, mail_notify_user_signature, …

Think extendable

Functions and methods should not contain too much logic: having a lot of small and simple methods is more advisable than having few large and complex methods. A good rule of thumb is to split a method as soon as it has more than one responsibility (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_responsibility_principle).

Hardcoding a business logic in a method should be avoided as it prevents to be easily extended by a submodule.

# do not do this
# modifying the domain or criteria implies overriding whole method
def action(self):
    ...  # long method
    partners = self.env['res.partner'].search(complex_domain)
    emails = partners.filtered(lambda r: arbitrary_criteria).mapped('email')

# better but do not do this either
# modifying the logic forces to duplicate some parts of the code
def action(self):
    ...
    partners = self._get_partners()
    emails = partners._get_emails()

# better
# minimum override
def action(self):
    ...
    partners = self.env['res.partner'].search(self._get_partner_domain())
    emails = partners.filtered(lambda r: r._filter_partners()).mapped('email')

The above code is over extendable for the sake of example but the readability must be taken into account and a tradeoff must be made.

Also, name your functions accordingly: small and properly named functions are the starting point of readable/maintainable code and tighter documentation.

This recommendation is also relevant for classes, files, modules and packages. (See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclomatic_complexity)

Never commit the transaction

The Odoo framework is in charge of providing the transactional context for all RPC calls. The principle is that a new database cursor is opened at the beginning of each RPC call, and committed when the call has returned, just before transmitting the answer to the RPC client, approximately like this:

def execute(self, db_name, uid, obj, method, *args, **kw):
    db, pool = pooler.get_db_and_pool(db_name)
    # create transaction cursor
    cr = db.cursor()
    try:
        res = pool.execute_cr(cr, uid, obj, method, *args, **kw)
        cr.commit() # all good, we commit
    except Exception:
        cr.rollback() # error, rollback everything atomically
        raise
    finally:
        cr.close() # always close cursor opened manually
    return res

If any error occurs during the execution of the RPC call, the transaction is rolled back atomically, preserving the state of the system.

Similarly, the system also provides a dedicated transaction during the execution of tests suites, so it can be rolled back or not depending on the server startup options.

The consequence is that if you manually call cr.commit() anywhere there is a very high chance that you will break the system in various ways, because you will cause partial commits, and thus partial and unclean rollbacks, causing among others:

  1. inconsistent business data, usually data loss

  2. workflow desynchronization, documents stuck permanently

  3. tests that can’t be rolled back cleanly, and will start polluting the database, and triggering error (this is true even if no error occurs during the transaction)

Here is the very simple rule:

You should NEVER call cr.commit() yourself, UNLESS you have created your own database cursor explicitly! And the situations where you need to do that are exceptional!

And by the way if you did create your own cursor, then you need to handle error cases and proper rollback, as well as properly close the cursor when you’re done with it.

And contrary to popular belief, you do not even need to call cr.commit() in the following situations: - in the _auto_init() method of an models.Model object: this is taken care of by the addons initialization method, or by the ORM transaction when creating custom models - in reports: the commit() is handled by the framework too, so you can update the database even from within a report - within models.Transient methods: these methods are called exactly like regular models.Model ones, within a transaction and with the corresponding cr.commit()/rollback() at the end - etc. (see general rule above if you are in doubt!)

All cr.commit() calls outside of the server framework from now on must have an explicit comment explaining why they are absolutely necessary, why they are indeed correct, and why they do not break the transactions. Otherwise they can and will be removed !

Use translation method correctly

Odoo uses a GetText-like method named “underscore” _( ) to indicate that a static string used in the code needs to be translated at runtime using the language of the context. This pseudo-method is accessed within your code by importing as follows:

from odoo import _

A few very important rules must be followed when using it, in order for it to work and to avoid filling the translations with useless junk.

Basically, this method should only be used for static strings written manually in the code, it will not work to translate field values, such as Product names, etc. This must be done instead using the translate flag on the corresponding field.

The method accepts optional positional or named parameter The rule is very simple: calls to the underscore method should always be in the form _('literal string') and nothing else:

# good: plain strings
error = _('This record is locked!')

# good: strings with formatting patterns included
error = _('Record %s cannot be modified!', record)

# ok too: multi-line literal strings
error = _("""This is a bad multiline example
             about record %s!""", record)
error = _('Record %s cannot be modified' \
          'after being validated!', record)

# bad: tries to translate after string formatting
#      (pay attention to brackets!)
# This does NOT work and messes up the translations!
error = _('Record %s cannot be modified!' % record)

# bad: formatting outside of translation
# This won't benefit from fallback mechanism in case of bad translation
error = _('Record %s cannot be modified!') % record

# bad: dynamic string, string concatenation, etc are forbidden!
# This does NOT work and messes up the translations!
error = _("'" + que_rec['question'] + "' \n")

# bad: field values are automatically translated by the framework
# This is useless and will not work the way you think:
error = _("Product %s is out of stock!") % _(product.name)
# and the following will of course not work as already explained:
error = _("Product %s is out of stock!" % product.name)

# Instead you can do the following and everything will be translated,
# including the product name if its field definition has the
# translate flag properly set:
error = _("Product %s is not available!", product.name)

Also, keep in mind that translators will have to work with the literal values that are passed to the underscore function, so please try to make them easy to understand and keep spurious characters and formatting to a minimum. Translators must be aware that formatting patterns such as %s or %d, newlines, etc. need to be preserved, but it’s important to use these in a sensible and obvious manner:

# Bad: makes the translations hard to work with
error = "'" + question + _("' \nPlease enter an integer value ")

# Ok (pay attention to position of the brackets too!)
error = _("Answer to question %s is not valid.\n" \
          "Please enter an integer value.", question)

# Better
error = _("Answer to question %(title)s is not valid.\n" \
          "Please enter an integer value.", title=question)

In general in Odoo, when manipulating strings, prefer % over .format() (when only one variable to replace in a string), and prefer %(varname) instead of position (when multiple variables have to be replaced). This makes the translation easier for the community translators.

Symbols and Conventions

  • Model name (using the dot notation, prefix by the module name) :

    • When defining an Odoo Model : use singular form of the name (res.partner and sale.order instead of res.partnerS and saleS.orderS)

    • When defining an Odoo Transient (wizard) : use <related_base_model>.<action> where related_base_model is the base model (defined in models/) related to the transient, and action is the short name of what the transient do. Avoid the wizard word. For instance : account.invoice.make, project.task.delegate.batch, …

    • When defining report model (SQL views e.i.) : use <related_base_model>.report.<action>, based on the Transient convention.

  • Odoo Python Class : use camelcase (Object-oriented style).

class AccountInvoice(models.Model):
    ...
  • Variable name :

    • use camelcase for model variable

    • use underscore lowercase notation for common variable.

    • suffix your variable name with _id or _ids if it contains a record id or list of id. Don’t use partner_id to contain a record of res.partner

Partner = self.env['res.partner']
partners = Partner.browse(ids)
partner_id = partners[0].id

  • One2Many and Many2Many fields should always have _ids as suffix (example: sale_order_line_ids)

  • Many2One fields should have _id as suffix (example : partner_id, user_id, …)

  • Method conventions

    • Compute Field : the compute method pattern is _compute_<field_name>

    • Search method : the search method pattern is _search_<field_name>

    • Default method : the default method pattern is _default_<field_name>

    • Selection method: the selection method pattern is _selection_<field_name>

    • Onchange method : the onchange method pattern is _onchange_<field_name>

    • Constraint method : the constraint method pattern is _check_<constraint_name>

    • Action method : an object action method is prefix with action_. Since it uses only one record, add self.ensure_one() at the beginning of the method.

  • In a Model attribute order should be

    1. Private attributes (_name, _description, _inherit, _sql_constraints, …)

    2. Default method and default_get

    3. Field declarations

    4. Compute, inverse and search methods in the same order as field declaration

    5. Selection method (methods used to return computed values for selection fields)

    6. Constrains methods (@api.constrains) and onchange methods (@api.onchange)

    7. CRUD methods (ORM overrides)

    8. Action methods

    9. And finally, other business methods.

class Event(models.Model):
    # Private attributes
    _name = 'event.event'
    _description = 'Event'

    # Default methods
    def _default_name(self):
        ...

    # Fields declaration
    name = fields.Char(string='Name', default=_default_name)
    seats_reserved = fields.Integer(string='Reserved Seats', store=True
        readonly=True, compute='_compute_seats')
    seats_available = fields.Integer(string='Available Seats', store=True
        readonly=True, compute='_compute_seats')
    price = fields.Integer(string='Price')
    event_type = fields.Selection(string="Type", selection='_selection_type')

    # compute and search fields, in the same order of fields declaration
    @api.depends('seats_max', 'registration_ids.state', 'registration_ids.nb_register')
    def _compute_seats(self):
        ...

    @api.model
    def _selection_type(self):
        return []

    # Constraints and onchanges
    @api.constrains('seats_max', 'seats_available')
    def _check_seats_limit(self):
        ...

    @api.onchange('date_begin')
    def _onchange_date_begin(self):
        ...

    # CRUD methods (and name_get, name_search, ...) overrides
    def create(self, values):
        ...

    # Action methods
    def action_validate(self):
        self.ensure_one()
        ...

    # Business methods
    def mail_user_confirm(self):
        ...

Javascript

Static files organization

Odoo addons have some conventions on how to structure various files. We explain here in more details how web assets are supposed to be organized.

The first thing to know is that the Odoo server will serve (statically) all files located in a static/ folder, but prefixed with the addon name. So, for example, if a file is located in addons/web/static/src/js/some_file.js, then it will be statically available at the url your-odoo-server.com/web/static/src/js/some_file.js

The convention is to organize the code according to the following structure:

  • static: all static files in general

    • static/lib: this is the place where js libs should be located, in a sub folder. So, for example, all files from the jquery library are in addons/web/static/lib/jquery

    • static/src: the generic static source code folder

      • static/src/css: all css files

      • static/fonts

      • static/img

      • static/src/js

        • static/src/js/tours: end user tour files (tutorials, not tests)

      • static/src/scss: scss files

      • static/src/xml: all qweb templates that will be rendered in JS

    • static/tests: this is where we put all test related files.

      • static/tests/tours: this is where we put all tour test files (not tutorials).

Javascript coding guidelines

  • use strict; is recommended for all javascript files

  • Use a linter (jshint, …)

  • Never add minified Javascript Libraries

  • Use camelcase for class declaration

More precise JS guidelines are detailed in the github wiki. You may also have a look at existing API in Javascript by looking Javascript References.

CSS and SCSS

Syntax and Formatting

.o_foo, .o_foo_bar, .o_baz {
   height: $o-statusbar-height;

   .o_qux {
      height: $o-statusbar-height * 0.5;
   }
}

.o_corge {
   background: $o-list-footer-bg-color;
}

  • four (4) space indents, no tabs;

  • columns of max. 80 characters wide;

  • opening brace ({): empty space after the last selector;

  • closing brace (}): on its own new line;

  • one line for each declaration;

  • meaningful use of whitespace.

"stylelint.config": {
    "rules": {
        // https://stylelint.io/user-guide/rules

        // Avoid errors
        "block-no-empty": true,
        "shorthand-property-no-redundant-values": true,
        "declaration-block-no-shorthand-property-overrides": true,

        // Stylistic conventions
        "indentation": 4,

        "function-comma-space-after": "always",
        "function-parentheses-space-inside": "never",
        "function-whitespace-after": "always",

        "unit-case": "lower",

        "value-list-comma-space-after": "always-single-line",

        "declaration-bang-space-after": "never",
        "declaration-bang-space-before": "always",
        "declaration-colon-space-after": "always",
        "declaration-colon-space-before": "never",

        "block-closing-brace-empty-line-before": "never",
        "block-opening-brace-space-before": "always",

        "selector-attribute-brackets-space-inside": "never",
        "selector-list-comma-space-after": "always-single-line",
        "selector-list-comma-space-before": "never-single-line",
    }
},

Properties order

Order properties from the “outside” in, starting from position and ending with decorative rules (font, filter, etc.).

Scoped SCSS variables and CSS variables must be placed at the very top, followed by an empty line separating them from other declarations.

.o_element {
   $-inner-gap: $border-width + $legend-margin-bottom;

   --element-margin: 1rem;
   --element-size: 3rem;

   @include o-position-absolute(1rem);
   display: block;
   margin: var(--element-margin);
   width: calc(var(--element-size) + #{$-inner-gap});
   border: 0;
   padding: 1rem;
   background: blue;
   font-size: 1rem;
   filter: blur(2px);
}

Naming Conventions

Naming conventions in CSS are incredibly useful in making your code more strict, transparent and informative.

Avoid id selectors, and prefix your classes with o_<module_name>, where <module_name> is the technical name of the module (sale, im_chat, …) or the main route reserved by the module (for website modules mainly, i.e. : o_forum for the website_forum module).
The only exception for this rule is the webclient: it simply uses the o_ prefix.

Avoid creating hyper-specific classes and variable names. When naming nested elements, opt for the “Grandchild” approach.

Example

Don’t

<div class=“o_element_wrapper”>
   <div class=“o_element_wrapper_entries”>
      <span class=“o_element_wrapper_entries_entry”>
         <a class=“o_element_wrapper_entries_entry_link”>Entry</a>
      </span>
   </div>
</div>

Do

<div class=“o_element_wrapper”>
   <div class=“o_element_entries”>
      <span class=“o_element_entry”>
         <a class=“o_element_link”>Entry</a>
      </span>
   </div>
</div>

Besides being more compact, this approach eases maintenance because it limits the need of renaming when changes occur at the DOM.

SCSS Variables

Our standard convention is $o-[root]-[element]-[property]-[modifier], with:

  • $o-

    The prefix.

  • [root]

    Either the component or the module name (components take priority).

  • [element]

    An optional identifier for inner elements.

  • [property]

    The property/behavior defined by the variable.

  • [modifier]

    An optional modifier.

Example

$o-block-color: value;
$o-block-title-color: value;
$o-block-title-color-hover: value;

SCSS Variables (scoped)

These variables are declared within blocks and are not accessible from the outside. Our standard convention is $-[variable name].

Example

.o_element {
   $-inner-gap: compute-something;

   margin-right: $-inner-gap;

   .o_element_child {
      margin-right: $-inner-gap * 0.5;
   }
}

See also

Variables scope on the SASS Documentation

SCSS Mixins and Functions

Our standard convention is o-[name]. Use descriptive names. When naming functions, use verbs in the imperative form (e.g.: get, make, apply…).

Name optional arguments in the scoped variables form, so $-[argument].

Example

@mixin o-avatar($-size: 1.5em, $-radius: 100%) {
   width: $-size;
   height: $-size;
   border-radius: $-radius;
}

@function o-invert-color($-color, $-amount: 100%) {
   $-inverse: change-color($-color, $-hue: hue($-color) + 180);

   @return mix($-inverse, $-color, $-amount);
}

See also

CSS Variables

In Odoo, the use of CSS variables is strictly DOM-related. Use them to contextually adapt the design and layout.

Our standard convention is BEM, so --[root]__[element]-[property]--[modifier], with:

  • [root]

    Either the component or the module name (components take priority).

  • [element]

    An optional identifier for inner elements.

  • [property]

    The property/behavior defined by the variable.

  • [modifier]

    An optional modifier.

Example

.o_kanban_record {
   --KanbanRecord-width: value;
   --KanbanRecord__picture-border: value;
   --KanbanRecord__picture-border--active: value;
}

// Adapt the component when rendered in another context.
.o_form_view {
   --KanbanRecord-width: another-value;
   --KanbanRecord__picture-border: another-value;
   --KanbanRecord__picture-border--active: another-value;
}

Use of CSS Variables

In Odoo, the use of CSS variables is strictly DOM-related, meaning that are used to contextually adapt the design and layout rather than to manage the global design-system. These are typically used when a component’s properties can vary in specific contexts or in other circumstances.

We define these properties inside the component’s main block, providing default fallbacks.

Example

my_component.scss
.o_MyComponent {
   color: var(--MyComponent-color, #313131);
}
my_dashboard.scss
.o_MyDashboard {
   // Adapt the component in this context only
   --MyComponent-color: #017e84;
}

See also

CSS variables on MDN web docs

CSS and SCSS Variables

Despite being apparently similar, CSS and SCSS variables behave very differently. The main difference is that, while SCSS variables are imperative and compiled away, CSS variables are declarative and included in the final output.

See also

CSS/SCSS variables difference on the SASS Documentation

In Odoo, we take the best of both worlds: using the SCSS variables to define the design-system while opting for the CSS ones when it comes to contextual adaptations.

The implementation of the previous example should be improved by adding SCSS variables in order to gain control at the top-level and ensure consistency with other components.

Example

secondary_variables.scss
$o-component-color: $o-main-text-color;
$o-dashboard-color: $o-info;
// [...]
component.scss
.o_component {
   color: var(--MyComponent-color, #{$o-component-color});
}
dashboard.scss
.o_dashboard {
   --MyComponent-color: #{$o-dashboard-color};
}

The :root pseudo-class

Defining CSS variables on the :root pseudo-class is a technique we normally don’t use in Odoo’s UI. The practice is commonly used to access and modify CSS variables globally. We perform this using SCSS instead.

Exceptions to this rule should be fairly apparent, such as templates shared across bundles that require a certain level of contextual awareness in order to be rendered properly.