How to develop the Odoo Module?

Every business needs a super tool for operations and success, i.e. Odoo, your affordable ERP system. If you want Odoo to work according to your needs, you must customize it. Its open sources and robust structure help businesses manage different sections like Sales, inventory, accounting, and others. One of the best features of Odoo is that you can define and develop a new module or features as per your requirements.

Let us discuss the development of the Odoo module.

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What is an Odoo Module?

Before you start working on Odoo, an introduction to the Odoo module is necessary. Treat the module as an app with specific features to add to Odoo. Let's take an example, you want to have an app for handling customer feedback in a particular way. Then you need to develop a module.

Why Build Your Module?

Before starting work on your Odoo module, you need to list down a few things for your business:

Custom Fit: You can outline your business requirements for the module. This makes you and your team understand the module.
Room to grow: In the future, your module should have a space for adding the latest features or customizations for your business.
Cost-Effective: While developing the module, try to fit it into your budget, while keeping your money safe from buying expensive software.

Getting Started: What You Need

You need a few things before you begin to develop your module:

Basic Knowledge of Python: Odoo runs on Python so you should know the basics of this programming language.
Odoo Installed: You should have Odoo on your computer or server. You can get it from the official Odoo website.
A Development Environment: It helps to set up a local space where you can test your module without changing your live Odoo system.

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Steps to Develop an Odoo Module

Now that you have everything you need, let's walk through the process of creating your own Odoo module.

Step 1: Create a new module directory

Before you dive into developing features of the module, you need to set up a directory for your module. You may ask, why do you need a directory? This folder will help you to store all module files.

Now go to the Odoo add-ons directory and make a new folder, name it according to your modules, it should be well described.

Let's continue developing our module “Customer feedback”, we will create a directory named “customer_feedback”

Step 2: Create the Manifest file

Every Odoo module needs a manifest file named “_manifest_.py” This file contains important details about your module like its name, versions, and any dependencies.

Step 3: Set Up your models

This model is used by Odoo for structure data. For the “customer feedback “- module, you need to make a model to keep feedback information. Make a new Python file in your module, named “models.py” and create your model there.

Step 4: Build Views

Now, you should make views, which serve as the user interfaces for your module. Odoo uses XML to define views. Make a new file called views.xml in your module folder and put your view definition in it.

Step 5: Update the Manifest File

After defining the views, you need to update your manifest file to include the new XML file. Add this line to the data part of your __manifest__.py.

Step 6: Set Up Your Module

Now you have completed everything, you can get your module up and running. Start your Odoo server and open the Odoo interface, now go to “Apps” and click on “Update App List”. Look for your module and hit “install”.

Step 7: Check Your Module

After installation, it's important to verify your module works as planned. Add some customer feedback and see if it saves. Make sure you can view and handle the feedback through the interface.

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Conclusion

Creating an Odoo module can look tough at first. But if you break it into smaller tasks, you can build a custom solution that suits your company's needs. Keep in mind, that it's best to begin with basic features and add more as you get used to the process.

Odoo's adaptability and your ingenuity open up countless options. So, get ready to start developing, and see your business grow with your tailor-made Odoo module!