odoo-18-coding-standard

name	odoo_18_coding_standard
description	Odoo 18.0 coding standards for models, views, security, constraints, and performance. Bridge version to 19.0 with transitional patterns. Use when developing Odoo 18 modules.
version	18.0.0
author	VPCS Team
category	coding_standards
odoo_versions	["18.0"]
tags	["odoo","python","xml","security","models","views","constraints","performance","testing"]

Odoo 18.0 Coding Standard

Goal

Apply Odoo 18.0 coding standards for clean, upgrade-friendly code (bridge to 19).

Sources

• sample_module/ODOO18_CODING_STANDARDS.md (authoritative)
• Upstream refs: github.com/odoo/odoo/tree/18.0 (compare to 17 for deltas)

Key rules (version-specific)

• Views: start using <list> (19 mandates); direct attributes (readonly="state == 'done'") over attrs; <chatter/> available.
• Constraints: begin migrating to models.Constraint; _sql_constraints still valid; @api.constrains for logic.
• Decorators: prefer @api.model_create_multi for create.
• Routes: type='json' still works; adopt type='jsonrpc' for forward compatibility.
• Context: self._context works; can use self.env.context.
• HTML safety: escape user input (Markup/escape) in chatter posts.
• Tests: unit/integration + JS/HOOT where client logic exists; cover access/edge cases.
• Performance: indexes on hot domains; batch ops; avoid N+1; use .mapped().

Compute methods on smart-button/counter fields: guard against NewId

A compute (e.g. a related-record count feeding a form smart button) that builds a dict via read_group()/search_count() keyed by self.id, then does a raw dict lookup like counts[record.id], throws KeyError: <NewId 0x... instance> the moment a user opens a brand-new, unsaved form — the in-memory NewId record is never a key in that dict because it has no matching related rows yet. Always use counts.get(record.id, 0) (or equivalent .get() with a safe default) in any compute that indexes a read_group/aggregate result by record id. This is a real, reproducible bug class — verified live in production Odoo 18 code, not theoretical (see docs/docker-sandbox/phase-8/live-test.md step 7 in odoo-agent-pro-kit).

XML Data Files: RELAX NG Schema Compliance

Official Schema Reference

URL: https://github.com/odoo/odoo/blob/18.0/odoo/import_xml.rng

CRITICAL: All XML data files (views, data, security, reports, menus) MUST follow the RELAX NG schema defined in odoo/import_xml.rng. This schema is the authoritative definition of valid XML structure.

Key RNG Rules

Root elements: <odoo>, <openerp>, or <data> (with optional noupdate, auto_sequence, uid, context attributes)

Record structure:

<record id="unique_id" model="model.name">
  <field name="field_name">value</field>
  <!-- Field types: base64, char, file, int, float, list, tuple, html, xml -->
  <!-- Field attributes: ref, eval, search (mutually exclusive) -->
</record>

Template structure:

<template id="unique_id" name="Template Name" inherit_id="base.template" primary="True">
  <!-- Optional: t-name, forcecreate, context, priority, groups, active -->
</template>

Menu items:

<!-- Root menu: can have web_icon, action, children -->
<menuitem id="menu_root" name="Root" web_icon="module,static/icon.png" sequence="10"/>

<!-- Sub-menu: requires parent, can have action OR children -->
<menuitem id="menu_sub" name="Sub" parent="menu_root" action="action_id" groups="base.group_user"/>

Window actions:

<act_window id="action_id" name="Action" res_model="model.name" view_mode="tree,form"
            domain="[]" context="{}" target="current" groups="base.group_user"
            binding_model="other.model" binding_type="action"/>

Common RNG Validation Errors

❌ WRONG:

<record model="ir.ui.view">  <!-- Missing required 'id' -->
<field name="x" type="int" eval="123"/>  <!-- Can't mix type with eval -->
<field name="x" ref="module.id" eval="123"/>  <!-- Can't mix ref with eval -->
<menuitem id="x" web_icon="icon.png" parent="y"/>  <!-- web_icon only for root menus -->
<module>  <!-- Invalid root element -->

✅ CORRECT:

<odoo>
  <record id="view_form" model="ir.ui.view">
    <field name="name">model.form</field>
    <field name="arch" type="xml">
      <form><field name="name"/></form>
    </field>
  </record>
</odoo>

Validation

• xmllint: xmllint --noout --relaxng odoo/import_xml.rng module/data/file.xml
• Odoo: Validates XML on module install/upgrade
• IDE: Use XML schema validation in VS Code/PyCharm

Output expectation

Reference the standard file; highlight any deviations with rationale/risks.