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Keeping workflows
by
XCG Consulting, Houzéfa Abbasbhay
Hi, As you probably know: - Odoo 10 no longer uses any workflow in addons it provides, but the workflow system is still there should one want to use it. - Workflows are gone in Odoo 11 (as mentioned on ). Over the years we have used workflows quite a bit with my colleagues and have found several interesting properties there that would be cumbersome to redo "by hand" (public methods / "write" override / whathaveyou) - see below for a (non exhaustive) pros & cons list. I would like to know other people's ideas about this, and which alternatives you have in mind. Here are some I have thought of: 1) Mixin provided by an OCA addon 2) OCB support 3) Action rules (base_action_rule addon) #1 is what I will inevitably end up doing to (at the very least) avoid some code duplication for the basic pros listed below. That could evolve into a whole workflow management system like the previous one if you experts believe this is the best alternative... Pros: - Transitions: Check the previous state when flowing to the next one. - Automatic transitions based on fields of the object. - Security per transition. - Independent workflow "branches" within the same workflow, sometimes linked to a sub-flow (eg "invoicing" & "stock management" branches in the sales order workflow). - Multiple workflows per object. - Workflow diagrams are easy to grasp by just looking at them - some details are of course hidden in the code but overall quite explicit. Cons: - Old code, always a dreadful task to delve into. - Multiple workflows per object: Ordering issues, especially when relying on auto-transitions as well (implementation issue; on paper the concept is appealing). - Need scripts to apply a workflow onto lots of existing objects or to update states desynchronized with their workflow tracking elements (again, implementation issue that could be made easier). I also want to mention workflow transitions are run in the same transaction as their trigger; not sure whether that is a pro or a con... What do you think about keeping workflows? Thanks! -- Houzéfa Abbasbhay XCG Consulting - Innovator houzefa.abba@xcg-consulting.fr
