Development Book V18: Chatter

Chatter in Odoo is an integrated communication feature available on various records like sales and purchase orders. It enables users to send emails directly to clients and engage in discussions without leaving the document. Internal notes offer a private space for employees to exchange updates or address workflow-related matters. Additionally, users can be added as followers to a record, allowing them to receive updates and participate in conversations, even if they weren’t initially involved.

For instance, open any sales order that is displayed towards the bottom or right side of the screen. You will find the Chatter section located there.

The following features are available within this section:

To mention someone, use the '@' symbol, and to refer to a channel, use the '#' symbol.
Emojis can be used to convey reactions to the content.
Document attachments can be included when necessary to enhance communication.

Log Note

This functionality helps in tracking progress and documenting interactions with customers.

Schedule Activity

This feature allows you to assign and manage scheduled activities for specific individuals.

Attachments

The attachment icon displayed in the image below indicates the total number of attached files.

Followers

This option indicates whether you are following the document. To unfollow, just hover over the 'Following' label and click on 'Unfollow.'

You can also view the list of followers by clicking on the followers icon. From there, you can edit the list by removing existing followers or adding new members.

When you click on 'Add Followers,' the following window will be displayed.

You can access editing options directly from the followers list.

A list of subscriptions available for the selected follower, which can be enabled or disabled as needed.

Once you add messages, log notes, or schedule activities, the complete history will appear in the Chatter section of the form view. This functionality is managed through the Chatter.

When specific fields are modified in the form view, the changes are periodically recorded and displayed in the Chatter. This feature is known as "Tracking". To enable tracking, you just need to set the tracking=True attribute in the field declaration. This allows Odoo to log any updates made to that field.

Odoo’s multi-user environment allows several users to access and update records at the same time, making it essential to monitor changes. The Chatter feature automatically captures and logs these field updates for better visibility and tracking.

How to Include Chatter in the Form View

Chatter is an essential feature available in Odoo, and adding it to a form view requires just a few simple steps. To enable its basic messaging capabilities, you need to inherit the mail.thread model in your Python file.

class YourModel(models.Model):
    _name = 'your.model'
    _inherit = ['mail.thread', 'mail.activity.mixin']

    name = fields.Char(string="Name", tracking=True)

In Odoo 18, use the <chatter> tag within your form view definition to integrate the Chatter interface.

<record id="your_model_form_view" model="ir.ui.view">
    <field name="name">your.model.form</field>
    <field name="model">your.model</field>
    <field name="arch" type="xml">
        <form string="Your Model">
            <sheet>
                <group>
                    <field name="name"/>
                </group>
            </sheet>
            <chatter/>
        </form>
    </field>
</record>

One of the main purposes of adding Chatter to your module is to keep track of activities related to a particular section. This demonstrates how Chatter is utilized in Odoo to enhance tracking and communication.