Odoo is usually extended internally via modules, but many of its features and all of its data are also available from the outside for external analysis or integration with various tools. Part of the Model Reference API is easily available over XML-RPC and accessible from a variety of languages.
Connection
Configuration
If you already have an Odoo server installed, you can just use its parameters
Warning
For Odoo Online instances (<domain>.odoo.com), users are created without a local password (as a person you are logged in via the Odoo Online authentication system, not by the instance itself). To use XML-RPC on Odoo Online instances, you will need to set a password on the user account you want to use:
- Log in your instance with an administrator account
- Go to
- Click on the user you want to use for XML-RPC access
- Click the Change Password button
- Set a New Password value then click Change Password.
The server url is the instance’s domain (e.g. https://mycompany.odoo.com), the database name is the name of the instance (e.g. mycompany). The username is the configured user’s login as shown by the Change Password screen.
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
url = <insert server URL>
db = <insert database name>
username = 'admin'
password = <insert password for your admin user (default: admin)>
url = <insert server URL>
db = <insert database name>
username = "admin"
password = <insert password for your admin user (default: admin)>
$url = <insert server URL>;
$db = <insert database name>;
$username = "admin";
$password = <insert password for your admin user (default: admin)>;
final String url = <insert server URL>,
db = <insert database name>,
username = "admin",
password = <insert password for your admin user (default: admin)>;
demo
To make exploration simpler, you can also ask https://demo.odoo.com for a test database:
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
import xmlrpc.client
info = xmlrpc.client.ServerProxy('https://demo.odoo.com/start').start()
url, db, username, password = \
info['host'], info['database'], info['user'], info['password']
require "xmlrpc/client"
info = XMLRPC::Client.new2('https://demo.odoo.com/start').call('start')
url, db, username, password = \
info['host'], info['database'], info['user'], info['password']
require_once('ripcord.php');
$info = ripcord::client('https://demo.odoo.com/start')->start();
list($url, $db, $username, $password) =
array($info['host'], $info['database'], $info['user'], $info['password']);
Note
These examples use the Ripcord library, which provides a simple XML-RPC API. Ripcord requires that XML-RPC support be enabled in your PHP installation.
Since calls are performed over HTTPS, it also requires that the OpenSSL extension be enabled.
final XmlRpcClient client = new XmlRpcClient();
final XmlRpcClientConfigImpl start_config = new XmlRpcClientConfigImpl();
start_config.setServerURL(new URL("https://demo.odoo.com/start"));
final Map<String, String> info = (Map<String, String>)client.execute(
start_config, "start", emptyList());
final String url = info.get("host"),
db = info.get("database"),
username = info.get("user"),
password = info.get("password");
Note
These examples use the Apache XML-RPC library
The examples do not include imports as these imports couldn’t be pasted in the code.
Logging in
Odoo requires users of the API to be authenticated before they can query most data.
The xmlrpc/2/common
endpoint provides meta-calls which don’t require
authentication, such as the authentication itself or fetching version
information. To verify if the connection information is correct before trying
to authenticate, the simplest call is to ask for the server’s version. The
authentication itself is done through the authenticate
function and
returns a user identifier (uid
) used in authenticated calls instead of
the login.
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
common = xmlrpc.client.ServerProxy('{}/xmlrpc/2/common'.format(url))
common.version()
common = XMLRPC::Client.new2("#{url}/xmlrpc/2/common")
common.call('version')
$common = ripcord::client("$url/xmlrpc/2/common");
$common->version();
final XmlRpcClientConfigImpl common_config = new XmlRpcClientConfigImpl();
common_config.setServerURL(
new URL(String.format("%s/xmlrpc/2/common", url)));
client.execute(common_config, "version", emptyList());
{
"server_version": "8.0",
"server_version_info": [8, 0, 0, "final", 0],
"server_serie": "8.0",
"protocol_version": 1,
}
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
uid = common.authenticate(db, username, password, {})
uid = common.call('authenticate', db, username, password, {})
$uid = $common->authenticate($db, $username, $password, array());
int uid = (int)client.execute(
common_config, "authenticate", asList(
db, username, password, emptyMap()));
Calling methods
The second endpoint is xmlrpc/2/object
, is used to call methods of odoo
models via the execute_kw
RPC function.
Each call to execute_kw
takes the following parameters:
- the database to use, a string
- the user id (retrieved through
authenticate
), an integer - the user’s password, a string
- the model name, a string
- the method name, a string
- an array/list of parameters passed by position
- a mapping/dict of parameters to pass by keyword (optional)
For instance to see if we can read the res.partner
model we can call
check_access_rights
with operation
passed by position and
raise_exception
passed by keyword (in order to get a true/false result
rather than true/error):
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
models = xmlrpc.client.ServerProxy('{}/xmlrpc/2/object'.format(url))
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'check_access_rights',
['read'], {'raise_exception': False})
models = XMLRPC::Client.new2("#{url}/xmlrpc/2/object").proxy
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'check_access_rights',
['read'], {raise_exception: false})
$models = ripcord::client("$url/xmlrpc/2/object");
$models->execute_kw($db, $uid, $password,
'res.partner', 'check_access_rights',
array('read'), array('raise_exception' => false));
final XmlRpcClient models = new XmlRpcClient() {{
setConfig(new XmlRpcClientConfigImpl() {{
setServerURL(new URL(String.format("%s/xmlrpc/2/object", url)));
}});
}};
models.execute("execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"res.partner", "check_access_rights",
asList("read"),
new HashMap() {{ put("raise_exception", false); }}
));
true
List records
Records can be listed and filtered via search()
.
search()
takes a mandatory
domain filter (possibly empty), and returns the
database identifiers of all records matching the filter. To list customer
companies for instance:
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'search',
[[['is_company', '=', True], ['customer', '=', True]]])
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'search',
[[['is_company', '=', true], ['customer', '=', true]]])
$models->execute_kw($db, $uid, $password,
'res.partner', 'search', array(
array(array('is_company', '=', true),
array('customer', '=', true))));
asList((Object[])models.execute("execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"res.partner", "search",
asList(asList(
asList("is_company", "=", true),
asList("customer", "=", true)))
)));
[7, 18, 12, 14, 17, 19, 8, 31, 26, 16, 13, 20, 30, 22, 29, 15, 23, 28, 74]
Pagination
By default a search will return the ids of all records matching the
condition, which may be a huge number. offset
and limit
parameters are
available to only retrieve a subset of all matched records.
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'search',
[[['is_company', '=', True], ['customer', '=', True]]],
{'offset': 10, 'limit': 5})
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'search',
[[['is_company', '=', true], ['customer', '=', true]]],
{offset: 10, limit: 5})
$models->execute_kw($db, $uid, $password,
'res.partner', 'search',
array(array(array('is_company', '=', true),
array('customer', '=', true))),
array('offset'=>10, 'limit'=>5));
asList((Object[])models.execute("execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"res.partner", "search",
asList(asList(
asList("is_company", "=", true),
asList("customer", "=", true))),
new HashMap() {{ put("offset", 10); put("limit", 5); }}
)));
[13, 20, 30, 22, 29]
Count records
Rather than retrieve a possibly gigantic list of records and count them,
search_count()
can be used to retrieve
only the number of records matching the query. It takes the same
domain filter as
search()
and no other parameter.
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'search_count',
[[['is_company', '=', True], ['customer', '=', True]]])
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'search_count',
[[['is_company', '=', true], ['customer', '=', true]]])
$models->execute_kw($db, $uid, $password,
'res.partner', 'search_count',
array(array(array('is_company', '=', true),
array('customer', '=', true))));
(Integer)models.execute("execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"res.partner", "search_count",
asList(asList(
asList("is_company", "=", true),
asList("customer", "=", true)))
));
19
Warning
calling search
then search_count
(or the other way around) may not
yield coherent results if other users are using the server: stored data
could have changed between the calls
Read records
Record data is accessible via the read()
method,
which takes a list of ids (as returned by
search()
) and optionally a list of fields to
fetch. By default, it will fetch all the fields the current user can read,
which tends to be a huge amount.
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
ids = models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'search',
[[['is_company', '=', True], ['customer', '=', True]]],
{'limit': 1})
[record] = models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'read', [ids])
# count the number of fields fetched by default
len(record)
ids = models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'search',
[[['is_company', '=', true], ['customer', '=', true]]],
{limit: 1})
record = models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'read', [ids]).first
# count the number of fields fetched by default
record.length
$ids = $models->execute_kw($db, $uid, $password,
'res.partner', 'search',
array(array(array('is_company', '=', true),
array('customer', '=', true))),
array('limit'=>1));
$records = $models->execute_kw($db, $uid, $password,
'res.partner', 'read', array($ids));
// count the number of fields fetched by default
count($records[0]);
final List ids = asList((Object[])models.execute(
"execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"res.partner", "search",
asList(asList(
asList("is_company", "=", true),
asList("customer", "=", true))),
new HashMap() {{ put("limit", 1); }})));
final Map record = (Map)((Object[])models.execute(
"execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"res.partner", "read",
asList(ids)
)
))[0];
// count the number of fields fetched by default
record.size();
121
Conversedly, picking only three fields deemed interesting.
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'read',
[ids], {'fields': ['name', 'country_id', 'comment']})
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'read',
[ids], {fields: %w(name country_id comment)})
$models->execute_kw($db, $uid, $password,
'res.partner', 'read',
array($ids),
array('fields'=>array('name', 'country_id', 'comment')));
asList((Object[])models.execute("execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"res.partner", "read",
asList(ids),
new HashMap() {{
put("fields", asList("name", "country_id", "comment"));
}}
)));
[{"comment": false, "country_id": [21, "Belgium"], "id": 7, "name": "Agrolait"}]
Note
even if the id
field is not requested, it is always returned
Listing record fields
fields_get()
can be used to inspect
a model’s fields and check which ones seem to be of interest.
Because it returns a large amount of meta-information (it is also used by client
programs) it should be filtered before printing, the most interesting items
for a human user are string
(the field’s label), help
(a help text if
available) and type
(to know which values to expect, or to send when
updating a record):
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
models.execute_kw(
db, uid, password, 'res.partner', 'fields_get',
[], {'attributes': ['string', 'help', 'type']})
models.execute_kw(
db, uid, password, 'res.partner', 'fields_get',
[], {attributes: %w(string help type)})
$models->execute_kw($db, $uid, $password,
'res.partner', 'fields_get',
array(), array('attributes' => array('string', 'help', 'type')));
(Map<String, Map<String, Object>>)models.execute("execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"res.partner", "fields_get",
emptyList(),
new HashMap() {{
put("attributes", asList("string", "help", "type"));
}}
));
{
"ean13": {
"type": "char",
"help": "BarCode",
"string": "EAN13"
},
"property_account_position_id": {
"type": "many2one",
"help": "The fiscal position will determine taxes and accounts used for the partner.",
"string": "Fiscal Position"
},
"signup_valid": {
"type": "boolean",
"help": "",
"string": "Signup Token is Valid"
},
"date_localization": {
"type": "date",
"help": "",
"string": "Geo Localization Date"
},
"ref_company_ids": {
"type": "one2many",
"help": "",
"string": "Companies that refers to partner"
},
"sale_order_count": {
"type": "integer",
"help": "",
"string": "# of Sales Order"
},
"purchase_order_count": {
"type": "integer",
"help": "",
"string": "# of Purchase Order"
},
Search and read
Because it is a very common task, Odoo provides a
search_read()
shortcut which as its name suggests is
equivalent to a search()
followed by a
read()
, but avoids having to perform two requests
and keep ids around.
Its arguments are similar to search()
’s, but it
can also take a list of fields
(like read()
,
if that list is not provided it will fetch all fields of matched records):
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'search_read',
[[['is_company', '=', True], ['customer', '=', True]]],
{'fields': ['name', 'country_id', 'comment'], 'limit': 5})
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'search_read',
[[['is_company', '=', true], ['customer', '=', true]]],
{fields: %w(name country_id comment), limit: 5})
$models->execute_kw($db, $uid, $password,
'res.partner', 'search_read',
array(array(array('is_company', '=', true),
array('customer', '=', true))),
array('fields'=>array('name', 'country_id', 'comment'), 'limit'=>5));
asList((Object[])models.execute("execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"res.partner", "search_read",
asList(asList(
asList("is_company", "=", true),
asList("customer", "=", true))),
new HashMap() {{
put("fields", asList("name", "country_id", "comment"));
put("limit", 5);
}}
)));
[
{
"comment": false,
"country_id": [ 21, "Belgium" ],
"id": 7,
"name": "Agrolait"
},
{
"comment": false,
"country_id": [ 76, "France" ],
"id": 18,
"name": "Axelor"
},
{
"comment": false,
"country_id": [ 233, "United Kingdom" ],
"id": 12,
"name": "Bank Wealthy and sons"
},
{
"comment": false,
"country_id": [ 105, "India" ],
"id": 14,
"name": "Best Designers"
},
{
"comment": false,
"country_id": [ 76, "France" ],
"id": 17,
"name": "Camptocamp"
}
]
Create records
Records of a model are created using create()
. The
method will create a single record and return its database identifier.
create()
takes a mapping of fields to values, used
to initialize the record. For any field which has a default value and is not
set through the mapping argument, the default value will be used.
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
id = models.execute_kw(db, uid, password, 'res.partner', 'create', [{
'name': "New Partner",
}])
id = models.execute_kw(db, uid, password, 'res.partner', 'create', [{
name: "New Partner",
}])
$id = $models->execute_kw($db, $uid, $password,
'res.partner', 'create',
array(array('name'=>"New Partner")));
final Integer id = (Integer)models.execute("execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"res.partner", "create",
asList(new HashMap() {{ put("name", "New Partner"); }})
));
78
Update records
Records can be updated using write()
, it takes
a list of records to update and a mapping of updated fields to values similar
to create()
.
Multiple records can be updated simultanously, but they will all get the same values for the fields being set. It is not currently possible to perform “computed” updates (where the value being set depends on an existing value of a record).
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password, 'res.partner', 'write', [[id], {
'name': "Newer partner"
}])
# get record name after having changed it
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password, 'res.partner', 'name_get', [[id]])
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password, 'res.partner', 'write', [[id], {
name: "Newer partner"
}])
# get record name after having changed it
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password, 'res.partner', 'name_get', [[id]])
$models->execute_kw($db, $uid, $password, 'res.partner', 'write',
array(array($id), array('name'=>"Newer partner")));
// get record name after having changed it
$models->execute_kw($db, $uid, $password,
'res.partner', 'name_get', array(array($id)));
models.execute("execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"res.partner", "write",
asList(
asList(id),
new HashMap() {{ put("name", "Newer Partner"); }}
)
));
// get record name after having changed it
asList((Object[])models.execute("execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"res.partner", "name_get",
asList(asList(id))
)));
[[78, "Newer partner"]]
Delete records
Records can be deleted in bulk by providing their ids to
unlink()
.
- Python 2
- Ruby
- PHP
- Java
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password, 'res.partner', 'unlink', [[id]])
# check if the deleted record is still in the database
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'search', [[['id', '=', id]]])
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password, 'res.partner', 'unlink', [[id]])
# check if the deleted record is still in the database
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password,
'res.partner', 'search', [[['id', '=', id]]])
$models->execute_kw($db, $uid, $password,
'res.partner', 'unlink',
array(array($id)));
// check if the deleted record is still in the database
$models->execute_kw($db, $uid, $password,
'res.partner', 'search',
array(array(array('id', '=', $id))));
models.execute("execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"res.partner", "unlink",
asList(asList(id))));
// check if the deleted record is still in the database
asList((Object[])models.execute("execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"res.partner", "search",
asList(asList(asList("id", "=", 78)))
)));
[]
Inspection and introspection
While we previously used fields_get()
to query a
model and have been using an arbitrary model from the start, Odoo stores
most model metadata inside a few meta-models which allow both querying the
system and altering models and fields (with some limitations) on the fly over
XML-RPC.
ir.model
Provides information about Odoo models via its various fields
name
- a human-readable description of the model
model
- the name of each model in the system
state
- whether the model was generated in Python code (
base
) or by creating anir.model
record (manual
) field_id
- list of the model’s fields through a
One2many
to ir.model.fields view_ids
One2many
to the Views defined for the modelaccess_ids
One2many
relation to the Access Control set on the model
ir.model
can be used to
- query the system for installed models (as a precondition to operations on the model or to explore the system’s content)
- get information about a specific model (generally by listing the fields associated with it)
- create new models dynamically over RPC
Warning
- “custom” model names must start with
x_
- the
state
must be provided andmanual
, otherwise the model will not be loaded - it is not possible to add new methods to a custom model, only fields
a custom model will initially contain only the “built-in” fields available on all models:
- Python 2
- PHP
- Ruby
- Java
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password, 'ir.model', 'create', [{
'name': "Custom Model",
'model': "x_custom_model",
'state': 'manual',
}])
models.execute_kw(
db, uid, password, 'x_custom_model', 'fields_get',
[], {'attributes': ['string', 'help', 'type']})
$models->execute_kw(
$db, $uid, $password,
'ir.model', 'create', array(array(
'name' => "Custom Model",
'model' => 'x_custom_model',
'state' => 'manual'
))
);
$models->execute_kw(
$db, $uid, $password,
'x_custom_model', 'fields_get',
array(),
array('attributes' => array('string', 'help', 'type'))
);
models.execute_kw(
db, uid, password,
'ir.model', 'create', [{
name: "Custom Model",
model: 'x_custom_model',
state: 'manual'
}])
fields = models.execute_kw(
db, uid, password, 'x_custom_model', 'fields_get',
[], {attributes: %w(string help type)})
models.execute(
"execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"ir.model", "create",
asList(new HashMap<String, Object>() {{
put("name", "Custom Model");
put("model", "x_custom_model");
put("state", "manual");
}})
));
final Object fields = models.execute(
"execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"x_custom_model", "fields_get",
emptyList(),
new HashMap<String, Object> () {{
put("attributes", asList(
"string",
"help",
"type"));
}}
));
{
"create_uid": {
"type": "many2one",
"string": "Created by"
},
"create_date": {
"type": "datetime",
"string": "Created on"
},
"__last_update": {
"type": "datetime",
"string": "Last Modified on"
},
"write_uid": {
"type": "many2one",
"string": "Last Updated by"
},
"write_date": {
"type": "datetime",
"string": "Last Updated on"
},
"display_name": {
"type": "char",
"string": "Display Name"
},
"id": {
"type": "integer",
"string": "Id"
}
}
ir.model.fields
Provides information about the fields of Odoo models and allows adding custom fields without using Python code
model_id
Many2one
to ir.model to which the field belongsname
- the field’s technical name (used in
read
orwrite
) field_description
- the field’s user-readable label (e.g.
string
infields_get
) ttype
- the type of field to create
state
- whether the field was created via Python code (
base
) or viair.model.fields
(manual
) required
,readonly
,translate
- enables the corresponding flag on the field
groups
- field-level access control, a
Many2many
tores.groups
selection
,size
,on_delete
,relation
,relation_field
,domain
- type-specific properties and customizations, see the fields documentation for details
Like custom models, only new fields created with state="manual"
are
activated as actual fields on the model.
Warning
computed fields can not be added via ir.model.fields
, some
field meta-information (defaults, onchange) can not be set either
- Python 2
- PHP
- Ruby
- Java
id = models.execute_kw(db, uid, password, 'ir.model', 'create', [{
'name': "Custom Model",
'model': "x_custom",
'state': 'manual',
}])
models.execute_kw(
db, uid, password,
'ir.model.fields', 'create', [{
'model_id': id,
'name': 'x_name',
'ttype': 'char',
'state': 'manual',
'required': True,
}])
record_id = models.execute_kw(
db, uid, password,
'x_custom', 'create', [{
'x_name': "test record",
}])
models.execute_kw(db, uid, password, 'x_custom', 'read', [[record_id]])
$id = $models->execute_kw(
$db, $uid, $password,
'ir.model', 'create', array(array(
'name' => "Custom Model",
'model' => 'x_custom',
'state' => 'manual'
))
);
$models->execute_kw(
$db, $uid, $password,
'ir.model.fields', 'create', array(array(
'model_id' => $id,
'name' => 'x_name',
'ttype' => 'char',
'state' => 'manual',
'required' => true
))
);
$record_id = $models->execute_kw(
$db, $uid, $password,
'x_custom', 'create', array(array(
'x_name' => "test record"
))
);
$models->execute_kw(
$db, $uid, $password,
'x_custom', 'read',
array(array($record_id)));
id = models.execute_kw(
db, uid, password,
'ir.model', 'create', [{
name: "Custom Model",
model: "x_custom",
state: 'manual'
}])
models.execute_kw(
db, uid, password,
'ir.model.fields', 'create', [{
model_id: id,
name: "x_name",
ttype: "char",
state: "manual",
required: true
}])
record_id = models.execute_kw(
db, uid, password,
'x_custom', 'create', [{
x_name: "test record"
}])
models.execute_kw(
db, uid, password,
'x_custom', 'read', [[record_id]])
final Integer id = (Integer)models.execute(
"execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"ir.model", "create",
asList(new HashMap<String, Object>() {{
put("name", "Custom Model");
put("model", "x_custom");
put("state", "manual");
}})
));
models.execute(
"execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"ir.model.fields", "create",
asList(new HashMap<String, Object>() {{
put("model_id", id);
put("name", "x_name");
put("ttype", "char");
put("state", "manual");
put("required", true);
}})
));
final Integer record_id = (Integer)models.execute(
"execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"x_custom", "create",
asList(new HashMap<String, Object>() {{
put("x_name", "test record");
}})
));
client.execute(
"execute_kw", asList(
db, uid, password,
"x_custom", "read",
asList(asList(record_id))
));
[
{
"create_uid": [1, "Administrator"],
"x_name": "test record",
"__last_update": "2014-11-12 16:32:13",
"write_uid": [1, "Administrator"],
"write_date": "2014-11-12 16:32:13",
"create_date": "2014-11-12 16:32:13",
"id": 1,
"display_name": "test record"
}
]