char_with_placeholder_field

A standard char field with a placeholder shows the hint only while the input is focused and editable; the moment the field renders readonly or sits in a list cell, an empty value is just blank. char_with_placeholder_field closes that gap. It extends the char widget and overrides exactly one getter: formattedValue returns the stored value if there is one, otherwise the placeholder.

The template adds a text-muted class whenever the record has no stored value, so the fallback reads as gray suggestion text rather than data. Everything else, options, types, editing behavior, is the plain char widget: the descriptor is a spread of charField with only the component swapped.

The widget exists because of a small but expensive UX problem in accounting flows: fields whose value Odoo computes at confirmation time. Take the payment reference in the register payment wizard. Leave it empty and Odoo will generate one; but a blank box invites users to either invent their own reference or hesitate over whether something is missing. Rendering the to-be-computed value as a muted placeholder answers the question before it is asked: this is what you will get if you do nothing, type only if you want something else.

That pattern, "show the default, allow the override", is worth stealing for your own forms: reference numbers, generated labels, computed descriptions. It reduces both data noise from users who felt obliged to type something and support questions from users who feared the blank meant an error. The withholding tax and expense teams at Odoo adopted the same widget for exactly those reasons.

Static placeholder as fallback display

<field name="communication"
       widget="char_with_placeholder_field"
       placeholder="Auto-generated on confirmation"/>

Empty cells now read the hint in muted text, in readonly renders too.

Dynamic placeholder from another field

<field name="reference"
       widget="char_with_placeholder_field"
       options="{'placeholder_field': 'suggested_reference'}"/>

The record computes suggested_reference, and the widget displays it as the muted fallback until the user types a real value. This is the core pattern: pair the widget with a computed char field holding the default.

The subtle part is which layer produces what you see.

While editing, the browser's native placeholder behavior applies, exactly as on a plain char input: gray hint inside the input, gone the moment a character is typed.

When rendered as text, in readonly forms or list cells, the char widget prints formattedValue, and that is the getter this widget overrides. Stored value wins; placeholder is the fallback; the template's conditional text-muted class distinguishes the two visually.

What is saved is unaffected. The placeholder never becomes data; if the user saves without typing, the field stays empty in the database and whatever server logic computes the real value runs as designed. A version note for patchers: 18.0 read the component's placeholder getter, 19.0 reads this.props.placeholder directly. Same rendering, different code path.

Odoo 20 is expected at Odoo Experience in Brussels, 24 to 26 September 2026. As always, the development branch is unstable until release and we re-verify this page against the shipped version.

For this widget the current development branch shows no change at all: the file is byte-identical to 19.0. Whatever else Odoo 20 reworks in the char widget family will be inherited through the descriptor spread, which is another reason the odoo20 story here is simply "watch the base char widget".