Cybrosys Assista: Odoo Helper

Odoo tooling inside VS Code — for Odoo 18, 19 and 20

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Cybrosys Assista is a family of tools for Odoo developers and teams, built by Cybrosys Technologies — from writing code in your editor to deploying and running Odoo.

Cybrosys Assista: Odoo Helper brings Assista's Odoo tooling into VS Code: completions, model and view scaffolding, and Odoo-aware XML and Python snippets. It understands your Odoo project — models, fields, methods, XML IDs, QWeb templates, JavaScript registries and CSS classes — and uses them to suggest the right names as you type, jump to definitions, and generate views, reports, security files, OWL components and whole modules for the Odoo version you work on.

The Cybrosys Assista family

Contents

• Highlights
• Getting started
• Odoo version support
• Python intelligence
• XML intelligence
• Manifest intelligence
• Go to Definition
• Snippets
• Generate code from a model
• Explorer menu: files, modules, components
• Other commands
• Odoo server connection
• Code standards linter
• Performance
• Settings
• Known limitations
• Contact and support

Highlights

• Version-aware — every suggestion, snippet and generated file follows the Odoo version of your project (18, 19 or 20), detected automatically.
• Project-aware completions — models, fields, methods, XML IDs, templates, widgets, client actions and CSS classes come from an index of your workspace, including Odoo's own source when it is in the workspace.
• Go to Definition across XML and Python: from a view to the field, from a button to the method, from _inherit to the model, from a manifest entry to the file.
• Generators — create views, QWeb reports and access rights straight from a model class; scaffold six kinds of modules, OWL components and POS screen extensions.
• Lightweight — indexing runs in a separate, low-priority background process; typing never waits for it.

Getting started

1. Install Cybrosys Assista: Odoo Helper from the VS Code Marketplace, or search for it in the Extensions view, or run ext install CybrosysTechnologiesOdooOfficialPartner.cybrosys-assista-odoo-helper in Quick Open (Ctrl+P). For a .vsix file, use Extensions: Install from VSIX…. Requires VS Code 1.85 or newer.
2. Open a folder that contains Odoo modules. The extension activates when the workspace contains a __manifest__.py or an odoo/release.py.
3. Check the Odoo version in the status bar (for example Odoo v20 (Auto)). Click it to change the version.
4. Start typing — completions appear automatically. Right-click a folder in the Explorer and choose Assista Odoo for the generators.

A few seconds after the window opens, the extension indexes the workspace in the background. Completions that depend on the index (model and field names, for example) are available as soon as it is ready. The next time you open the workspace, the saved index is reused and only changed files are read again.

Tip: add the Odoo source (the folder with odoo/ and addons/) to your workspace, so that core models, fields and templates are suggested too.

Odoo version support

Completions, snippets, generators and scaffolds support Odoo 18, 19 and 20.

How the version is chosen — setting cybrosys-assista-odoo-helper.odooVersion:

• 18, 19 or 20 — always used as set.

• auto (default) — detected, in this order:

  1. odoo/release.py found in the workspace;
  2. odoo/release.py under the Odoo Source Path setting, then under $ODOO_HOME;
  3. an odoo version pin in requirements*.txt, .in or .ini files;
  4. otherwise 20.

  saas~N versions are recognised. Versions above 20 are treated as 20, older ones as 18.

Change the version from the status bar item or with Assista: Set Odoo Version.

What changes with the version — examples:

Python intelligence

Completions in .py files. Items marked index need the background index.

XML intelligence

Completions in .xml files.

Manifest intelligence

In __manifest__.py:

• depends — module names from your workspace when you open a quote on a line containing depends. index
• data, demo and assets paths — the module's files and folders as you type a path; choosing a folder continues into it. Asset paths start with the module name (my_module/static/src/…), as Odoo expects.

Go to Definition

Use F12, Ctrl+Click or Peek Definition (Alt+F12).

From XML

From Python

Snippets

Type the snippet prefix — they all start with odoo — and pick it from the suggestions. Press Tab to move between placeholders. Snippets follow your Odoo version.

Python — models

Python — fields

Odoo Boolean, Char, Text, Html, Integer, Float, Monetary, Date, Datetime, Selection, Many2one, One2many, Many2many, Binary, Image, Reference and Json Field in all versions, plus Many2oneReference Field on 20.

Python — methods

Typing @api. also offers each decorator as a ready-made method (@api.depends with a def below it).

Python — errors, notifications and actions

In all versions: Odoo Validation Error, User Error, Access Error, Missing Error, Redirect Warning, Notification (display_notification), Rainbow Man, Return Action (ir.actions.act_window) and URL Action (ir.actions.act_url).

XML

In all versions:

Odoo 20 adds odoo editable list, odoo field optional, odoo column invisible, odoo ribbon, odoo settings (settings app and block), odoo report (report action), odoo cron and odoo access (ir.access rule).

Examples (Odoo 20 output)

odoo form view

<record id="model_name_view_form" model="ir.ui.view">
    <field name="name">model.name.view.form</field>
    <field name="model">model.name</field>
    <field name="arch" type="xml">
        <form>
            <sheet>
                <div class="oe_title">
                    <h1><field name="name" placeholder="Name"/></h1>
                </div>
                <group>
                    <group>
                        <field name="name"/>
                    </group>
                </group>
            </sheet>
        </form>
    </field>
</record>

odoo kanban view

<record id="model_name_view_kanban" model="ir.ui.view">
    <field name="name">model.name.view.kanban</field>
    <field name="model">model.name</field>
    <field name="arch" type="xml">
        <kanban sample="1">
            <templates>
                <t t-name="card">
                    <field name="name" class="fw-bold fs-5"/>
                </t>
            </templates>
        </kanban>
    </field>
</record>

odoo access

<record id="access_model_name_user" model="ir.access">
    <field name="name">model.name user</field>
    <field name="model_id" ref="model_model_name"/>
    <field name="group_id" ref="base.group_user"/>
    <field name="operation">crud</field>
    <field name="domain">[(1, '=', 1)]</field>
</record>

Odoo New Model Class

from odoo import api, fields, models


class ModelName(models.Model):
    _name = 'model.name'
    _description = 'Model Description'
    _order = 'name'

    name = fields.Char(string='Name', required=True)
    active = fields.Boolean(default=True)

    _name_uniq = models.Constraint('unique(name)', 'The name must be unique.')

Odoo Ondelete Method

@api.ondelete(at_uninstall=False)
def _unlink_except_done(self):
    for record in self:
        if record.state == 'done':
            raise UserError(self.env._("You cannot delete this record."))

Odoo Notification

return {
    'type': 'ir.actions.client',
    'tag': 'display_notification',
    'params': {
        'title': self.env._("Title"),
        'message': self.env._("Message"),
        'type': 'success',
        'sticky': False,
    },
}

Generate code from a model

Right-click inside a model class in a Python file and open Odoo Model Tools.

Create Views

Builds a views file for the model.

1. Choose the views: Form, List, Kanban, Search, Calendar, Pivot, Window Action and Menu.
2. Choose Quick Create (all fields) or Advanced Builder (pick the fields of each view; for One2many fields in the form, pick the columns of the embedded list).

The file is written to views/<model>_views.xml, added to the manifest data list and opened. The output follows your version — <list>, a kanban card template, <chatter/> when the model inherits mail.thread, a calendar only when a date field is chosen, and a window action that does not open on the form. Available for models that define _name.

Create Report

Builds a QWeb report.

1. Choose PDF or HTML.
2. Choose the title field, the fields shown in the header, and optionally a One2many or Many2many field with its columns for a line table.

Writes report/<model>_pdf_report.xml or report/<model>_html_report.xml with the ir.actions.report record (in the model's Print menu) and a template based on web.external_layout, and adds it to the manifest.

Create Access Right

Adds an access rule for the model, for internal users (base.group_user), with full permissions:

• Odoo 20: a row in security/ir.access.csv (operation = crud);
• Odoo 18 and 19: a row in security/ir.model.access.csv.

The file is created with its header if needed, added to the manifest and opened. Nothing is added when the model already has a rule.

Model Inheritance Graph

Shows the model at the cursor, every module that extends it, and the fields and methods each one adds. Double-click a node to open its code. Needs an internet connection (the graph library is loaded from unpkg.com).

Explorer menu: files, modules, components

Right-click a folder in the Explorer and open Assista Odoo.

Create Odoo File

Create Odoo Module

Asks for a technical name (lowercase letters and _) and creates the module in the selected folder.

Create Owl Components

Asks for a component name, creates the files in the current module and adds them to the manifest assets.

The folder name is the component name in lowercase without spaces (MyWidget → mywidget). Odoo 20 components use OWL 3.

POS Components → Extend Screen

Extends a Point of Sale screen with patch() and template inheritance, adds the files to point_of_sale._assets_pos and point_of_sale to depends.

Create Report

Create PDF Report or Create HTML Report — creates a report template file (the Report View template) in the selected folder.

Install Module and Module Dependency Graph

• Install Module — on a module folder: installs the module on your configured Odoo server, or upgrades it when it is already installed (after confirmation).
• Module Dependency Graph — on a module folder: shows the module's depends tree. Click a module to open its manifest, or download the graph as HTML. Needs an internet connection.

Other commands

From the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P):

Odoo server connection

Connect a running Odoo server to install modules from VS Code and to see which modules are installed in the Model Inheritance Graph.

1. Click Odoo Server in the status bar, or run Assista: Update Odoo Server Settings.
2. Enter the URL, database, user and password.

The status bar then shows the server host. The connection uses Odoo's XML-RPC API.

Note: these settings, including the password, are stored as plain text in VS Code's storage for this workspace. Use a development account.

Code standards linter

Optional warnings based on Odoo's coding guidelines. Off by default — turn on Enable Code Standard Warnings in the settings. Checks run on Python and XML files as you edit.

Python

• Model files in models/ named after the model class; class names in CamelCase; _name in singular; transient model names containing wizard.
• Many2one field names ending in _id; One2many and Many2many field names ending in _ids.
• Method prefixes: _compute_, _search_, _default_, _selection_, _onchange_, _check_, action_.
• action_ methods calling self.ensure_one().
• Import order: standard library, then odoo, then odoo.addons.
• Translations: no % formatting or concatenation inside _(), no nested _().
• Avoid .clone(), cr.commit(), if len(x) > 0, for k in d.keys() and .get(k, None).

XML

• id before model on <record>; name first on <field>.
• noupdate on <odoo> rather than on <data>.
• <menuitem> instead of <record model="ir.ui.menu">.
• ID and name conventions for views (<model>_view_<type>, <model>.view.<type>, .inherit. for inherited views), actions, menus, groups and rules.

File names in views/, security/, report/, wizard/, data/ and controllers/.

Performance

The extension is built to stay out of your way:

• It activates only in Odoo workspaces, and loads its commands the first time you use them. It ships as a small bundle, so activation takes tens of milliseconds.
• Indexing runs in a separate process at the lowest OS priority. It starts a few seconds after the window opens and stops when idle. The editor, the debugger and your Odoo server always come first.
• The index is saved between sessions; afterwards only changed files are read again. File changes are batched.
• Saving and loading the index is done in small steps, so the editor never waits on it for long.
• Indexing is silent — no status bar progress and no notifications.
• Completions work from the index, and per-keystroke work is kept small, so typing stays responsive in large files.

As a reference, indexing the complete Odoo 20 source (all of addons/ and odoo/addons/) for the first time takes about half a minute in the background, and the editor stays responsive throughout.

Large workspaces can turn off parts of the index in the settings.

Settings

Known limitations

• Go to Definition works from XML and Python files, not from JavaScript.
• Inside an <xpath> of an inherited view, field suggestions use the view record rather than the inherited view's model.
• depends suggestions appear on lines that contain the word depends.
• Add File to Manifest adds to the data list only, and needs that list to exist.
• After Remove Index Data, reload the window to rebuild the index.
• The two graphs load their drawing library from the internet.

Contact and support

• Email: assista@cybrosys.com — questions, feedback and support.
• Contact form: assista.cybrosys.com/contact
• Bugs and feature requests: GitHub issues

When reporting a problem, include your Odoo version, VS Code version and operating system.

See the Changelog for what changed in each release.

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

Made by Cybrosys Technologies