--- /dev/null
+==========
+Web Client
+==========
+
+.. highlight:: javascript
+
+.. default-domain:: js
+
+This guide is about creating modules for Odoo's web client. To create websites
+with Odoo, see :doc:`website`.
+
+.. warning::
+
+ This guide assumes knowledge of:
+
+ * Javascript basics and good practices
+ * jQuery_
+ * `Underscore.js`_
+
+
+A Simple Module to Test the Web Framework
+-----------------------------------------
+
+It's not really possible to include the multiple JavaScript files that
+constitute the Odoo web framework in a simple HTML file like we did in the
+previous chapter. So we will create a simple module in Odoo that contains some
+configuration to have a web component that will give us the possibility to
+test the web framework.
+
+To download the example module, use this bazaar command:
+
+.. code-block:: sh
+
+ bzr branch lp:~niv-openerp/+junk/oepetstore -r 1
+
+Now you must add that folder to your the addons path when you launch Odoo
+(``--addons-path`` parameter when you launch the ``odoo.py`` executable). Then
+create a new database and install the new module ``oepetstore``.
+
+Now let's see what files exist in that module:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ oepetstore
+ |-- __init__.py
+ |-- __openerp__.py
+ |-- petstore_data.xml
+ |-- petstore.py
+ |-- petstore.xml
+ `-- static
+ `-- src
+ |-- css
+ | `-- petstore.css
+ |-- js
+ | `-- petstore.js
+ `-- xml
+ `-- petstore.xml
+
+This new module already contains some customization that should be easy to
+understand if you already coded an Odoo module like a new table, some views,
+menu items, etc... We'll come back to these elements later because they will
+be useful to develop some example web module. Right now let's concentrate on
+the essential: the files dedicated to web development.
+
+Please note that all files to be used in the web part of an Odoo module must
+always be placed in a ``static`` folder inside the module. This is mandatory
+due to possible security issues. The fact we created the folders ``css``,
+``js`` and ``xml`` is just a convention.
+
+``oepetstore/static/css/petstore.css`` is our CSS file. It is empty right now
+but we will add any CSS we need later.
+
+``oepetstore/static/xml/petstore.xml`` is an XML file that will contain our
+QWeb templates. Right now it is almost empty too. Those templates will be
+explained later, in the part dedicated to QWeb templates.
+
+``oepetstore/static/js/petstore.js`` is probably the most interesting part. It
+contains the JavaScript of our application. Here is what it looks like right
+now::
+
+ openerp.oepetstore = function(instance) {
+ var _t = instance.web._t,
+ _lt = instance.web._lt;
+ var QWeb = instance.web.qweb;
+
+ instance.oepetstore = {};
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ console.log("pet store home page loaded");
+ },
+ });
+
+ instance.web.client_actions.add('petstore.homepage', 'instance.oepetstore.HomePage');
+ }
+
+The multiple components of that file will explained progressively. Just know
+that it doesn't do much things right now except display a blank page and print
+a small message in the console.
+
+Like Odoo's XML files containing views or data, these files must be indicated
+in the ``__openerp__.py`` file. Here are the lines we added to explain to the
+web client it has to load these files:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+ 'js': ['static/src/js/*.js'],
+ 'css': ['static/src/css/*.css'],
+ 'qweb': ['static/src/xml/*.xml'],
+
+These configuration parameters use wildcards, so we can add new files without
+altering ``__openerp__.py``: they will be loaded by the web client as long as
+they have the correct extension and are in the correct folder.
+
+.. warning::
+
+ In Odoo, all JavaScript files are, by default, concatenated in a single
+ file. Then we apply an operation called the *minification* on that
+ file. The minification will remove all comments, white spaces and
+ line-breaks in the file. Finally, it is sent to the user's browser.
+
+ That operation may seem complex, but it's a common procedure in big
+ application like Odoo with a lot of JavaScript files. It allows to load
+ the application a lot faster.
+
+ It has the main drawback to make the application almost impossible to
+ debug, which is very bad to develop. The solution to avoid this
+ side-effect and still be able to debug is to append a small argument to
+ the URL used to load Odoo: ``?debug``. So the URL will look like this:
+
+ .. code-block:: text
+
+ http://localhost:8069/?debug
+
+ When you use that type of URL, the application will not perform all that
+ concatenation-minification process on the JavaScript files. The
+ application will take more time to load but you will be able to develop
+ with decent debugging tools.
+
+Odoo JavaScript Module
+-------------------------
+
+In the previous chapter, we explained that JavaScript do not have a correct
+mechanism to namespace the variables declared in different JavaScript files
+and we proposed a simple method called the Module pattern.
+
+In Odoo's web framework there is an equivalent of that pattern which is
+integrated with the rest of the framework. Please note that **an Odoo web
+module is a separate concept from an Odoo addon**. An addon is a folder with a
+lot of files, a web module is not much more than a namespace for JavaScript.
+
+The ``oepetstore/static/js/petstore.js`` already declare such a module::
+
+ openerp.oepetstore = function(instance) {
+ instance.oepetstore = {};
+
+ instance.oepetstore.xxx = ...;
+ }
+
+In Odoo's web framework, you declare a JavaScript module by declaring a
+function that you put in the global variable ``openerp``. The attribute you
+set in that object must have the exact same name than your Odoo addon (this
+addon is named ``oepetstore``, if I set ``openerp.petstore`` instead of
+``openerp.oepetstore`` that will not work).
+
+That function will be called when the web client decides to load your
+addon. It is given a parameter named ``instance``, which represents the
+current Odoo web client instance and contains all the data related to the
+current session as well as the variables of all web modules.
+
+The convention is to create a new namespace inside the ``instance`` object
+which has the same name than you addon. That's why we set an empty dictionary
+in ``instance.oepetstore``. That dictionary is the namespace we will use to
+declare all classes and variables used inside our module.
+
+Classes
+-------
+
+JavaScript doesn't have a class mechanism like most object-oriented
+programming languages. To be more exact, it provides language elements to make
+object-oriented programming but you have to define by yourself how you choose
+to do it. Odoo's web framework provide tools to simplify this and let
+programmers code in a similar way they would program in other languages like
+Java. That class system is heavily inspired by John Resig's `Simple JavaScript
+Inheritance <http://ejohn.org/blog/simple-javascript-inheritance/>`_.
+
+To define a new class, you need to extend the :class:`openerp.web.Class`
+class::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.MyClass = instance.web.Class.extend({
+ say_hello: function() {
+ console.log("hello");
+ },
+ });
+
+As you can see, you have to call :func:`instance.web.Class.extend` and give
+it a dictionary. That dictionary will contain the methods and class attributes
+of our new class. Here we simply put a method named ``say_hello()``. This
+class can be instantiated and used like this::
+
+ var my_object = new instance.oepetstore.MyClass();
+ my_object.say_hello();
+ // print "hello" in the console
+
+You can access the attributes of a class inside a method using ``this``::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.MyClass = instance.web.Class.extend({
+ say_hello: function() {
+ console.log("hello", this.name);
+ },
+ });
+
+ var my_object = new instance.oepetstore.MyClass();
+ my_object.name = "Nicolas";
+ my_object.say_hello();
+ // print "hello Nicolas" in the console
+
+Classes can have a constructor, it is just a method named ``init()``. You can
+pass parameters to the constructor like in most language::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.MyClass = instance.web.Class.extend({
+ init: function(name) {
+ this.name = name;
+ },
+ say_hello: function() {
+ console.log("hello", this.name);
+ },
+ });
+
+ var my_object = new instance.oepetstore.MyClass("Nicolas");
+ my_object.say_hello();
+ // print "hello Nicolas" in the console
+
+Classes can be inherited. To do so, use :func:`~openerp.web.Class.extend`
+directly on your class just like you extended :class:`~openerp.web.Class`::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.MySpanishClass = instance.oepetstore.MyClass.extend({
+ say_hello: function() {
+ console.log("hola", this.name);
+ },
+ });
+
+ var my_object = new instance.oepetstore.MySpanishClass("Nicolas");
+ my_object.say_hello();
+ // print "hola Nicolas" in the console
+
+When overriding a method using inheritance, you can use ``this._super()`` to
+call the original method. ``this._super()`` is not a normal method of your
+class, you can consider it's magic. Example::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.MySpanishClass = instance.oepetstore.MyClass.extend({
+ say_hello: function() {
+ this._super();
+ console.log("translation in Spanish: hola", this.name);
+ },
+ });
+
+ var my_object = new instance.oepetstore.MySpanishClass("Nicolas");
+ my_object.say_hello();
+ // print "hello Nicolas \n translation in Spanish: hola Nicolas" in the console
+
+Widgets Basics
+--------------
+
+In previous chapter we discovered jQuery and its DOM manipulation tools. It's
+useful, but it's not sufficient to structure a real application. Graphical
+user interface libraries like Qt, GTK or Windows Forms have classes to
+represent visual components. In Odoo, we have the
+:class:`~openerp.web.Widget` class. A widget is a generic component
+dedicated to display content to the user.
+
+Your First Widget
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+The start module you installed already contains a small widget::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ console.log("pet store home page loaded");
+ },
+ });
+
+Here we create a simple widget by extending the :class:`openerp.web.Widget`
+class. This one defines a method named :func:`~openerp.web.Widget.start` that
+doesn't do anything really interesting right now.
+
+You may also have noticed this line at the end of the file::
+
+ instance.web.client_actions.add('petstore.homepage', 'instance.oepetstore.HomePage');
+
+This last line registers our basic widget as a client action. Client actions
+will be explained in the next part of this guide. For now, just remember that
+this is what allows our widget to be displayed when we click on the
+:menuselection:`Pet Store --> Pet Store --> Home Page` menu element.
+
+Display Content
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+Widgets have a lot of methods and features, but let's start with the basics:
+display some data inside the widget and how to instantiate a widget and
+display it.
+
+The ``HomePage`` widget already has a :func:`~openerp.web.Widget.start`
+method. That method is automatically called after the widget has been
+instantiated and it has received the order to display its content. We will use
+it to display some content to the user.
+
+To do so, we will also use the :attr:`~openerp.web.Widget.$el` attribute
+that all widgets contain. That attribute is a jQuery object with a reference
+to the HTML element that represents the root of our widget. A widget can
+contain multiple HTML elements, but they must be contained inside one single
+element. By default, all widgets have an empty root element which is a
+``<div>`` HTML element.
+
+A ``<div>`` element in HTML is usually invisible for the user if it does not
+have any content. That explains why when the ``instance.oepetstore.HomePage``
+widget is displayed you can't see anything: it simply doesn't have any
+content. To show something, we will use some simple jQuery methods on that
+object to add some HTML in our root element::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ this.$el.append("<div>Hello dear Odoo user!</div>");
+ },
+ });
+
+That message will now appear when you go to the menu :menuselection:`Pet Store
+--> Pet Store --> Home Page` (remember you need to refresh your web browser,
+although there is not need to restart Odoo's server).
+
+Now you should learn how to instantiate a widget and display its content. To
+do so, we will create a new widget::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.GreetingsWidget = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ this.$el.append("<div>We are so happy to see you again in this menu!</div>");
+ },
+ });
+
+Now we want to display the ``instance.oepetstore.GreetingsWidget`` inside the
+home page. To do so we can use the :func:`~openerp.web.Widget.append`
+method of ``Widget``::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ this.$el.append("<div>Hello dear Odoo user!</div>");
+ var greeting = new instance.oepetstore.GreetingsWidget(this);
+ greeting.appendTo(this.$el);
+ },
+ });
+
+Here, the ``HomePage`` instantiate a ``GreetingsWidget`` (the first argument
+of the constructor of ``GreetingsWidget`` will be explained in the next
+part). Then it asks the ``GreetingsWidget`` to insert itself inside the DOM,
+more precisely directly under the ``HomePage`` widget.
+
+When the :func:`~openerp.web.Widget.appendTo` method is called, it asks the
+widget to insert itself and to display its content. It's during the call to
+:func:`~openerp.web.Widget.appentTo` that the
+:func:`~openerp.web.Widget.start` method will be called.
+
+To check the consequences of that code, let's use Chrome's DOM explorer. But
+before that we will modify a little bit our widgets to have some classes on
+some of our ``<div>`` elements so we can clearly see them in the explorer::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ this.$el.addClass("oe_petstore_homepage");
+ ...
+ },
+ });
+ instance.oepetstore.GreetingsWidget = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ this.$el.addClass("oe_petstore_greetings");
+ ...
+ },
+ });
+
+The result will be this if you can find the correct DOM part in the DOM explorer:
+
+.. code-block:: html
+
+ <div class="oe_petstore_homepage">
+ <div>Hello dear Odoo user!</div>
+ <div class="oe_petstore_greetings">
+ <div>We are so happy to see you again in this menu!</div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+Here we can clearly see the two ``<div>`` created implicitly by
+:class:`~openerp.web.Widget`, because we added some classes on them. We can
+also see the two divs containing messages we created using the jQuery methods
+on ``$el``. Finally, note the ``<div class="oe_petstore_greetings">`` element
+which represents the ``GreetingsWidget`` instance is *inside* the ``<div
+class="oe_petstore_homepage">`` which represents the ``HomePage`` instance.
+
+Widget Parents and Children
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+In the previous part, we instantiated a widget using this syntax::
+
+ new instance.oepetstore.GreetingsWidget(this);
+
+The first argument is ``this``, which in that case was a ``HomePage``
+instance. This serves to indicate the Widget what other widget is his parent.
+
+As we've seen, widgets are usually inserted in the DOM by another widget and
+*inside* that other widget. This means most widgets are always a part of
+another widget. We call the container the *parent*, and the contained widget
+the *child*.
+
+Due to multiple technical and conceptual reasons, it is necessary for a widget
+to know who is his parent and who are its children. This is why we have that
+first parameter in the constructor of all widgets.
+
+:func:`~openerp.web.Widget.getParent` can be used to get the parent of a
+widget::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.GreetingsWidget = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ console.log(this.getParent().$el );
+ // will print "div.oe_petstore_homepage" in the console
+ },
+ });
+
+:func:`~openerp.web.Widget.getChildren` can be used to get a list of its
+children::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ var greeting = new instance.oepetstore.GreetingsWidget(this);
+ greeting.appendTo(this.$el);
+ console.log(this.getChildren()[0].$el);
+ // will print "div.oe_petstore_greetings" in the console
+ },
+ });
+
+You should also remember that, when you override the
+:func:`~openerp.web.Widget.init` method of a widget you should always put the
+parent as first parameter are pass it to ``this._super()``::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.GreetingsWidget = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ init: function(parent, name) {
+ this._super(parent);
+ this.name = name;
+ },
+ });
+
+Finally, if a widget does not logically have a parent (ie: because it's the
+first widget you instantiate in an application), you can give null as a parent
+instead::
+
+ new instance.oepetstore.GreetingsWidget(null);
+
+Destroying Widgets
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+If you can display content to your users, you should also be able to erase
+it. This can simply be done using the :func:`~openerp.web.Widget.destroy`
+method:
+
+ greeting.destroy();
+
+When a widget is destroyed it will first call
+:func:`~openerp.web.Widget.destroy` on all its children. Then it erases itself
+from the DOM. The recursive call to destroy from parents to children is very
+useful to clean properly complex structures of widgets and avoid memory leaks
+that can easily appear in big JavaScript applications.
+
+.. _howtos/web/qweb:
+
+The QWeb Template Engine
+------------------------
+
+The previous part of the guide showed how to define widgets that are able to
+display HTML to the user. The example ``GreetingsWidget`` used a syntax like
+this::
+
+ this.$el.append("<div>Hello dear Odoo user!</div>");
+
+This technically allow us to display any HTML, even if it is very complex and
+require to be generated by code. Although generating text using pure
+JavaScript is not very nice, that would necessitate to copy-paste a lot of
+HTML lines inside our JavaScript source file, add the ``"`` character at the
+beginning and the end of each line, etc...
+
+The problem is exactly the same in most programming languages needing to
+generate HTML. That's why they typically use template engines. Example of
+template engines are Velocity, JSP (Java), Mako, Jinja (Python), Smarty (PHP),
+etc...
+
+In Odoo we use a template engine developed specifically for Odoo's web
+client. Its name is QWeb.
+
+QWeb is an XML-based templating language, similar to `Genshi
+<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genshi_(templating_language)>`_, `Thymeleaf
+<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thymeleaf>`_ or `Facelets
+<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facelets>`_ with a few peculiarities:
+
+* It's implemented fully in JavaScript and rendered in the browser.
+* Each template file (XML files) contains multiple templates, where template
+ engine usually have a 1:1 mapping between template files and templates.
+* It has special support in Odoo Web's :class:`~openerp.web.Widget`, though it
+ can be used outside of Odoo's web client (and it's possible to use
+ :class:`~openerp.web.Widget` without relying on QWeb).
+
+The rationale behind using QWeb instead of existing javascript template
+engines is that its extension mechanism is very similar to the Odoo view
+inheritance mechanism. Like Odoo views a QWeb template is an XML tree and
+therefore XPath or DOM manipulations are easy to perform on it.
+
+Using QWeb inside a Widget
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+First let's define a simple QWeb template in
+``oepetstore/static/src/xml/petstore.xml`` file, the exact meaning will be
+explained later:
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+ <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+ <templates xml:space="preserve">
+ <t t-name="HomePageTemplate">
+ <div style="background-color: red;">This is some simple HTML</div>
+ </t>
+ </templates>
+
+Now let's modify the ``HomePage`` class. Remember that enigmatic line at the
+beginning the the JavaScript source file?
+
+::
+
+ var QWeb = instance.web.qweb;
+
+This is a line we recommend to copy-paste in all Odoo web modules. It is the
+object giving access to all templates defined in template files that were
+loaded by the web client. We can use the template we defined in our XML
+template file like this::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ this.$el.append(QWeb.render("HomePageTemplate"));
+ },
+ });
+
+Calling the ``QWeb.render()`` method asks to render the template identified by
+the string passed as first parameter.
+
+Another possibility commonly seen in Odoo code is to use ``Widget``'s
+integration with QWeb::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ template: "HomePageTemplate",
+ start: function() {
+ ...
+ },
+ });
+
+When you put a ``template`` class attribute in a widget, the widget knows it
+has to call ``QWeb.render()`` to render that template.
+
+Please note there is a difference between those two syntaxes. When you use
+``Widget``'s QWeb integration the ``QWeb.render()`` method is called *before*
+the widget calls :func:`~openerp.web.Widget.start`. It will also take the root
+element of the rendered template and put it as a replacement of the default
+root element generated by the :class:`~openerp.web.Widget` class. This will
+alter the behavior, so you should remember it.
+
+QWeb Context
+''''''''''''
+
+Like with all template engines, QWeb templates can contain code able to
+manipulate data that is given to the template. To pass data to QWeb, use the
+second argument to ``QWeb.render()``:
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+ <t t-name="HomePageTemplate">
+ <div>Hello <t t-esc="name"/></div>
+ </t>
+
+::
+
+ QWeb.render("HomePageTemplate", {name: "Nicolas"});
+
+Result:
+
+.. code-block:: html
+
+ <div>Hello Nicolas</div>
+
+When you use :class:`~openerp.web.Widget`'s integration you can not pass
+additional data to the template. Instead the template will have a unique
+``widget`` variable which is a reference to the current widget:
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+ <t t-name="HomePageTemplate">
+ <div>Hello <t t-esc="widget.name"/></div>
+ </t>
+
+::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ template: "HomePageTemplate",
+ init: function(parent) {
+ this._super(parent);
+ this.name = "Nicolas";
+ },
+ start: function() {
+ },
+ });
+
+Result:
+
+.. code-block:: html
+
+ <div>Hello Nicolas</div>
+
+Template Declaration
+''''''''''''''''''''
+
+Now that we know everything about rendering templates we can try to understand
+QWeb's syntax.
+
+All QWeb directives use XML attributes beginning with the prefix ``t-``. To
+declare new templates, we add a ``<t t-name="...">`` element into the XML
+template file inside the root element ``<templates>``::
+
+ <templates>
+ <t t-name="HomePageTemplate">
+ <div>This is some simple HTML</div>
+ </t>
+ </templates>
+
+``t-name`` simply declares a template that can be called using
+``QWeb.render()``.
+
+Escaping
+''''''''
+
+To put some text in the HTML, use ``t-esc``:
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+ <t t-name="HomePageTemplate">
+ <div>Hello <t t-esc="name"/></div>
+ </t>
+
+
+This will output the variable ``name`` and escape its content in case it
+contains some characters that looks like HTML. Please note the attribute
+``t-esc`` can contain any type of JavaScript expression:
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+ <t t-name="HomePageTemplate">
+ <div><t t-esc="3+5"/></div>
+ </t>
+
+Will render:
+
+.. code-block:: html
+
+ <div>8</div>
+
+Outputting HTML
+'''''''''''''''
+
+If you know you have some HTML contained in a variable, use ``t-raw`` instead
+of ``t-esc``:
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+ <t t-name="HomePageTemplate">
+ <div><t t-raw="some_html"/></div>
+ </t>
+
+If
+''
+
+The basic alternative block of QWeb is ``t-if``:
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+ <t t-name="HomePageTemplate">
+ <div>
+ <t t-if="true == true">
+ true is true
+ </t>
+ <t t-if="true == false">
+ true is not true
+ </t>
+ </div>
+ </t>
+
+Although QWeb does not contains any structure for else.
+
+Foreach
+'''''''
+
+To iterate on a list, use ``t-foreach`` and ``t-as``:
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+ <t t-name="HomePageTemplate">
+ <div>
+ <t t-foreach="names" t-as="name">
+ <div>
+ Hello <t t-esc="name"/>
+ </div>
+ </t>
+ </div>
+ </t>
+
+Setting the Value of an XML Attribute
+'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
+
+QWeb has a special syntax to set the value of an attribute. You must use
+``t-att-xxx`` and replace ``xxx`` with the name of the attribute:
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+ <t t-name="HomePageTemplate">
+ <div>
+ Input your name:
+ <input type="text" t-att-value="defaultName"/>
+ </div>
+ </t>
+
+To Learn More About QWeb
+''''''''''''''''''''''''
+
+For a QWeb reference, see :ref:`reference/qweb`.
+
+Exercise
+''''''''
+
+.. exercise:: Usage of QWeb in Widgets
+
+ Create a widget whose constructor contains two parameters aside from
+ ``parent``: ``product_names`` and ``color``. ``product_names`` is a list
+ of strings, each one being a name of product. ``color`` is a string
+ containing a color in CSS color format (ie: ``#000000`` for black). That
+ widget should display the given product names one under the other, each
+ one in a separate box with a background color with the value of ``color``
+ and a border. You must use QWeb to render the HTML. This exercise will
+ necessitate some CSS that you should put in
+ ``oepetstore/static/src/css/petstore.css``. Display that widget in the
+ ``HomePage`` widget with a list of five products and green as the
+ background color for boxes.
+
+ .. only:: solutions
+
+ ::
+
+ openerp.oepetstore = function(instance) {
+ var _t = instance.web._t,
+ _lt = instance.web._lt;
+ var QWeb = instance.web.qweb;
+
+ instance.oepetstore = {};
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ var products = new instance.oepetstore.ProductsWidget(this, ["cpu", "mouse", "keyboard", "graphic card", "screen"], "#00FF00");
+ products.appendTo(this.$el);
+ },
+ });
+
+ instance.oepetstore.ProductsWidget = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ template: "ProductsWidget",
+ init: function(parent, products, color) {
+ this._super(parent);
+ this.products = products;
+ this.color = color;
+ },
+ });
+
+ instance.web.client_actions.add('petstore.homepage', 'instance.oepetstore.HomePage');
+ }
+
+ .. code-block:: xml
+
+ <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+ <templates xml:space="preserve">
+ <t t-name="ProductsWidget">
+ <div>
+ <t t-foreach="widget.products" t-as="product">
+ <span class="oe_products_item" t-att-style="'background-color: ' + widget.color + ';'"><t t-esc="product"/></span><br/>
+ </t>
+ </div>
+ </t>
+ </templates>
+
+ .. code-block:: css
+
+ .oe_products_item {
+ display: inline-block;
+ padding: 3px;
+ margin: 5px;
+ border: 1px solid black;
+ border-radius: 3px;
+ }
+
+ .. image:: web/qweb.*
+ :align: center
+ :width: 70%
+
+Widget Events and Properties
+----------------------------
+
+Widgets still have more helper to learn. One of the more complex (and useful)
+one is the event system. Events are also closely related to the widget
+properties.
+
+Events
+%%%%%%
+
+Widgets are able to fire events in a similar way most components in existing
+graphical user interfaces libraries (Qt, GTK, Swing,...) handle
+them. Example::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.ConfirmWidget = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ var self = this;
+ this.$el.append("<div>Are you sure you want to perform this action?</div>" +
+ "<button class='ok_button'>Ok</button>" +
+ "<button class='cancel_button'>Cancel</button>");
+ this.$el.find("button.ok_button").click(function() {
+ self.trigger("user_choose", true);
+ });
+ this.$el.find("button.cancel_button").click(function() {
+ self.trigger("user_choose", false);
+ });
+ },
+ });
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ var widget = new instance.oepetstore.ConfirmWidget(this);
+ widget.on("user_choose", this, this.user_choose);
+ widget.appendTo(this.$el);
+ },
+ user_choose: function(confirm) {
+ if (confirm) {
+ console.log("The user agreed to continue");
+ } else {
+ console.log("The user refused to continue");
+ }
+ },
+ });
+
+First, we will explain what this example is supposed to do. We create a
+generic widget to ask the user if he really wants to do an action that could
+have important consequences (a type widget heavily used in Windows). To do so,
+we put two buttons in the widget. Then we bind jQuery events to know when the
+user click these buttons.
+
+.. note::
+
+ It could be hard to understand this particular line::
+
+ var self = this;
+
+ Remember, in JavaScript the variable ``this`` is a variable that is passed
+ implicitly to all functions. It allows us to know which is the object if
+ function is used like a method. Each declared function has its own
+ ``this``. So, when we declare a function inside a function, that new
+ function will have its own ``this`` that could be different from the
+ ``this`` of the parent function. If we want to remember the original
+ object the simplest method is to store a reference in a variable. By
+ convention in Odoo we very often name that variable ``self`` because it's
+ the equivalent of ``this`` in Python.
+
+Since our widget is supposed to be generic, it should not perform any precise
+action by itself. So, we simply make it trigger and event named
+``user_choose`` by using the :func:`~openerp.web.Widget.trigger` method.
+
+:func:`~openerp.web.Widget.trigger` takes as first argument the name of the
+event to trigger. Then it can takes any number of additional arguments. These
+arguments will be passed to all the event listeners.
+
+Then we modify the ``HomePage`` widget to instantiate a ``ConfirmWidget`` and
+listen to its ``user_choose`` event by calling the
+:func:`~openerp.web.Widget.on` method.
+
+:func:`~openerp.web.Widget.on` allows to bind a function to be called when the
+event identified by event_name is ``triggered``. The ``func`` argument is the
+function to call and ``object`` is the object to which that function is
+related if it is a method. The binded function will be called with the
+additional arguments of :func:`~openerp.web.Widget.trigger` if it has
+any. Example::
+
+ start: function() {
+ var widget = ...
+ widget.on("my_event", this, this.my_event_triggered);
+ widget.trigger("my_event", 1, 2, 3);
+ },
+ my_event_triggered: function(a, b, c) {
+ console.log(a, b, c);
+ // will print "1 2 3"
+ }
+
+Properties
+%%%%%%%%%%
+
+Properties are very similar to normal object attributes. They allow to set
+data on an object but with an additional feature: it triggers events when a
+property's value has changed::
+
+ start: function() {
+ this.widget = ...
+ this.widget.on("change:name", this, this.name_changed);
+ this.widget.set("name", "Nicolas");
+ },
+ name_changed: function() {
+ console.log("The new value of the property 'name' is", this.widget.get("name"));
+ }
+
+:func:`~openerp.web.Widget.set` allows to set the value of property. If the
+value changed (or it didn't had a value previously) the object will trigger a
+``change:xxx`` where ``xxx`` is the name of the property.
+
+:func:`~openerp.web.Widget.get` allows to retrieve the value of a property.
+
+Exercise
+%%%%%%%%
+
+.. exercise:: Widget Properties and Events
+
+ Create a widget ``ColorInputWidget`` that will display 3 ``<input
+ type="text">``. Each of these ``<input>`` is dedicated to type a
+ hexadecimal number from 00 to FF. When any of these ``<input>`` is
+ modified by the user the widget must query the content of the three
+ ``<input>``, concatenate their values to have a complete CSS color code
+ (ie: ``#00FF00``) and put the result in a property named ``color``. Please
+ note the jQuery ``change()`` event that you can bind on any HTML
+ ``<input>`` element and the ``val()`` method that can query the current
+ value of that ``<input>`` could be useful to you for this exercise.
+
+ Then, modify the ``HomePage`` widget to instantiate ``ColorInputWidget``
+ and display it. The ``HomePage`` widget should also display an empty
+ rectangle. That rectangle must always, at any moment, have the same
+ background color than the color in the ``color`` property of the
+ ``ColorInputWidget`` instance.
+
+ Use QWeb to generate all HTML.
+
+ .. only:: solutions
+
+ ::
+
+ openerp.oepetstore = function(instance) {
+ var _t = instance.web._t,
+ _lt = instance.web._lt;
+ var QWeb = instance.web.qweb;
+
+ instance.oepetstore = {};
+
+ instance.oepetstore.ColorInputWidget = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ template: "ColorInputWidget",
+ start: function() {
+ var self = this;
+ this.$el.find("input").change(function() {
+ self.input_changed();
+ });
+ self.input_changed();
+ },
+ input_changed: function() {
+ var color = "#";
+ color += this.$el.find(".oe_color_red").val();
+ color += this.$el.find(".oe_color_green").val();
+ color += this.$el.find(".oe_color_blue").val();
+ this.set("color", color);
+ },
+ });
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ template: "HomePage",
+ start: function() {
+ this.colorInput = new instance.oepetstore.ColorInputWidget(this);
+ this.colorInput.on("change:color", this, this.color_changed);
+ this.colorInput.appendTo(this.$el);
+ },
+ color_changed: function() {
+ this.$el.find(".oe_color_div").css("background-color", this.colorInput.get("color"));
+ },
+ });
+
+ instance.web.client_actions.add('petstore.homepage', 'instance.oepetstore.HomePage');
+ }
+
+ .. code-block:: xml
+
+ <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+ <templates xml:space="preserve">
+ <t t-name="ColorInputWidget">
+ <div>
+ Red: <input type="text" class="oe_color_red" value="00"></input><br />
+ Green: <input type="text" class="oe_color_green" value="00"></input><br />
+ Blue: <input type="text" class="oe_color_blue" value="00"></input><br />
+ </div>
+ </t>
+ <t t-name="HomePage">
+ <div>
+ <div class="oe_color_div"></div>
+ </div>
+ </t>
+ </templates>
+
+ .. code-block:: css
+
+ .oe_color_div {
+ width: 100px;
+ height: 100px;
+ margin: 10px;
+ }
+
+ .. note::
+
+ jQuery's ``css()`` method allows setting a css property.
+
+Widget Helpers
+--------------
+
+We've seen the basics of the :class:`~openerp.web.Widget` class, QWeb and the
+events/properties system. There are still some more useful methods proposed by
+this class.
+
+``Widget``'s jQuery Selector
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+It is very common to need to select a precise element inside a widget. In the
+previous part of this guide we've seen a lot of uses of the ``find()`` method
+of jQuery objects::
+
+ this.$el.find("input.my_input")...
+
+:class:`~openerp.web.Widget` provides a shorter syntax that does the same
+thing with the :func:`~openerp.web.Widget.$` method::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.MyWidget = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ this.$("input.my_input")...
+ },
+ });
+
+.. note::
+
+ We strongly advise you against using directly the global jQuery function
+ ``$()`` like we did in the previous chapter were we explained the jQuery
+ library and jQuery selectors. That type of global selection is sufficient
+ for simple applications but is not a good idea in real, big web
+ applications. The reason is simple: when you create a new type of widget
+ you never know how many times it will be instantiated. Since the ``$()``
+ global function operates in *the whole HTML displayed in the browser*, if
+ you instantiate a widget 2 times and use that function you will
+ incorrectly select the content of another instance of your widget. That's
+ why you must restrict the jQuery selections to HTML which is located
+ *inside* your widget most of the time.
+
+ Applying the same logic, you can also guess it is a very bad idea to try
+ to use HTML ids in any widget. If the widget is instantiated 2 times you
+ will have 2 different HTML element in the whole application that have the
+ same
+ id. And that is an error by itself. So you should stick to CSS classes to mark your HTML elements in all cases.
+
+Easier DOM Events Binding
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+In the previous part, we had to bind a lot of HTML element events like
+``click()`` or ``change()``. Now that we have the ``$()`` method to simplify
+code a little, let's see how it would look like::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.MyWidget = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ var self = this;
+ this.$(".my_button").click(function() {
+ self.button_clicked();
+ });
+ },
+ button_clicked: function() {
+ ..
+ },
+ });
+
+It's still a bit long to type. That's why there is an even more simple syntax
+for that::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.MyWidget = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ events: {
+ "click .my_button": "button_clicked",
+ },
+ button_clicked: function() {
+ ..
+ }
+ });
+
+.. warning::
+
+ It's important to differentiate the jQuery events that are triggered on
+ DOM elements and events of the widgets. The ``event`` class attribute *is
+ a helper to help binding jQuery events*, it has nothing to do with the
+ widget events that can be binded using the ``on()`` method.
+
+The ``event`` class attribute is a dictionary that allows to define jQuery
+events with a shorter syntax.
+
+The key is a string with 2 different parts separated with a space. The first
+part is the name of the event, the second one is the jQuery selector. So the
+key ``click .my_button`` will bind the event ``click`` on the elements
+matching the selector ``my_button``.
+
+The value is a string with the name of the method to call on the current
+object.
+
+Development Guidelines
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+As explained in the prerequisites to read this guide, you should already know
+HTML and CSS. But developing web applications in JavaScript or developing web
+modules for Odoo require to be more strict than you will usually be when
+simply creating static web pages with CSS to style them. So these guidelines
+should be followed if you want to have manageable projects and avoid bugs or
+common mistakes:
+
+* Identifiers (``id`` attribute) should be avoided. In generic applications
+ and modules, ``id`` limits the re-usability of components and tends to make
+ code more brittle. Just about all the time, they can be replaced with
+ nothing, with classes or with keeping a reference to a DOM node or a jQuery
+ element around.
+
+ .. note::
+
+ If it is absolutely necessary to have an ``id`` (because a third-party
+ library requires one and can't take a DOM element), it should be
+ generated with ``_.uniqueId()``.
+
+* Avoid predictable/common CSS class names. Class names such as "content" or
+ "navigation" might match the desired meaning/semantics, but it is likely an
+ other developer will have the same need, creating a naming conflict and
+ unintended behavior. Generic class names should be prefixed with e.g. the
+ name of the component they belong to (creating "informal" namespaces, much
+ as in C or Objective-C).
+
+* Global selectors should be avoided. Because a component may be used several
+ times in a single page (an example in Odoo is dashboards), queries should be
+ restricted to a given component's scope. Unfiltered selections such as
+ ``$(selector)`` or ``document.querySelectorAll(selector)`` will generally
+ lead to unintended or incorrect behavior. Odoo Web's
+ :class:`~openerp.web.Widget` has an attribute providing its DOM root
+ (:attr:`~openerp.web.Widget.$el`), and a shortcut to select nodes directly
+ (:func:`~openerp.web.Widget.$`).
+
+* More generally, never assume your components own or controls anything beyond
+ its own personal :attr:`~openerp.web.Widget.$el`
+
+* html templating/rendering should use QWeb unless absolutely trivial.
+
+* All interactive components (components displaying information to the screen
+ or intercepting DOM events) must inherit from Widget and correctly implement
+ and use its API and life cycle.
+
+Modify Existent Widgets and Classes
+-----------------------------------
+
+The class system of the Odoo web framework allows direct modification of
+existing classes using the :func:`~openerp.web.Widget.include` method of a
+class::
+
+ var TestClass = instance.web.Class.extend({
+ testMethod: function() {
+ return "hello";
+ },
+ });
+
+ TestClass.include({
+ testMethod: function() {
+ return this._super() + " world";
+ },
+ });
+
+ console.log(new TestClass().testMethod());
+ // will print "hello world"
+
+This system is similar to the inheritance mechanism, except it will directly
+modify the class. You can call ``this._super()`` to call the original
+implementation of the methods you are redefining. If the class already had
+sub-classes, all calls to ``this._super()`` in sub-classes will call the new
+implementations defined in the call to ``include()``. This will also work if
+some instances of the class (or of any of its sub-classes) were created prior
+to the call to :func:`~openerp.web.Widget.include`.
+
+.. warning::
+
+ Please note that, even if :func:`~openerp.web.Widget.include` can be a
+ powerful tool, it's not considered a very good programming practice
+ because it can easily create problems if used in a wrong way. So you
+ should use it to modify the behavior of an existing component only when
+ there are no other options, and try to limit its usages to the strict
+ minimum.
+
+Translations
+------------
+
+The process to translate text in Python and JavaScript code is very
+similar. You could have noticed these lines at the beginning of the
+``petstore.js`` file:
+
+ var _t = instance.web._t,
+ _lt = instance.web._lt;
+
+These lines are simply used to import the translation functions in the current
+JavaScript module. The correct to use them is this one::
+
+ this.$el.text(_t("Hello dear user!"));
+
+In Odoo, translations files are automatically generated by scanning the source
+code. All piece of code that calls a certain function are detected and their
+content is added to a translation file that will then be sent to the
+translators. In Python, the function is ``_()``. In JavaScript the function is
+:func:`~openerp.web._t` (and also :func:`~openerp.web._lt`).
+
+If the source file as never been scanned and the translation files does not
+contain any translation for the text given to ``_t()`` it will return the text
+as-is. If there is a translation it will return it.
+
+:func:`~openerp.web._lt` does almost the exact same thing but is a little bit
+more complicated. It does not return a text but returns a function that will
+return the text. It is reserved for very special cases::
+
+ var text_func = _lt("Hello dear user!");
+ this.$el.text(text_func());
+
+To have more information about Odoo's translations, please take a look at the
+reference documentation: https://doc.openerp.com/contribute/translations/ .
+
+Communication with the Odoo Server
+-------------------------------------
+
+Now you should know everything you need to display any type of graphical user
+interface with your Odoo modules. Still, Odoo is a database-centric
+application so it's still not very useful if you can't query data from the
+database.
+
+As a reminder, in Odoo you are not supposed to directly query data from the
+PostgreSQL database, you will always use the build-in ORM (Object-Relational
+Mapping) and more precisely the Odoo *models*.
+
+Contacting Models
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+In the previous chapter we explained how to send HTTP requests to the web
+server using the ``$.ajax()`` method and the JSON format. It is useful to know
+how to make a JavaScript application communicate with its web server using
+these tools, but it's still a little bit low-level to be used in a complex
+application like Odoo.
+
+When the web client contacts the Odoo server it has to pass additional data
+like the necessary information to authenticate the current user. There is also
+some more complexity due to Odoo models that need a higher-level communication
+protocol to be used.
+
+This is why you will not use directly ``$.ajax()`` to communicate with the
+server. The web client framework provides classes to abstract that protocol.
+
+To demonstrate this, the file ``petstore.py`` already contains a small model
+with a sample method:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+ class message_of_the_day(osv.osv):
+ _name = "message_of_the_day"
+
+ def my_method(self, cr, uid, context=None):
+ return {"hello": "world"}
+
+ _columns = {
+ 'message': fields.text(string="Message"),
+ 'color': fields.char(string="Color", size=20),
+ }
+
+If you know Odoo models that code should be familiar to you. This model
+declares a table named ``message_of_the_day`` with two fields. It also has a
+method ``my_method()`` that doesn't do much except return a dictionary.
+
+Here is a sample widget that calls ``my_method()`` and displays the result::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ var self = this;
+ var model = new instance.web.Model("message_of_the_day");
+ model.call("my_method", [], {context: new instance.web.CompoundContext()}).then(function(result) {
+ self.$el.append("<div>Hello " + result["hello"] + "</div>");
+ // will show "Hello world" to the user
+ });
+ },
+ });
+
+The class used to contact Odoo models is ``instance.web.Model``. When you
+instantiate it, you must give as first argument to its constructor the name of
+the model you want to contact in Odoo. (Here it is ``message_of_the_day``, the
+model created for this example, but it could be any other model like
+``res.partner``.)
+
+:func:`~openerp.web.Model.call` is the method of :class:`~openerp.web.Model`
+used to call any method of an Odoo server-side model. Here are its arguments:
+
+* ``name`` is the name of the method to call on the model. Here it is the
+ method named ``my_method``.
+* ``args`` is a list of positional arguments to give to the method. The sample
+ ``my_method()`` method does not contain any particular argument we want to
+ give to it, so here is another example:
+
+ .. code-block:: python
+
+ def my_method2(self, cr, uid, a, b, c, context=None): ...
+
+ .. code-block:: javascript
+
+ model.call("my_method", [1, 2, 3], ...
+ // with this a=1, b=2 and c=3
+
+* ``kwargs`` is a list of named arguments to give to the method. In the
+ example, we have one named argument which is a bit special:
+ ``context``. It's given a value that may seem very strange right now: ``new
+ instance.web.CompoundContext()``. The meaning of that argument will be
+ explained later. Right now you should just know the ``kwargs`` argument
+ allows to give arguments to the Python method by name instead of
+ position. Example:
+
+ .. code-block:: python
+
+ def my_method2(self, cr, uid, a, b, c, context=None): ...
+
+ .. code-block:: javascript
+
+ model.call("my_method", [], {a: 1, b: 2, c: 3, ...
+ // with this a=1, b=2 and c=3
+
+.. note::
+
+ If you take a look at the ``my_method()``'s declaration in Python, you can
+ see it has two arguments named ``cr`` and ``uid``:
+
+ .. code-block:: python
+
+ def my_method(self, cr, uid, context=None):
+
+ You could have noticed we do not give theses arguments to the server when
+ we call that method from JavaScript. That is because theses arguments that
+ have to be declared in all models' methods are never sent from the Odoo
+ client. These arguments are added implicitly by the Odoo server. The
+ first one is an object called the *cursor* that allows communication with
+ the database. The second one is the id of the currently logged in user.
+
+:func:`~openerp.web.Widget.call` returns a deferred resolved with the value
+returned by the model's method as first argument. If you don't know what
+deferreds are, take a look at the previous chapter (the part about HTTP
+requests in jQuery).
+
+CompoundContext
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+In the previous part, we avoided to explain the strange ``context`` argument
+in the call to our model's method:
+
+.. code-block:: javascript
+
+ model.call("my_method", [], {context: new instance.web.CompoundContext()})
+
+In Odoo, models' methods should always have an argument named ``context``:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+ def my_method(self, cr, uid, context=None): ...
+
+The context is like a "magic" argument that the web client will always give to
+the server when calling a method. The context is a dictionary containing
+multiple keys. One of the most important key is the language of the user, used
+by the server to translate all the messages of the application. Another one is
+the time zone of the user, used to compute correctly dates and times if Odoo
+is used by people in different countries.
+
+The ``argument`` is necessary in all methods, because if we forget it bad
+things could happen (like the application not being translated
+correctly). That's why, when you call a model's method, you should always give
+it to that argument. The solution to achieve that is to use
+:class:`openerp.web.CompoundContext`.
+
+:class:`~openerp.web.CompoundContext` is a class used to pass the user's
+context (with language, time zone, etc...) to the server as well as adding new
+keys to the context (some models' methods use arbitrary keys added to the
+context). It is created by giving to its constructor any number of
+dictionaries or other :class:`~openerp.web.CompoundContext` instances. It will
+merge all those contexts before sending them to the server.
+
+.. code-block:: javascript
+
+ model.call("my_method", [], {context: new instance.web.CompoundContext({'new_key': 'key_value'})})
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+ def display_context(self, cr, uid, context=None):
+ print context
+ // will print: {'lang': 'en_US', 'new_key': 'key_value', 'tz': 'Europe/Brussels', 'uid': 1}
+
+You can see the dictionary in the argument ``context`` contains some keys that
+are related to the configuration of the current user in Odoo plus the
+``new_key`` key that was added when instantiating
+:class:`~openerp.web.CompoundContext`.
+
+To resume, you should always add an instance of
+:class:`~openerp.web.CompoundContext` in all calls to a model's method.
+
+Queries
+%%%%%%%
+
+If you know Odoo module development, you should already know everything
+necessary to communicate with models and make them do what you want. But there
+is still a small helper that could be useful to you :
+:func:`~openerp.web.Model.query`.
+
+:func:`~openerp.web.Model.query` is a shortcut for the usual combination of
+:py:meth:`~openerp.models.Model.search` and
+::py:meth:`~openerp.models.Model.read` methods in Odoo models. It allows to
+:search records and get their data with a shorter syntax. Example::
+
+ model.query(['name', 'login', 'user_email', 'signature'])
+ .filter([['active', '=', true], ['company_id', '=', main_company]])
+ .limit(15)
+ .all().then(function (users) {
+ // do work with users records
+ });
+
+:func:`~openerp.web.Model.query` takes as argument a list of fields to query
+in the model. It returns an instance of the :class:`openerp.web.Query` class.
+
+:class:`~openerp.web.Query` is a class representing the query you are trying
+to construct before sending it to the server. It has multiple methods you can
+call to customize the query. All these methods will return the current
+instance of :class:`~openerp.web.Query`:
+
+* :func:`~openerp.web.Query.filter` allows to specify an Odoo *domain*. As a
+ reminder, a domain in Odoo is a list of conditions, each condition is a list
+ it self.
+* :func:`~openerp.web.Query.limit` sets a limit to the number of records
+ returned.
+
+When you have customized you query, you can call the
+:func:`~openerp.web.Query.all` method. It will performs the real query to the
+server and return a deferred resolved with the result. The result is the same
+thing return by the model's method :py:meth:`~openerp.models.Model.read` (a
+list of dictionaries containing the asked fields).
+
+Exercises
+---------
+
+.. exercise:: Message of the Day
+
+ Create a widget ``MessageOfTheDay`` that will display the message
+ contained in the last record of the ``message_of_the_day``. The widget
+ should query the message as soon as it is inserted in the DOM and display
+ the message to the user. Display that widget on the home page of the Odoo
+ Pet Store module.
+
+ .. only:: solutions
+
+ .. code-block:: javascript
+
+ openerp.oepetstore = function(instance) {
+ var _t = instance.web._t,
+ _lt = instance.web._lt;
+ var QWeb = instance.web.qweb;
+
+ instance.oepetstore = {};
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ template: "HomePage",
+ start: function() {
+ var motd = new instance.oepetstore.MessageOfTheDay(this);
+ motd.appendTo(this.$el);
+ },
+ });
+
+ instance.web.client_actions.add('petstore.homepage', 'instance.oepetstore.HomePage');
+
+ instance.oepetstore.MessageOfTheDay = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ template: "MessageofTheDay",
+ init: function() {
+ this._super.apply(this, arguments);
+ },
+ start: function() {
+ var self = this;
+ new instance.web.Model("message_of_the_day").query(["message"]).first().then(function(result) {
+ self.$(".oe_mywidget_message_of_the_day").text(result.message);
+ });
+ },
+ });
+
+ }
+
+ .. code-block:: xml
+
+ <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+ <templates xml:space="preserve">
+ <t t-name="HomePage">
+ <div class="oe_petstore_homepage">
+ </div>
+ </t>
+ <t t-name="MessageofTheDay">
+ <div class="oe_petstore_motd">
+ <p class="oe_mywidget_message_of_the_day"></p>
+ </div>
+ </t>
+ </templates>
+
+ .. code-block:: css
+
+ .oe_petstore_motd {
+ margin: 5px;
+ padding: 5px;
+ border-radius: 3px;
+ background-color: #F0EEEE;
+ }
+
+.. exercise:: Pet Toys List
+
+ Create a widget ``PetToysList`` that will display 5 toys on the home page
+ with their names and their images.
+
+ In this Odoo addon, the pet toys are not stored in a new table like for
+ the message of the day. They are in the table ``product.product``. If you
+ click on the menu item :menuselection:`Pet Store --> Pet Store --> Pet
+ Toys` you will be able to see them. Pet toys are identified by the
+ category named ``Pet Toys``. You could need to document yourself on the
+ model ``product.product`` to be able to create a domain to select pet toys
+ and not all the products.
+
+ To display the images of the pet toys, you should know that images in Odoo
+ can be queried from the database like any other fields, but you will
+ obtain a string containing Base64-encoded binary. There is a little trick
+ to display images in Base64 format in HTML:
+
+ .. code-block:: html
+
+ <img class="oe_kanban_image" src="data:image/png;base64,${replace this by base64}"></image>
+
+ The ``PetToysList`` widget should be displayed on the home page on the
+ right of the ``MessageOfTheDay`` widget. You will need to make some layout
+ with CSS to achieve this.
+
+ .. only:: solutions
+
+ .. code-block:: javascript
+
+ openerp.oepetstore = function(instance) {
+ var _t = instance.web._t,
+ _lt = instance.web._lt;
+ var QWeb = instance.web.qweb;
+
+ instance.oepetstore = {};
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ template: "HomePage",
+ start: function() {
+ var pettoys = new instance.oepetstore.PetToysList(this);
+ pettoys.appendTo(this.$(".oe_petstore_homepage_left"));
+ var motd = new instance.oepetstore.MessageOfTheDay(this);
+ motd.appendTo(this.$(".oe_petstore_homepage_right"));
+ },
+ });
+
+ instance.web.client_actions.add('petstore.homepage', 'instance.oepetstore.HomePage');
+
+ instance.oepetstore.MessageOfTheDay = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ template: "MessageofTheDay",
+ init: function() {
+ this._super.apply(this, arguments);
+ },
+ start: function() {
+ var self = this;
+ new instance.web.Model("message_of_the_day").query(["message"]).first().then(function(result) {
+ self.$(".oe_mywidget_message_of_the_day").text(result.message);
+ });
+ },
+ });
+
+ instance.oepetstore.PetToysList = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ template: "PetToysList",
+ start: function() {
+ var self = this;
+ new instance.web.Model("product.product").query(["name", "image"])
+ .filter([["categ_id.name", "=", "Pet Toys"]]).limit(5).all().then(function(result) {
+ _.each(result, function(item) {
+ var $item = $(QWeb.render("PetToy", {item: item}));
+ self.$el.append($item);
+ });
+ });
+ },
+ });
+
+ }
+
+ .. code-block:: xml
+
+ <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+ <templates xml:space="preserve">
+ <t t-name="HomePage">
+ <div class="oe_petstore_homepage">
+ <div class="oe_petstore_homepage_left"></div>
+ <div class="oe_petstore_homepage_right"></div>
+ </div>
+ </t>
+ <t t-name="MessageofTheDay">
+ <div class="oe_petstore_motd">
+ <p class="oe_mywidget_message_of_the_day"></p>
+ </div>
+ </t>
+ <t t-name="PetToysList">
+ <div class="oe_petstore_pettoyslist">
+ </div>
+ </t>
+ <t t-name="PetToy">
+ <div class="oe_petstore_pettoy">
+ <p><t t-esc="item.name"/></p>
+ <p><img t-att-src="'data:image/jpg;base64,'+item.image"/></p>
+ </div>
+ </t>
+ </templates>
+
+ .. code-block:: css
+
+ .oe_petstore_homepage {
+ display: table;
+ }
+
+ .oe_petstore_homepage_left {
+ display: table-cell;
+ width : 300px;
+ }
+
+ .oe_petstore_homepage_right {
+ display: table-cell;
+ width : 300px;
+ }
+
+ .oe_petstore_motd {
+ margin: 5px;
+ padding: 5px;
+ border-radius: 3px;
+ background-color: #F0EEEE;
+ }
+
+ .oe_petstore_pettoyslist {
+ padding: 5px;
+ }
+
+ .oe_petstore_pettoy {
+ margin: 5px;
+ padding: 5px;
+ border-radius: 3px;
+ background-color: #F0EEEE;
+ }
+
+
+Existing web components
+-----------------------
+
+In the previous part, we explained the Odoo web framework, a development
+framework to create and architecture graphical JavaScript applications. The
+current part is dedicated to the existing components of the Odoo web client
+and most notably those containing entry points for developers to create new
+widgets that will be inserted inside existing views or components.
+
+The Action Manager
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+To display a view or show a popup, as example when you click on a menu button,
+Odoo use the concept of actions. Actions are pieces of information explaining
+what the web client should do. They can be loaded from the database or created
+on-the-fly. The component handling actions in the web client is the *Action
+Manager*.
+
+Using the Action Manager
+''''''''''''''''''''''''
+
+A way to launch an action is to use a menu element targeting an action
+registered in the database. As a reminder, here is how is defined a typical
+action and its associated menu item:
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+ <record model="ir.actions.act_window" id="message_of_the_day_action">
+ <field name="name">Message of the day</field>
+ <field name="res_model">message_of_the_day</field>
+ <field name="view_type">form</field>
+ <field name="view_mode">tree,form</field>
+ </record>
+
+ <menuitem id="message_day" name="Message of the day" parent="petstore_menu"
+ action="message_of_the_day_action"/>
+
+It is also possible to ask the Odoo client to load an action from a JavaScript
+code. To do so you have to create a dictionary explaining the action and then
+to ask the action manager to re-dispatch the web client to the new action. To
+send a message to the action manager, :class:`~openerp.web.Widget` has a
+shortcut that will automatically find the current action manager and execute
+the action. Here is an example call to that method::
+
+ instance.web.TestWidget = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ dispatch_to_new_action: function() {
+ this.do_action({
+ type: 'ir.actions.act_window',
+ res_model: "product.product",
+ res_id: 1,
+ views: [[false, 'form']],
+ target: 'current',
+ context: {},
+ });
+ },
+ });
+
+The method to call to ask the action manager to execute a new action is
+:func:`~openerp.web.Widget.do_action`. It receives as argument a dictionary
+defining the properties of the action. Here is a description of the most usual
+properties (not all of them may be used by all type of actions):
+
+* ``type``: The type of the action, which means the name of the model in which
+ the action is stored. As example, use ``ir.actions.act_window`` to show
+ views and ``ir.actions.client`` for client actions.
+* ``res_model``: For ``act_window`` actions, it is the model used by the
+ views.
+* ``res_id``: The ``id`` of the record to display.
+* ``views``: For ``act_window`` actions, it is a list of the views to
+ display. This argument must be a list of tuples with two components. The
+ first one must be the identifier of the view (or ``false`` if you just want
+ to use the default view defined for the model). The second one must be the
+ type of the view.
+* ``target``: If the value is ``current``, the action will be opened in the
+ main content part of the web client. The current action will be destroyed
+ before loading the new one. If it is ``new``, the action will appear in a
+ popup and the current action will not be destroyed.
+* ``context``: The context to use.
+
+.. exercise:: Jump to Product
+
+ Modify the ``PetToysList`` component developed in the previous part to
+ jump to a form view displaying the shown item when we click on the item in
+ the list.
+
+ .. only:: solutions
+
+ .. code-block:: javascript
+
+ instance.oepetstore.PetToysList = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ template: "PetToysList",
+ start: function() {
+ var self = this;
+ new instance.web.Model("product.product").query(["name", "image"])
+ .filter([["categ_id.name", "=", "Pet Toys"]]).limit(5).all().then(function(result) {
+ _.each(result, function(item) {
+ var $item = $(QWeb.render("PetToy", {item: item}));
+ self.$el.append($item);
+ $item.click(function() {
+ self.item_clicked(item);
+ });
+ });
+ });
+ },
+ item_clicked: function(item) {
+ this.do_action({
+ type: 'ir.actions.act_window',
+ res_model: "product.product",
+ res_id: item.id,
+ views: [[false, 'form']],
+ target: 'current',
+ context: {},
+ });
+ },
+ });
+
+Client Actions
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+In the module installed during the previous part of this guide, we defined a
+simple widget that was displayed when we clicked on a menu element. This is
+because this widget was registered as a *client action*. Client actions are a
+type of action that are completely defined by JavaScript code. Here is a
+reminder of the way we defined this client action::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.HomePage = instance.web.Widget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ console.log("pet store home page loaded");
+ },
+ });
+
+ instance.web.client_actions.add('petstore.homepage', 'instance.oepetstore.HomePage');
+
+``instance.web.client_actions`` is an instance of the
+:class:`~openerp.web.Registry` class. Registries are not very different to
+simple dictionaries, except they assign strings to class names. Adding the
+``petstore.homepage`` key to this registry simply tells the web client "If
+someone asks you to open a client action with key ``petstore.homepage``,
+instantiate the ``instance.oepetstore.HomePage`` class and show it to the
+user".
+
+Here is how the menu element to show this client action was defined:
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+ <record id="action_home_page" model="ir.actions.client">
+ <field name="tag">petstore.homepage</field>
+ </record>
+
+ <menuitem id="home_page_petstore_menu" name="Home Page" parent="petstore_menu"
+ action="action_home_page"/>
+
+Client actions do not need a lot of information except their type, which is
+stored in the ``tag`` field.
+
+When the web client wants to display a client action, it will simply show it
+in the main content block of the web client. This is completely sufficient to
+allow the widget to display anything and so create a completely new feature
+for the web client.
+
+Architecture of the Views
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+Most of the complexity of the web client resides in views. They are the basic
+tools to display the data in the database. The part will explain the views
+and how those are displayed in the web client.
+
+The View Manager
+''''''''''''''''
+
+Previously we already explained the purpose of the *Action Manager*. It is a
+component, whose class is ``ActionManager``, that will handle the Odoo actions
+(notably the actions associated with menu buttons).
+
+When an ``ActionManager`` instance receive an action with type
+``ir.actions.act_window``, it knows it has to show one or more views
+associated with a precise model. To do so, it creates a *View Manager* that
+will create one or multiple *Views*. See this diagram:
+
+.. image:: web/viewarchitecture.*
+ :align: center
+ :width: 40%
+
+The ``ViewManager`` instance will instantiate each view class corresponding to
+the views indicated in the ``ir.actions.act_window`` action. As example, the
+class corresponding to the view type ``form`` is ``FormView``. Each view class
+inherits the ``View`` abstract class.
+
+The Views
+'''''''''
+
+All the typical type of views in Odoo (all those you can switch to using the
+small buttons under the search input text) are represented by a class
+extending the ``View`` abstract class. Note the *Search View* (the search
+input text on the top right of the screen that typically appear in kanban and
+list views) is also considered a type of view even if it doesn't work like the
+others (you can not "switch to" the search view and it doesn't take the full
+screen).
+
+A view has the responsibility to load its XML view description from the server
+and display it. Views are also given an instance of the ``DataSet``
+class. That class contains a list of identifiers corresponding to records that
+the view should display. It is filled by the search view and the current view
+is supposed to display the result of each search after it was performed by the
+search view.
+
+The Form View Fields
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+A typical need in the web client is to extend the form view to display more
+specific widgets. One of the possibilities to do this is to define a new type
+of *Field*.
+
+A field, in the form view, is a type of widget designed to display and edit
+the content of *one (and only one) field* in a single record displayed by the
+form view. All data types available in models have a default implementation to
+display and edit them in the form view. As example, the ``FieldChar`` class
+allows to edit the ``char`` data type.
+
+Other field classes simply provide an alternative widget to represent an
+existing data type. A good example of this is the ``FieldEmail`` class. There
+is no ``email`` type in the models of Odoo. That class is designed to display
+a ``char`` field assuming it contains an email (it will show a clickable link
+to directly send a mail to the person and will also check the validity of the
+mail address).
+
+Also note there is nothing that disallow a field class to work with more than
+one data type. As example, the ``FieldSelection`` class works with both
+``selection`` and ``many2one`` field types.
+
+As a reminder, to indicate a precise field type in a form view XML
+description, you just have to specify the ``widget`` attribute:
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+ <field name="contact_mail" widget="email"/>
+
+It is also a good thing to notice that the form view field classes are also
+used in the editable list views. So, by defining a new field class, it make
+this new widget available in both views.
+
+Another type of extension mechanism for the form view is the *Form Widget*,
+which has fewer restrictions than the fields (even though it can be more
+complicated to implement). Form widgets will be explained later in this guide.
+
+Fields are instantiated by the form view after it has read its XML description
+and constructed the corresponding HTML representing that description. After
+that, the form view will communicate with the field objects using some
+methods. Theses methods are defined by the ``FieldInterface``
+interface. Almost all fields inherit the ``AbstractField`` abstract
+class. That class defines some default mechanisms that need to be implemented
+by most fields.
+
+Here are some of the responsibilities of a field class:
+
+* The field class must display and allow the user to edit the value of the field.
+* It must correctly implement the 3 field attributes available in all fields
+ of Odoo. The ``AbstractField`` class already implements an algorithm that
+ dynamically calculates the value of these attributes (they can change at any
+ moment because their value change according to the value of other
+ fields). Their values are stored in *Widget Properties* (the widget
+ properties were explained earlier in this guide). It is the responsibility
+ of each field class to check these widget properties and dynamically adapt
+ depending of their values. Here is a description of each of these
+ attributes:
+
+ * ``required``: The field must have a value before saving. If ``required``
+ is ``true`` and the field doesn't have a value, the method
+ ``is_valid()`` of the field must return ``false``.
+ * ``invisible``: When this is ``true``, the field must be invisible. The
+ ``AbstractField`` class already has a basic implementation of this
+ behavior that fits most fields.
+ * ``readonly``: When ``true``, the field must not be editable by the
+ user. Most fields in Odoo have a completely different behavior depending
+ on the value of ``readonly``. As example, the ``FieldChar`` displays an
+ HTML ``<input>`` when it is editable and simply displays the text when
+ it is read-only. This also means it has much more code it would need to
+ implement only one behavior, but this is necessary to ensure a good user
+ experience.
+
+* Fields have two methods, ``set_value()`` and ``get_value()``, which are
+ called by the form view to give it the value to display and get back the new
+ value entered by the user. These methods must be able to handle the value as
+ given by the Odoo server when a ``read()`` is performed on a model and give
+ back a valid value for a ``write()``. Remember that the JavaScript/Python
+ data types used to represent the values given by ``read()`` and given to
+ ``write()`` is not necessarily the same in Odoo. As example, when you read a
+ many2one, it is always a tuple whose first value is the id of the pointed
+ record and the second one is the name get (ie: ``(15, "Agrolait")``). But
+ when you write a many2one it must be a single integer, not a tuple
+ anymore. ``AbstractField`` has a default implementation of these methods
+ that works well for simple data type and set a widget property named
+ ``value``.
+
+Please note that, to better understand how to implement fields, you are
+strongly encouraged to look at the definition of the ``FieldInterface``
+interface and the ``AbstractField`` class directly in the code of the Odoo web
+client.
+
+Creating a New Type of Field
+''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
+
+In this part we will explain how to create a new type of field. The example
+here will be to re-implement the ``FieldChar`` class and explain progressively
+each part.
+
+Simple Read-Only Field
+""""""""""""""""""""""
+
+Here is a first implementation that will only be able to display a text. The
+user will not be able to modify the content of the field.
+
+.. code-block:: javascript
+
+ instance.oepetstore.FieldChar2 = instance.web.form.AbstractField.extend({
+ init: function() {
+ this._super.apply(this, arguments);
+ this.set("value", "");
+ },
+ render_value: function() {
+ this.$el.text(this.get("value"));
+ },
+ });
+
+ instance.web.form.widgets.add('char2', 'instance.oepetstore.FieldChar2');
+
+In this example, we declare a class named ``FieldChar2`` inheriting from
+``AbstractField``. We also register this class in the registry
+``instance.web.form.widgets`` under the key ``char2``. That will allow us to
+use this new field in any form view by specifying ``widget="char2"`` in the
+``<field/>`` tag in the XML declaration of the view.
+
+In this example, we define a single method: ``render_value()``. All it does is
+display the widget property ``value``. Those are two tools defined by the
+``AbstractField`` class. As explained before, the form view will call the
+method ``set_value()`` of the field to set the value to display. This method
+already has a default implementation in ``AbstractField`` which simply sets
+the widget property ``value``. ``AbstractField`` also watch the
+``change:value`` event on itself and calls the ``render_value()`` when it
+occurs. So, ``render_value()`` is a convenience method to implement in child
+classes to perform some operation each time the value of the field changes.
+
+In the ``init()`` method, we also define the default value of the field if
+none is specified by the form view (here we assume the default value of a
+``char`` field should be an empty string).
+
+Read-Write Field
+""""""""""""""""
+
+Fields that only display their content and don't give the possibility to the
+user to modify it can be useful, but most fields in Odoo allow edition
+too. This makes the field classes more complicated, mostly because fields are
+supposed to handle both and editable and non-editable mode, those modes are
+often completely different (for design and usability purpose) and the fields
+must be able to switch from one mode to another at any moment.
+
+To know in which mode the current field should be, the ``AbstractField`` class
+sets a widget property named ``effective_readonly``. The field should watch
+the changes in that widget property and display the correct mode
+accordingly. Example::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.FieldChar2 = instance.web.form.AbstractField.extend({
+ init: function() {
+ this._super.apply(this, arguments);
+ this.set("value", "");
+ },
+ start: function() {
+ this.on("change:effective_readonly", this, function() {
+ this.display_field();
+ this.render_value();
+ });
+ this.display_field();
+ return this._super();
+ },
+ display_field: function() {
+ var self = this;
+ this.$el.html(QWeb.render("FieldChar2", {widget: this}));
+ if (! this.get("effective_readonly")) {
+ this.$("input").change(function() {
+ self.internal_set_value(self.$("input").val());
+ });
+ }
+ },
+ render_value: function() {
+ if (this.get("effective_readonly")) {
+ this.$el.text(this.get("value"));
+ } else {
+ this.$("input").val(this.get("value"));
+ }
+ },
+ });
+
+ instance.web.form.widgets.add('char2', 'instance.oepetstore.FieldChar2');
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+ <t t-name="FieldChar2">
+ <div class="oe_field_char2">
+ <t t-if="! widget.get('effective_readonly')">
+ <input type="text"></input>
+ </t>
+ </div>
+ </t>
+
+In the ``start()`` method (which is called right after a widget has been
+appended to the DOM), we bind on the event ``change:effective_readonly``. That
+will allow use to redisplay the field each time the widget property
+``effective_readonly`` changes. This event handler will call
+``display_field()``, which is also called directly in ``start()``. This
+``display_field()`` was created specifically for this field, it's not a method
+defined in ``AbstractField`` or any other class. This is the method we will
+use to display the content of the field depending we are in read-only mode or
+not.
+
+From now on the conception of this field is quite typical, except there is a
+lot of verifications to know the state of the ``effective_readonly`` property:
+
+* In the QWeb template used to display the content of the widget, it displays
+ an ``<input type="text" />`` if we are in read-write mode and nothing in
+ particular in read-only mode.
+* In the ``display_field()`` method, we have to bind on the ``change`` event
+ of the ``<input type="text" />`` to know when the user has changed the
+ value. When it happens, we call the ``internal_set_value()`` method with the
+ new value of the field. This is a convenience method provided by the
+ ``AbstractField`` class. That method will set a new value in the ``value``
+ property but will not trigger a call to ``render_value()`` (which is not
+ necessary since the ``<input type="text" />`` already contains the correct
+ value).
+* In ``render_value()``, we use a completely different code to display the
+ value of the field depending if we are in read-only or in read-write mode.
+
+.. exercise:: Create a Color Field
+
+ Create a ``FieldColor`` class. The value of this field should be a string
+ containing a color code like those used in CSS (example: ``#FF0000`` for
+ red). In read-only mode, this color field should display a little block
+ whose color corresponds to the value of the field. In read-write mode, you
+ should display an ``<input type="color" />``. That type of ``<input />``
+ is an HTML5 component that doesn't work in all browsers but works well in
+ Google Chrome. So it's OK to use as an exercise.
+
+ You can use that widget in the form view of the ``message_of_the_day``
+ model for its field named ``color``. As a bonus, you can change the
+ ``MessageOfTheDay`` widget created in the previous part of this guide to
+ display the message of the day with the background color indicated in the
+ ``color`` field.
+
+ .. only:: solutions
+
+ .. code-block:: javascript
+
+ instance.oepetstore.FieldColor = instance.web.form.AbstractField.extend({
+ init: function() {
+ this._super.apply(this, arguments);
+ this.set("value", "");
+ },
+ start: function() {
+ this.on("change:effective_readonly", this, function() {
+ this.display_field();
+ this.render_value();
+ });
+ this.display_field();
+ return this._super();
+ },
+ display_field: function() {
+ var self = this;
+ this.$el.html(QWeb.render("FieldColor", {widget: this}));
+ if (! this.get("effective_readonly")) {
+ this.$("input").change(function() {
+ self.internal_set_value(self.$("input").val());
+ });
+ }
+ },
+ render_value: function() {
+ if (this.get("effective_readonly")) {
+ this.$(".oe_field_color_content").css("background-color", this.get("value") || "#FFFFFF");
+ } else {
+ this.$("input").val(this.get("value") || "#FFFFFF");
+ }
+ },
+ });
+
+ instance.web.form.widgets.add('color', 'instance.oepetstore.FieldColor');
+
+ .. code-block:: xml
+
+ <t t-name="FieldColor">
+ <div class="oe_field_color">
+ <t t-if="widget.get('effective_readonly')">
+ <div class="oe_field_color_content" />
+ </t>
+ <t t-if="! widget.get('effective_readonly')">
+ <input type="color"></input>
+ </t>
+ </div>
+ </t>
+
+ .. code-block:: css
+
+ .oe_field_color_content {
+ height: 20px;
+ width: 50px;
+ border: 1px solid black;
+ }
+
+The Form View Custom Widgets
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+Form fields can be useful, but their purpose is to edit a single field. To
+interact with the whole form view and have more liberty to integrate new
+widgets in it, it is recommended to create a custom form widget.
+
+Custom form widgets are widgets that can be added in any form view using a
+specific syntax in the XML definition of the view. Example:
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+ <widget type="xxx" />
+
+This type of widget will simply be created by the form view during the
+creation of the HTML according to the XML definition. They have properties in
+common with the fields (like the ``effective_readonly`` property) but they are
+not assigned a precise field. And so they don't have methods like
+``get_value()`` and ``set_value()``. They must inherit from the ``FormWidget``
+abstract class.
+
+The custom form widgets can also interact with the fields of the form view by
+getting or setting their values using the ``field_manager`` attribute of
+``FormWidget``. Here is an example usage::
+
+ instance.oepetstore.WidgetMultiplication = instance.web.form.FormWidget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ this._super();
+ this.field_manager.on("field_changed:integer_a", this, this.display_result);
+ this.field_manager.on("field_changed:integer_b", this, this.display_result);
+ this.display_result();
+ },
+ display_result: function() {
+ var result = this.field_manager.get_field_value("integer_a") *
+ this.field_manager.get_field_value("integer_b");
+ this.$el.text("a*b = " + result);
+ }
+ });
+
+ instance.web.form.custom_widgets.add('multiplication', 'instance.oepetstore.WidgetMultiplication');
+
+This example custom widget is designed to take the values of two existing
+fields (those must exist in the form view) and print the result of their
+multiplication. It also refreshes each time the value of any of those fields
+changes.
+
+The ``field_manager`` attribute is in fact the ``FormView`` instance
+representing the form view. The methods that widgets can call on that form
+view are documented in the code of the web client in the ``FieldManagerMixin``
+interface. The most useful features are:
+
+* The method ``get_field_value()`` which returns the value of a field.
+* When the value of a field is changed, for any reason, the form view will
+ trigger an event named ``field_changed:xxx`` where ``xxx`` is the name of
+ the field.
+* Also, it is possible to change the value of the fields using the method
+ ``set_values()``. This method takes a dictionary as first and only argument
+ whose keys are the names of the fields to change and values are the new
+ values.
+
+.. exercise:: Show Coordinates on Google Map
+
+ In this exercise we would like to add two new fields on the
+ ``product.product`` model: ``provider_latitude`` and
+ ``provider_longitude``. Those would represent coordinates on a map. We
+ also would like you to create a custom widget able to display a map
+ showing these coordinates.
+
+ To display that map, you can simply use the Google Map service using an HTML code similar to this:
+
+ .. code-block:: html
+
+ <iframe width="400" height="300" src="https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=XXX,YYY&output=embed">
+ </iframe>
+
+ Just replace ``XXX`` with the latitude and ``YYY`` with the longitude.
+
+ You should display those two new fields as well as the map widget in a new
+ page of the notebook displayed in the product form view.
+
+ .. only:: solutions
+
+ .. code-block:: javascript
+
+ instance.oepetstore.WidgetCoordinates = instance.web.form.FormWidget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ this._super();
+ this.field_manager.on("field_changed:provider_latitude", this, this.display_map);
+ this.field_manager.on("field_changed:provider_longitude", this, this.display_map);
+ this.display_map();
+ },
+ display_map: function() {
+ this.$el.html(QWeb.render("WidgetCoordinates", {
+ "latitude": this.field_manager.get_field_value("provider_latitude") || 0,
+ "longitude": this.field_manager.get_field_value("provider_longitude") || 0,
+ }));
+ }
+ });
+
+ instance.web.form.custom_widgets.add('coordinates', 'instance.oepetstore.WidgetCoordinates');
+
+ .. code-block:: xml
+
+ <t t-name="WidgetCoordinates">
+ <iframe width="400" height="300"
+ t-att-src="'https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=' + latitude + ',' + longitude + '&output=embed'">
+ </iframe>
+ </t>
+
+.. exercise:: Get the Current Coordinate
+
+ Now we would like to display an additional button to automatically set the
+ coordinates to the location of the current user.
+
+ To get the coordinates of the user, an easy way is to use the geolocation
+ JavaScript API. `See the online documentation to know how to use it`_.
+
+ .. _See the online documentation to know how to use it: http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_geolocation.asp
+
+ Please also note that it wouldn't be very logical to allow the user to
+ click on that button when the form view is in read-only mode. So, this
+ custom widget should handle correctly the ``effective_readonly`` property
+ just like any field. One way to do this would be to make the button
+ disappear when ``effective_readonly`` is true.
+
+ .. only:: solutions
+
+ .. code-block:: javascript
+
+ instance.oepetstore.WidgetCoordinates = instance.web.form.FormWidget.extend({
+ start: function() {
+ this._super();
+ this.field_manager.on("field_changed:provider_latitude", this, this.display_map);
+ this.field_manager.on("field_changed:provider_longitude", this, this.display_map);
+ this.on("change:effective_readonly", this, this.display_map);
+ this.display_map();
+ },
+ display_map: function() {
+ var self = this;
+ this.$el.html(QWeb.render("WidgetCoordinates", {
+ "latitude": this.field_manager.get_field_value("provider_latitude") || 0,
+ "longitude": this.field_manager.get_field_value("provider_longitude") || 0,
+ }));
+ this.$("button").toggle(! this.get("effective_readonly"));
+ this.$("button").click(function() {
+ navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(_.bind(self.received_position, self));
+ });
+ },
+ received_position: function(obj) {
+ var la = obj.coords.latitude;
+ var lo = obj.coords.longitude;
+ this.field_manager.set_values({
+ "provider_latitude": la,
+ "provider_longitude": lo,
+ });
+ },
+ });
+
+ instance.web.form.custom_widgets.add('coordinates', 'instance.oepetstore.WidgetCoordinates');
+
+ .. code-block:: xml
+
+ <t t-name="WidgetCoordinates">
+ <iframe width="400" height="300"
+ t-att-src="'https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=' + latitude + ',' + longitude + '&output=embed'">
+ </iframe>
+ <button>Get My Current Coordinate</button>
+ </t>
+
+.. _jQuery: http://jquery.org
+.. _Underscore.js: http://underscorejs.org