open_match_line_widget

Matching vendor bills to purchase orders produces a working list of candidate pairs, and the natural next step from any row is to open the thing it refers to. That target is not always the row's own record, and working out which action to run belongs on the server rather than in a view.

This widget is that step. It renders a control on the row and, when used, calls a named method on the matching model through Odoo's action button mechanism, letting the server return whatever action is appropriate.

It is deliberately narrow. There is nothing configurable, no options and no reading of the field it is attached to beyond the record's identifier, because the widget exists for one screen.

Bill matching is one of the highest-volume reconciliation tasks in an accounts payable process, and the value of a screen like this is measured in how few clicks a match takes to verify. A control that opens the right thing directly from the row removes a search step from an action performed dozens of times a day.

The design point worth borrowing is that the destination is decided server side. That keeps the routing logic where the matching rules already live, and it means the widget does not have to know what a match is or where it should lead.

The usual usage

<field name="any_field"
       widget="open_match_line_widget"/>

The field it sits on is a placeholder; the widget uses only the record's identifier.

What it calls

# through the action button mechanism
purchase.bill.line.match.action_open_line(record)

The server returns the action, so the destination can vary per row.

The generic equivalent

<button name="action_open_line" type="object"
        string="Open"/>

An ordinary row button does the same thing without a widget, at the cost of the widget's specific rendering.

The component is twenty lines. It takes the action service and exposes one method that calls a server action button with four fixed pieces: the type, the record's identifier, the method name and the model.

Using the action button mechanism rather than constructing a window action is the decision worth recording. It means the standard button pipeline applies, including saving the edited row first, and it lets the server decide what to return: a form, a different record, or nothing at all.

The model being hardcoded alongside the method is what makes the widget single-purpose. It does not read the record's own model, so placing it on a row of anything else would call the wrong model with the wrong identifier.

Nothing about the field it is attached to matters, which is why the widget declares no supported types. In practice it is placed on whatever column the screen wants the control to appear in.

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 this page after the release.

Byte-identical. The file on the development branch matches Odoo 19 exactly, including the hardcoded model and method.