applicant_char

Attachments in Odoo are stored generically: each one records which model and which record it belongs to, plus that record's name for display. That generality is why the attachments list can show CVs, invoices and photos side by side, and it is also why the name in that list is plain text rather than a link.

On a recruitment attachments list, that plain text is frustrating. The name is an applicant, the reader wants to open the applicant, and the field is not a relation so the usual link does not exist.

This widget adds it. It renders the value as an ordinary text cell that responds to a click by opening the applicant, using the model and record identifiers the attachment already carries.

Recruitment is a high-volume, attachment-heavy process, and the attachment list is where people go looking when a CV needs finding. Turning names into links removes a search step from an action people take repeatedly.

The generalizable point is that a link does not require a relation. Where a model already stores a model name and a record id, as attachments and activities do, a small widget can navigate without changing the schema. That is often cheaper than adding a relation that only exists to be clickable.

The core usage

<field name="res_name" widget="applicant_char"
       string="Applicant"
       invisible="res_model != 'hr.applicant'"/>

The view hides the column for other models, which pairs with the widget's own guard rather than replacing it.

The fields it reads

res_model  # must be the applicant model
res_id     # the record to open

Both read by literal name from the attachment.

The plain text field

<field name="res_name"/>

Same value, no link, which is what other attachment lists show.

The widget is twenty lines. It extends the text field, takes the action service, and adds a click handler.

That handler checks two things before doing anything: that the attachment has a linked record, and that its model is the applicant model, compared as a literal string. Only then does it build a window action for that record and open it as a form in the current window.

Opening in the current window rather than a dialog is deliberate, and it is what preserves the breadcrumb so the user can walk back to the attachment list. It also means the action is constructed by the widget rather than fetched from the server, so a customized applicant form is still used but any window action configuration is not.

The double guard is worth appreciating for what it prevents. Attachments are shared across every model, and a widget that navigated on any attachment would open arbitrary records from a generic list. Comparing the model explicitly keeps it inert everywhere else, which is why it is safe for the column to exist at all.

Odoo 20 is expected at Odoo Experience in Brussels, 24 to 26 September 2026. The development branch is unstable and this may still change; we re-verify the page after release.

Byte-identical. The file on the development branch matches Odoo 19 exactly, including the literal model comparison and the constructed window action.