OpenERP Module Descriptor File : __openerp__.py

Normal Module

In the created module directory, you must add a __openerp__.py file. This file, which must be in Python format, is responsible to

1. determine the XML files that will be parsed during the initialization of the server, and also to
2. determine the dependencies of the created module.

This file must contain a Python dictionary with the following values:

name

The (Plain English) name of the module.

version

The version of the module.

description

The module description (text).

author

The author of the module.

website

The website of the module.

license

The license of the module (default:GPL-2).

depends

List of modules on which this module depends. The base module must almost always be in the dependencies because some necessary data for the views, reports, ... are in the base module.

init_xml

List of .xml files to load when the server is launched with the “–init=module” argument. Filepaths must be relative to the directory where the module is. OpenERP XML File Format is detailed in this section.

update_xml

List of .xml files to load when the server is launched with the “–update=module” launched. Filepaths must be relative to the directory where the module is. OpenERP XML File Format is detailed in this section.

installable

True or False. Determines if the module is installable or not.

active

True or False (default: False). Determines the modules that are installed on the database creation.

Example

Here is an example of __openerp__.py file for the product module:

{
    "name" : "Products & Pricelists",
    "version" : "1.1",
    "author" : "Open",
    "category" : "Generic Modules/Inventory Control",
    "depends" : ["base", "account"],
    "init_xml" : [],
    "demo_xml" : ["product_demo.xml"],
    "update_xml" : ["product_data.xml","product_report.xml", "product_wizard.xml","product_view.xml", "pricelist_view.xml"],
    "installable": True,
    "active": True
}

The files that must be placed in init_xml are the ones that relate to the workflow definition, data to load at the installation of the software and the data for the demonstrations.

The files in update_xml concern: views, reports and wizards.

Profile Module

The purpose of a profile is to initialize OpenERP with a set of modules directly after the database has been created. A profile is a special kind of module that contains no code, only dependencies on other modules.

In order to create a profile, you only have to create a new directory in server/addons (you should call this folder profile_modulename), in which you put an empty __init__.py file (as every directory Python imports must contain an __init__.py file), and a __openerp__.py whose structure is as follows :

{
     "name":"''Name of the Profile'',
     "version":"''Version String''",
     "author":"''Author Name''",
     "category":"Profile",
     "depends":[''List of the modules to install with the profile''],
     "demo_xml":[],
     "update_xml":[],
     "active":False,
     "installable":True,
}

Example

Here’s the code of the file server/bin/addons/profile_manufacturing/__openerp__.py, which corresponds to the manufacturing industry profile in OpenERP.

{
     "name":"Manufacturing industry profile",
     "version":"1.1",
     "author":"Open",
     "category":"Profile",
     "depends":["mrp", "crm", "sale", "delivery"],
     "demo_xml":[],
     "update_xml":[],
     "active":False,
     "installable":True,
}