Context in Odoo: Form Views

Context in Odoo about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fodootricks.tips%2Fabout%2Fbuildi...
odootricks.tips
Context in Odoo
7-9 minutes
Context is used to control what is displayed in:
Form Views
List / Tree Views
Kanban Views
User-defined Filters
Buttons (which is more technical, and not covered here)
This is either:
1. Defined in a Windows Action associated with a menu option OR
2. Passed from one view to another OR
3. Used within a Form View to control how information is displayed
These are some of the things that can be done:
Passing a default value
Controlling how the data is displayed

Filters
Group By
Sorting
Displaying inactive records
Allowing force delete
Record Selection
Set language
Passing a default value
For example, if you create a contact from the Customers menu

option, it will be a customer. That only happens because Context is
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used in the Windows Action:
{'default_customer':1,'default_is_company': True}
It will always start with {“default_ then the field name and value.
In this case there are two fields:
customer = ‘1’ (True)
is_company = True
Customer
Remember that partners include customers and suppliers

(vendors), and it makes sense that if you create a partner from
here it will be a customer.
In Odoo 12 and earlier, a partner could only be selected on a

Quotation / Sales Order if it was set as a customer. You can
manually select whether any partner is a customer, but having a
default is useful.
From Odoo 13 onwards the field is called customer ranking. It is

not displayed in the user interface, and any partner can be
selected on a Quotation / Sales Order, but customers are
displayed first.
Is a company
Partners can either be a company or an individual (which would be

linked to a company). So you might have the company Walmart
and individual buyers.
is_company means that you will create a partner company by

default.
Users can change this default and create an “individual” contact

(linked to a company).
Note that either can be selected on a quotation / sales order.
The same syntax can be used to set defaults within Form
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Views.
For example, if you create a new tax in the Sales app it should be
a sales tax:
<field name="taxes_id" context="

{'default_type_tax_use':'sale'}" />
As well as a constant we can use a variable value. In the next

example if you create an analytic account for a sales order it will
be for the customer on the order:
<field name="analytic_account_id" context="

{'default_partner_id':partner_invoice_id}" />
Note that the 2nd parameter is a field name rather than a constant.
Of course, you can have defaults for multiple fields, and in this
example we default both the the customer and the sales order
number (again, it’s to create an Analytic Account):
<field name="analytic_account_id" context="

{'default_partner_id':partner_invoice_id,
'default_name':name}" />
Note that these are defaults, so users can make changes (though
sometimes the field may be read-only or invisible, in which case
they can’t).
Filters
Context can be used to set a Filter when displaying records from

a table.
Note: Record Rules and domain can also restrict what records are
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displayed. Both of these are ‘hard’ restrictions that a user cannot

bypass.
A filter will further limit what is displayed, but the user can remove
it.
For example, the “Customers” menu initially displays a list of

customers, and not any other type of contact. There is no domain
specified for this menu option but there is a default filter set using
Context (in the slightly confusingly named “Filters” section on the
Windows Action):
{'search_default_customer': 1}
Note: the customer filter is a defined in the Search View. If you

need to add a new filter you will have to update the search view.
This is the filter (note the ‘X’ to show that it can be removed):
If users remove the filter it will display suppliers as well (this might
be useful if a contact has been setup as a supplier and should also
be a customer) but of course the display is still limited by
domain and Record Rules.
The same syntax can be used in Form Views to filter lists:
<field string="Customer" name="partner_id"

context="{'search_default_customer':1}" />
This means that the “Customer” filter will be applied (as above).
However, in most cases domain will be used because it doesn’t

make sense to allow anything other than a customer to be
selected – and filter without domain would allow a supplier or other
contact to be selected.
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Group By
Context can be used to group records in a List View (primarily for

menus and user-defined filters). This is the syntax:
{'group_by': ['date_invoice:month', 'user_id']}
Expand
'expand': 1
Expand a grouped list
Sort order
This allows the initial sort order to be set for a List View or Kanban
View
Context (in Windows Action)
{'show_sale': True,
'search_default_order_confirmed': 1}
XML syntax for sorting (for reference – does not use Context):
<tree default_order="date desc">

<field name="date"/>
(other fields)
</tree>
Display inactive records
As standard, Odoo will only display active records from a table, but
it’s possible to override this.
We can see this in the menu option for Currencies. This is the
Windows Action for Accounting / Configuration / Currencies:
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The important part is the Context Value:
{'active_test': False, 'search_default_active':

1}
Note that this also applies a filter (using search_default) so that

initially only active currencies are displayed:
Filter ON
Remove the filter to also display inactive records
It’s easy to see which currencies are inactive because they appear
after the active currencies and in a grey font:
Filter OFF and inactive currencies displayed
This is because Odoo comes with all currencies already setup and
you should activate rather than create.
This technique can also be used in XML on a one2many-field

(but it’s not common)
<field name="<field_name>" context="

{'active_test': False}"/>
It’s used for currency selection, and also on the Product Template
for a service item (if Project Management is installed):
<field name="project_template_id" context="

{'active_test': False}"/>
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Allow force delete
It is possible to override the Odoo validation by adding

'force_delete:True but this is not recommended!
Record Selection
This is very similar to what can be done with domain.
For example, on the Contacts Form View, you only want to be

able to choose states for the selected country (e.g. United States).
This is the syntax:
<field name="state_id" context="{'country_id':

country_id}"/>
This is the result:
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However, it’s easier to use domain for this, and that is what you will
usually find in Odoo.
Set language
As standard, a user selects a language and Odoo should display

everything in the chosen language (though you will have to check
the translation and ensure that anything you add has been
translated).
It’s also possible to select a language using context. This might be

useful if a user primarily uses one language but also has to check
information in other languages and doesn’t want to switch their
language preference every time.
The syntax is as follows (using French as an example):
{'lang': 'fr_FR'}
In the XML, it will look something like this:
<xpath expr="//field[@name='order_line']"
position="attributes">
<attribute name="context">{'lang': 'fr_FR'}
</attribute>
</xpath>
OR
<page string="Order Lines" name="order_lines">

<field name="order_line"
widget="section_and_note_one2many"
mode="tree,kanban"
context="{'lang': 'fr_FR'}">
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Context in Odoo: Form Views

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Context in Odoo about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fodootricks.tips%2Fabout%2Fbuildi...

Context is used to control what is displayed in:

List / Tree Views

Buttons (which is more technical, and not covered here)

1. Defined in a Windows Action associated with a menu option OR

2. Passed from one view to another OR

3. Used within a Form View to control how information is displayed

These are some of the things that can be done:

Passing a default value

Controlling how the data is displayed

Displaying inactive records

Allowing force delete

Passing a default value

For example, if you create a contact from the Customers menu

used in the Windows Action:

customer = ‘1’ (True)

Remember that partners include customers and suppliers

In Odoo 12 and earlier, a partner could only be selected on a

From Odoo 13 onwards the field is called customer ranking. It is

Partners can either be a company or an individual (which would be

is_company means that you will create a partner company by

Users can change this default and create an “individual” contact

Note that either can be selected on a quotation / sales order.

The same syntax can be used to set defaults within Form

<field name="taxes_id" context="

As well as a constant we can use a variable value. In the next

<field name="analytic_account_id" context="

<field name="analytic_account_id" context="

Context can be used to set a Filter when displaying records from

displayed. Both of these are ‘hard’ restrictions that a user cannot

For example, the “Customers” menu initially displays a list of

Note: the customer filter is a defined in the Search View. If you

The same syntax can be used in Form Views to filter lists:

<field string="Customer" name="partner_id"

However, in most cases domain will be used because it doesn’t

Context can be used to group records in a List View (primarily for

{'group_by': ['date_invoice:month', 'user_id']}

Expand a grouped list

Context (in Windows Action)

<tree default_order="date desc">

Display inactive records

The important part is the Context Value:

{'active_test': False, 'search_default_active':

Note that this also applies a filter (using search_default) so that

Remove the filter to also display inactive records

Filter OFF and inactive currencies displayed

This technique can also be used in XML on a one2many-field

<field name="<field_name>" context="

<field name="project_template_id" context="

Allow force delete

It is possible to override the Odoo validation by adding

This is very similar to what can be done with domain.

For example, on the Contacts Form View, you only want to be

<field name="state_id" context="{'country_id':

This is the result:

As standard, a user selects a language and Odoo should display

It’s also possible to select a language using context. This might be

The syntax is as follows (using French as an example):

In the XML, it will look something like this:

<page string="Order Lines" name="order_lines">

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