Odoo ORM: A Complete Overview for Developers

In Odoo, ORM stands for Object Relational Mapping.

Odoo ORM is the core layer that allows developers to interact with the PostgreSQL database using Python objects instead of writing SQL queries.

What is ORM in Odoo?

The Odoo ORM maps:

• Python classes (models) → Database tables
• Python objects (records) → Table rows
• Class attributes (fields) → Table columns

This makes database operations simple, secure, and consistent.

Why Odoo Uses ORM?

Odoo ORM helps to:

• Avoid writing raw SQL
• Ensure database security
• Automatically manage relationships
• Handle validations and constraints
• Make code cleaner and maintainable

Example of ORM in Odoo

Model Definition

from odoo import models, fields
class Product(models.Model):
    _name = 'custom.product'
    _description = 'Custom Product'

    name = fields.Char(string="Product Name", required=True)
    price = fields.Float(string="Price")
    active = fields.Boolean(default=True)

What Happens Automatically?

• Table created: custom_product
• Columns: name, price, active
• CRUD operations are auto-handled

Common ORM Operations

Create Record

    self.env['custom.product'].create({
        'name': 'Laptop',
        'price': 50000,
    })

Read/Search Records

products = self.env['custom.product'].search([('price', '>', 30000)])

Update Record

products.write({'price': 45000})

Delete Record

products.unlink()

Relationships in Odoo ORM

Example

category_id = fields.Many2one('product.category', string="Category")

ORM Environment (env)

The env object gives access to:

• Database cursor
• Current user
• Company
• Context

    self.env.user
    self.env.company
    self.env.context

Advantages of Odoo ORM

• Secure (prevents SQL injection)
• Automatic transactions
• Built-in access control
• Easy relational handling
• Faster development

ORM vs SQL in Odoo

Conclusion

Odoo ORM is the backbone of Odoo development. It abstracts database operations into Python objects, making development faster, safer, and more scalable.