Structure

Typical module structure

Each module is contained in its own directory. Standard modules are in the server/bin/addons directory in the server installation.

LibrERP modules are in a separate directory, that should be declared in the configuration file of LibrERP (passed to the server with the -c option) using the addons_path option.

Note

It can be a good idea to keep your own modules in a separate directory.

Every module should contain at least two files:

• __init__.py: special Python file which transforms a simple directory in Python module.
• __openerp__.py: module definitions including description, version, dependencies etc.

A module may contain any of the following elements:

• models: declared as Python classes extending the orm.Model OpenObject class, the persistence of these resources is completely managed by OpenObject;
• views: declared in XML visual data rapresentation;
• data: XML/CSV files with meta-data (views and workflows declaration), configuration data (modules parametrization) and demo data (optional but recommended for testing, e.g. sample ideas);
• wizards: stateful interactive forms used to assist users, often available as contextual actions on resources;
• reports: report templates, to be merged with any kind of business data, and generate HTML, ODT or PDF reports. LibrERP can use various tecnologies to create a report, including OpenERP standard RML (XML format), MAKO or OpenOffice report templates;
• security: access control definitions stored in CSV files;
• i18n: module translations;
• static: static data, like images, CSS, JavaScript;
• demo: demo data;
• tests: unit tests;

idea structure:

addons/
    |- idea/                       # The module directory
        |- data/
            |- idea_data.xml               # Population data
        |- demo/
            |- idea_demo.xml               # Demo data
        |- models/
            |- idea.py                     # Python classes, the module's objects
        |- tests/                      # Unit testing data
        |- i18n/                       # Translation files
        |- report/                     # Report definitions
        |- security/                   # Declaration of groups and access rights
        |- views/
            |- idea_view.xml               # Views (forms,lists), menus and actions
        |- wizard/                     # Wizards definitions
        |- __init__.py                 # Python package initialization  (required)
        |- __openerp__.py              # module declaration (required)
        |- idea_workflow.xml           # Workflow definitions