Creating a Configuration Module

It’s very helpful to be able to backup your specific configuration settings in an OpenERP module dedicated just to that. That enables you to:

• automatically duplicate the configuration settings by installing the module in another database,
• reinstall a clean database with your own configuration in case you have problems with the initial configuration,
• publish your specific configuration to benefit other companies in the same industrial sector,
• simplify migrations, if you have modified some elements of the basic configuration, there’s a risk in returning them to their original state after the migration, unless you’ve saved the modifications in a module.

Start by installing the module base_module_record in the usual way. Then start recording your actions using the menu Administration ‣ Customization ‣ Module Creation ‣ Module Recorder ‣ Start Recording. Manually make all your configuration changes through the user interface as you would normally (such as menu management, dashboard assignments, screen configuration, new reports, and access rights management – details of some of these possibilities are described later in this chapter). To stop module recording use the menu Administration ‣ Customization ‣ Module Creation ‣ Module Recorder ‣ Stop Recording.

Once you’ve done all this, go to the menu Administration ‣ Customization ‣ Module Creation ‣ Module Recorder ‣ Save Recorded Module.

Note

Contributing to the development of Open ERP

Once your personal configuration has been saved into a module, install the module base_module_publish. It adds a button “Publish module” on each module, so that you simply have to call this button when you want to release a new version of your module.

Use this function to publish your module on the official Open ERP site. It could then be reused by other companies that have the same needs as yours. You could then yourselves benefit from improvements made by these same companies in future.

Don’t forget to create a user account beforehand on http://openerp.com.

Open ERP then creates a ZIP file for you containing all of the modifications you made while you were carrying out your configuration work. You could reinstall this module on other databases and/or publish it online to help other companies. This could turn out to be useful if you want to install a test server for your company’s users and give them the same configuration as the production server.

To install a new module saved in ZIP file form, use the menu Administration ‣ Modules Management ‣ Import module.