How to Inherit a Function in Odoo

Abid Patel
10-Oct-2024 Updated : 10-Oct-2024

Learn how to inherit and override functions in Odoo. Customize existing methods like action_confirm, create, and write to enhance your Odoo modules.

How to Inherit a Function in Odoo

Odoo’s modular architecture makes it easy to customize and extend existing functionality. One of the most common techniques for customization is inheriting functions in Odoo. By inheriting and overriding existing methods (functions), developers can add new functionality or modify the behavior of existing features without altering the core codebase. In this blog, we’ll guide you through the process of inheriting a function in Odoo using examples.

Understanding Function Inheritance in Odoo

In Odoo, every model has methods (or functions) that define how the model behaves. By using the _inherit attribute, you can extend an existing model and override its methods to modify the behavior. When inheriting a method, it’s often important to call the parent method using super() to maintain the original functionality while adding custom logic.

Example of Inheriting a Function in Odoo

Let’s say we want to add custom behavior to the sale.order model’s action_confirm method, which is called when a sale order is confirmed. Here's how we can inherit and extend the action_confirm function in Odoo:

python

from odoo import models

class CustomSaleOrder(models.Model):
    _inherit = 'sale.order'

    def action_confirm(self):
        # Calling the original action_confirm function using super()
        res = super(CustomSaleOrder, self).action_confirm()
        # Custom logic after confirming the sale order
        print("Sale Order Confirmed! Custom logic executed.")
        return res

In this example, we inherit the sale.order model by using the _inherit attribute. The action_confirm method is overridden to add custom logic. We first call the original method using super() to ensure the default behavior is retained, and then we add our custom functionality (in this case, printing a message).

Why Use super() in Function Inheritance?

When inheriting a function in Odoo, it’s often important to call the parent function using super() to preserve the existing behavior. Failing to do so will override the method entirely, which could result in a loss of critical functionality. For example, in the case of the action_confirm method, Odoo performs several actions when confirming a sale order, such as updating inventory and generating invoices. By using super(), we ensure these actions still occur while executing our custom logic.

Modifying Other Methods in Odoo

Just like the action_confirm method, you can inherit and modify any other method in Odoo models. For example, if you want to modify the create or write methods to add custom validation or behavior, you can use a similar approach:

Inheriting and Extending the create Method

xml

from odoo import models, fields

class CustomPartner(models.Model):
    _inherit = 'res.partner'

    def create(self, vals):
        # Custom logic before creating a new record
        if 'email' not in vals:
            raise ValueError("Email is required.")
        
        # Calling the original create method
        return super(CustomPartner, self).create(vals)

In this example, we inherit the res.partner model and modify the create method to add a custom validation (requiring an email field). After performing our custom logic, we call the original create method using super() to complete the record creation process.

Inheriting the write Method

Python

from odoo import models

class CustomSaleOrder(models.Model):
    _inherit = 'sale.order'

    def write(self, vals):
        # Custom logic before updating a sale order
        print("Updating sale order with custom logic")
        
        # Calling the original write method
        return super(CustomSaleOrder, self).write(vals)

In this case, we inherit the write method of the sale.order model to add custom behavior when updating a sale order. As usual, the original method is called after executing the custom logic to ensure that the default behavior is preserved.

Benefits of Function Inheritance in Odoo

There are several benefits to inheriting functions in Odoo:

  • ▹ Customization: You can easily add new functionality or modify existing behavior without modifying core Odoo code.
  • ▹ Maintainability: Using super() allows you to maintain the core functionality of Odoo while extending it, which ensures stability during upgrades and updates.
  • ▹ Scalability: Function inheritance makes it easier to scale your Odoo implementation, as new features can be added incrementally without rewriting the entire logic.

Conclusion

Inheriting functions in Odoo is a key technique for developers to customize existing functionality while maintaining system stability. By using the _inherit attribute and super(), you can easily add custom behavior to models without disrupting the core processes. Whether you’re overriding a method like action_confirm, create, or write, Odoo’s framework provides the flexibility to extend and enhance your business processes efficiently.

For more Odoo development tips and tricks, be sure to check our website Free web snippets.

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