Essential Attributes for <field/> in Odoo 17 XML Views
These attributes control how fields look, behave, and interact within Odoo's interface.
1. Presentation and Labeling Attributes
- name: (Mandatory) The technical name of the field (from the Python model).
- Example: <field name="product_id"/>
- string: Overrides the field's display label for the current view only.
- Example: <field name="name" string="Custom Label"/>
- widget: Specifies a custom UI control (e.g., monetary, statusbar, many2many_tags).
- Example: <field name="price_unit" widget="monetary"/>
- placeholder: Displays a temporary hint inside an empty input field.
- nolabel: Set to 1 or True to hide the field label in a Form View.
- help: Provides a tooltip when the user hovers over the field label.
2. Behavioral and Control Attributes
These control user interaction, validation, and security.
- readonly: Makes the field non-editable. Can be static (1) or dynamic (e.g., readonly="state != 'draft'").
- Example: <field name="create_date" readonly="1"/>
- required: Visually marks the field as mandatory in the UI. Can be static or dynamic. (Note: Server-side validation is still needed in Python.)
- invisible: Hides the field from the user interface. Can be static (1) or dynamic (e.g., invisible="type == 'manual'").
- groups: Restricts the field's visibility to specific user groups, using external IDs.
- Example: <field name="cost" groups="base.group_erp_manager"/>
3. Dynamic Attributes (Odoo Expressions)
In Odoo 17, readonly, required, and invisible often use Odoo expressions for dynamic control:
- Usage: Set the attribute value directly to a domain-like expression.
- Example (Required): required="state in ['draft', 'sent']"
- Example (Readonly): readonly="is_paid == True"