Mastering Odoo Development - Technical Fundamentals

In this lecture we introduce you to the overall course curriculum and the primary goals for this course.

UPDATE: If you wish you can also download a full ebook for Installing Odoo 14 as well as the completed Vet App Odoo application built in this course. Plus a few small bonus features as well!!! :) 

Look in the resources section in this lecture to get the goodies! 

BONUS!  I've added this new lecture content here to provide a more updated development environment for 2021. Running WSL has a lot of advantages for local development and in this lecture we walkthrough that setup.

In this lecture we walk through the basics of download VMware Workstation player for windows. VMware Workstation Player is a powerful free application (for non-commercial use) that allows you to install and manage a nearly unlimited number of virtual servers right within your Windows workstation. You don't need to purchase any new hardware or sign up for a hosting service to begin using Odoo right away.

After downloading and installingg VMWare Workstation we then go to ubuntu.com to download the actual Ubuntu server, in this case the desktop edition of Ubuntu, that we will use to install Odoo and setup our development environment.

In this video you will see how to install Ubuntu 14.04 desktop from scratch, setup your development user and how to pull up terminal window.

In this video we finish up our Ubuntu install by making sure all the patches are applied. We reboot our server to make sure everything is operational. Next the video walks you through how to install Postgresql and configure your development user to have permission to create Odoo databases.

In this video we install the required dependencies to successfully run Odoo.

In this lecture you learn to use GIT to download the Odoo source and then start the Odoo server.

In this lecture you will get introduced to our business example we will use through the course and create the Odoo database and basic setup required for the example.

In this lecture you begin learning how the Odoo framework fits together by understanding the models that make up the foundation of all Odoo applications. To better understand the framework you learn how to use the debug mode to examine forms and see behind the scenes how Odoo fits together.

Using the debug mode we explore other Odoo models and begin discussing the basics of how models in Odoo work together to create powerful applications. By the end of the lecture you should be well on your way to understand how models make up the core foundation of Odoo applications.

In this lecture we begin preparing to add a custom field to a model within our Odoo database. We take this opportunity to demonstrate how to make a backup of your database and the importance of also testing your backup to make sure it can be restored properly.

Now we are really starting to make some changes to our Odoo application! We add our first field to an Odoo model and use what we have learned to verify that we have been successful.

Now that we understand the importance of Odoo models we turn our attention to understanding Odoo views. Views are the forms, tree views, kanbans, and other visual interfaces you interact with when using Odoo. By the end of the lecture you will be comfortable with the basics of adding fields and customizing forms using the debug mode in Odoo.

Building on our basic understanding of customizing views we learn to edit a tree view and then get into some of the basics of re-positioning fields within Odoo views.

Now that you understand the basics of Odoo models and views you are ready to learn about actions. At the end of this lecture you will really begin to start understanding how the overall Odoo framework manages models, views and actions.

In this lecture we look at one of the most common interface elements that are used to initiate actions... menus. Menus are used throughout Odoo applications to trigger actions and with that present the views that are appropriate for that action.

When it comes to meeting the requirements of a specific business or industry one of the most common requests is custom filters that allow users to access the records that are most important to their task. In this lecture learn how to create your own custom search views.

This lecture wraps up all we have learned and creates a menu to call our new custom action. At the end of this lecture and this section you should have a strong general understanding of the Odoo framework. Even if you don't choose to go on and develop your own Odoo applications you will have the knowledge to customize models, views, actions and menus. Essential skills for making simple Odoo customization's... without creating a single Python file. More importantly you will be well prepared to begin writing your first custom Odoo Application.

In less than 10 minutes you will have created all the directories and files as well as the basic structure required for your very first Odoo Appplication.

Learn to install and test your application.

In this lecture we learn to add an additional field to an existing Odoo model. To make it easy to understand, we are adding the same field we added through debug mode in the section on Understanding the Odoo Framework. This is a big step in learning how to extend Odoo applications and meet essential business requirements.

One of the primary tasks of an Odoo developer is to modify views to better meet the needs of a given business. Here we get started at learning how to create custom Odoo applications that modify existing Odoo views with the new field we added in the previous lecture.

Here we continue to reinforce what we have learned about extending views with our custom field. This course is not designed like Odoo documentation or online documentation. It is designed to give you enough practice with developing Applications for Odoo that you can really begin Mastering Odoo Development. This lecture also begins to introduce you to how you can re-position fields within a view.

In the past few lectures we looked at how to modify tree views (often known as list views) with our new custom fields. In this lecture we take what we have learned and apply it to customizing form views with our custom fields.

This very first lecture introduces you to the basics of Python. You learn how to create a simple Python program, the basics of using variables, and how to print our results out the console.

One of the most powerful features of Python is the ability to utilize powerful libraries that can be used to extend the power of your Python programs. This is an important lecture as Odoo has libraries that must be referenced from within your Odoo applications in order to leverage the Odoo framework. We then go on to see how to utilize a simple library that we import and then perform basic loops in Python.

This lecture introduces the power of lists. Lists and collections are used frequently within Odoo. Here you will begin learning some of the basics that will make it much easier for you to understand the Odoo framework and source code.

This is an exercise lecture in which you practice what you have learned so far to create your own lists.

Python dictionaries are powerful data structures that are used throughout the Odoo framework. In this lecture we examine the structure of Python dictionaries so that you will have the basic knowledge you need to use them within Odoo.

When writing programs in Python or any other language for that matter, it's important that you understand how to keep your code modular and avoid single routines that are hundreds of lines long. This lecture teaches you how you can create a simple re-usable method in Python.

Up to this point we have used Nano, a built in editor that comes installed with Ubuntu 14.04. While it is important to know how to use the simple tools like Nano, there are far better solutions for editing code. In this lecture we learn how to install Eclipse, a robust editor that makes it far easier to edit our application.

Of all the lectures in this entire course, this lecture maybe the most important for expanding your skills as an Odoo developer and to put yourself on the path to Mastering Odoo Development. The best teacher you will ever find on Odoo Development is the Odoo source code itself. In this lecture you will learn how to navigate the Odoo source code and how to use the search features within Eclipse to find code that can be helpful in building your Odoo application. If you want a deep understanding of the Odoo framework this is where you really need to devote your time and efforts.

In this lecture we expand our application to include an entire new menu and action. Building on the previous lecture we take a look at the Odoo source in order to find the syntax we need for our new menu and action.

Now, with our new custom menu and action in place, we learn how to use domains to filter records.

In this lecture we learn how to re-factor or improve our application by better utilizing the Odoo framework. We introduce students here to one of the biggest mistakes you can make in building Odoo applications and how to both avoid and correct applications that are on the wrong track.

If you have worked through the course to this point you should start feeling pretty comfortable at how Odoo's model, view and action (controller) framework fits together. Now we will use what we have learned to create our own new custom model to expand our application with more functionality.

As mentioned previously, Mastering Odoo Development is not designed as an Odoo reference but as a course that will get you comfortable creating powerful Odoo applications. This lecture we reinforce how to create menus and actions, this time tying them to our new Odoo model we created in the previous lecture.

In previous lectures we looked at the basics of related models and Many2One fields in Odoo. In this lecture you learn how to create related models in your custom application and use Many2One fields to link them together. By the end of this lecture you should really start to understand the incredible power within the Odoo framework. If you are familiar with developing database applications, this lecture will help you really appreciate the Odoo Framework and how easy it is to create powerful applicaitons.

We learn that Odoo will automatically provide us a default form and tree view for our new model. Now we learn how to create our own custom form for our new Odoo models.

Notebooks and pages are key components that help us create powerful dynamic interfaces. This lecture demonstrates how to add these useful features to your application.

Another very critical lecture on your path to Mastering Odoo Development. Computed fields allow you to create your own custom methods that then are automatically re-computed within the Odoo framework. This lecture demonstrates exactly how to create a computed field in Odoo and the method to do the calculation.

This lecture adds a little more complexity to our computed field. Structured as an exercise for the more ambitious Odoo developers in the course we begin to see just how powerful computed fields are and how critical they are to building more complex Odoo applications.

Odoo's default tree view does not provide much information. In fact it only gives you the name field from your model. In this lecture we create a custom tree view for our new model and learn how to total the column of our custom computed field that we have created in the previous lectures.

In the previous section we learned how to create related models. Now in this lecture we build on what we have learned creating two more related models.

Now that you have had a chance to build up menus and actions, use this exercise lecture to try and add a new menu and action for the model we created in the previous lecture.

View inheritance is a powerful aspect of developing Odoo applications. We have touched on it previously in earlier lectures and in this lecture we learn how to extend the notebook in our product form with a new page.

When you create new models in Odoo by default they are only accessible by the admin user. Odoo also provides you warning methods in the console to remind you that you have not configured any security for the model. In this lecture we again revisit the power of using the existing Odoo source code for helping us create the security for our new model. Then we see how we can quickly create the necessary entries for our new models.

Building what we have learned on related models we see how to tie our two new custom models into our product model. If you have been following the course to this point you should now feel quite comfortable with your ability to extend Odoo. Certainly if you are new to Python or programming in general you may need to review some of the previous lectures or use Google to answer questions that come up, but most of you will now be well on your way to having the core skills required to create powerful Odoo applications.

In this lecture we create another computed field that is more complex. This lecture is part instructional, part exercise. It is intentionally designed to ask you to put your own creative twist on the application when creating your own computed field.

Often times in Odoo you will want to take actions or update data in a field when data in another field changes. In this lecture we learn to use the OnChange decorator to change data within your Odoo application in real time. Even better your view automatically becomes dynamic by just specifying the decorator within your Odoo model.