Tryton vs OpenERP: Which is the best? Better modules or more modules?

I post the difference between Tryton and OpenERP, simply because I'm looking at Tryton for the moment to see how different it is from OpenERP and if it is better coded and easier for developers. Well for the moment I'm really surprised by the excellent quality of the code. Here is a VS sheet coming from Wikipedia.

Subject	Tryton	OpenERP
Language	Python (>=2.4)	Python (>=2.4) for 5 Series[1], Python (>=2.5) for 6 Series
Versions maintained	2 years	5.X.X Series to 6.X.X Series
Release cycle	every 6 months	when it's stable
Version Policy	No API changes in Series, No XML Change in Series	No API changes in stable versions
Number of Modules	50	> 500
Repository Organisation	1 Repo per Module	1 Repo for official modules
Version Control System	Mercurial (HG)	Bazaar (BZR), hosted on Launchpad.net
Active contributors (commits in May 2010)	40	245
Automatic Upgrades/Migrations	Yes	Yes for minor versions
Python Packaging	Available on PyPi[2]	Not Available on PyPi
Python Module	Can be used as a module[3]	not
Distribution Package	Debian, Gentoo, Ubuntu, Arch Linux, Foresight Linux, Windows (only client), MacOS X (only client)	Available
Code Auto-Reload	Available	Not Available
Architecture	Three Tier	Three Tier
Database Supported	PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite	PostgreSQL
Desktop Clients	GTK Based Desktop Client	GTK Based Desktop Client KDE/QT Client(Community)
Web based Clients	SAO based on Google Web Toolkit (Work in progress)	OpenObject-client-Web based on CherryPy, Mako and Mochikit (replaced by JQuery in v6)
Client Access Libraries	Proteus	Not Available
Standalone Clients	Neso	None
Native Gantt Charts	Not Available	Available only in web client
Native Calendar View	Through CalDAV	Available
Native Diagram View	Not Available	Available in v6
Reporting Engines	Relatorio based Openoffice WYSIWYG reports [4] or any custom	RML (official)/Relatorio (on Open Office. Community), Jasper(Community), MAKO(work in progress)
Native Bar/Pie Chart View	Available (with drill down)	Available
Dashboard View	Available (customizable)	Available
CalDAV	Available	Available in series 6.X.X
WebDAV	Available	Available in series 6.X.X
Cardav[5]	Available	Not Available
Unit testing	Covers Server & All modules	Covers modules & reports
Functional Testing	Proteus (Work in Progress) and in unit test	YAML Based Tests in series 6.X.X,Open ERP Scenario (Community Project/Unofficial) [6]
Client Multi Language Programming Compatibility	Possible by use of Pyson Syntax [7]	Not available due to pythonic expressions.
IP v6 Compatibility	Yes	No
Historization	Yes[8]	No
Localization	5	more than 20 languages,  integrated with Launchpad.net

Business model

Subject	Tryton	OpenERP
Editor	Community [4]	Open ERP SA [5]
Project type	Community Open source [9]	Commercial Open Source [10]
Professional Service Providers	Available	Available
Partnership Eligibility	Merits & Contribution to project	Buying Partner Contract
Software License	GNU General Public License[11]	Server: GNU General Public License [12] Web Client: Open ERP Public License[13]

Functionality

The functionality description here is based on the official modules of both projects. Unofficial modules with the functionality may exist, but is beyond the scope of this comparison as any such content would be difficult to maintain.

Subject	Tryton	OpenERP
Accounting & Financial Management	Yes	Yes (Severely limited)
Document Management System	Yes (document size limit: Filesystem limit)	Yes (document size limit: PostgreSQL 1GB)
Analytic accounting	Yes	Yes
Payroll Management	No	Yes
Portals	Yes	Yes
Sales Management	Yes	Yes
Warehouse Management	Yes	Yes
Project Management	Yes	Yes
Purchase Management	Yes	Yes
Manufacturing Management	In Development [17]	Yes
Human Resources	Yes	Yes
CRM	Basics	Yes
Point of Sale	No	No (Fast encoding screen available [18])
E-commerce	?	Integration Magento, Prestashop, ...

Concepts and approach

Subject	Tryton	OpenERP
Accounting	Uses Decimal [14]	Uses Floats [15]
Password Storage	Crypted with SHA1	In clear text
Code review	For all commits through Rietveld[16]	Almost none
float/integer representation	Limited to float or long because using gtk.Entry without limit	Limited to sys.maxint of Python because using gtk.SpinButton

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Tryton_and_Open_ERP

OpenERP on_change: bunch of parameters vs dictionaries

def product_uom_change(self, cursor, user, ids, pricelist, product, qty=0,
            uom=False, qty_uos=0, uos=False, name='', partner_id=False,
            lang=False, update_tax=True, date_order=False):
        res = self.product_id_change(cursor, user, ids, pricelist, product,
                qty=qty, uom=uom, qty_uos=qty_uos, uos=uos, name=name,
                partner_id=partner_id, lang=lang, update_tax=update_tax,
                date_order=date_order)
        if 'product_uom' in res['value']:
            del res['value']['product_uom']
        if not uom:
            res['value']['price_unit'] = 0.0
        return res

Look at this on_change, 15 parameters and calling another one with 14 parameters. This is too much, a good idea will be to use dictionaries:

def product_uom_change(self, cursor, user, ids, params, context=None):

        res = self.product_id_change(cursor, user, ids, params, context=context)

        if 'product_uom' in res['value']:

            del res['value']['product_uom']

        if not params['uom']:

            res['value']['price_unit'] = 0.0

        return res

PS: Here I have also a context parameter, OpenERP and his CEO Fabien Pinckaers forget it frequently.

Fabien Pinckaers: OpenERP v6, new logging system for end-users

Fabien Pinckaers: OpenERP v6, new logging system for end-users: "In order to improve the useability of OpenERP v6 and make it easier to use and learn for new users, we added a logging system on main action..."

Today, I saw this new post from the CEO of OpenERP, as always I've watched the code:

http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~openerp/openobject-server/trunk/annotate/head:/bin/addons/base/res/res_log.py

class res_log(osv.osv):
    _name = 'res.log'
    _columns = {
        'name': fields.char('Message', size=128, help='The logging message.', required=True),
        'user_id': fields.many2one('res.users','User', required=True),
        'res_model': fields.char('Object', size=128),
        'context': fields.char('Context', size=250),
        'res_id': fields.integer('Object ID'),
        'secondary': fields.boolean('Secondary Log', help='Do not display this log if it belongs to the same object the user is working on'),
        'create_date': fields.datetime('Created Date', readonly=True),
        'read': fields.boolean('Read', help="If this log item has been read, get() should not send it to the client")
    }
    _defaults = {
        'user_id': lambda self,cr,uid,ctx: uid,
        'context': "{}",
        'read': False
    }
    _order='create_date desc'

Well, this is the logger code, what do you think about it?

Let's look at the get method:

    def get(self, cr, uid, context=None):
        unread_log_ids = self.search(cr, uid,
            [('user_id','=',uid), ('read', '=', False)], context=context)
        ...
        self.write(cr, uid, unread_log_ids, {'read': True}, context=context)
        return result

As you can see the get method returns the unread messages.

Now, imagine you have 2 users using the same login. For example I've a customer using a backoffice login for 4 users.

Imagine 2 users (Mr Smith and Mr West) using the same user. The first connected will see all the unread messages and the other no messages...

base_contact module, heaven or hell?

Well, a lot of companies when they saw the partners (without the base_contact), they think that they need contacts separated from the addresses. In 70% of the cases they don't need it really but if they need it you think directly... base_contact... but this module is hell or heaven?

Just comment it!

Good reading for the CEO of OpenERP:
http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470178450,descCd-description.html

Interview with The OpenERP Developer

Fri, 10/15/2010 - 04:00 — admin

Age: ?? Located in: ?? Occupation: OpenERP Consultant Tweet: openerphell

Tell us about about yourself:

I'm an OpenERP Consultant

Tell us about about you and OpenERP

 If OpenERP was ...what would it be:

• An animal (except an ant of course): The naked mole rat
• A color: Red (it matches the invisible required fields)
• A Dish : Black pudding
• A Song: OpenERP deserves an album of its own “Rage against the machine"

Just kidding...

Caldav in V6, the truth...

A lot of persons are talking about the CalDav implementation in OpenERP in V6, is it really CalDav or ics files with Webdav?

Looking at the OpenERP documentation about CalDav, you can see this:

Looking at this picture, you may think that OpenERP is only working with ics files... But... No, in fact I've tried the CalDav implementation in V6 and it seems that it is a real CalDav implementation... Then the documentation is wrong but the module name (caldav) is fine... 

One good point for OpenERP, I already said in this blog I'm impartial, I only give the truth about OpenERP...

Code obfuscation

From http://twitter.com/cedrickrier/status/27248865483

dict = {}
        for object in result:
            k2 = {}
            for id,fnct in result[object].items():
                k2.setdefault(tuple(fnct), [])
                k2[tuple(fnct)].append(id)
            for fnct,id in k2.items():
                dict.setdefault(fncts[fnct[0]][4],[])
                dict[fncts[fnct[0]][4]].append((fncts[fnct[0]][4],object,id,map(lambda x: fncts[x][1], fnct)))

http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~openerp/openobject-server/trunk/annotate/head:/bin/osv/orm.py#L3777

Code obfuscation...

Projects in OpenERP V5 Part 2

Code coming from the project module:

class project_work(osv.osv):

    _name = "project.task.work"

    _description = "Task Work"

    _columns = {

        'name': fields.char('Work summary', size=128),

        'date': fields.datetime('Date'),

        'task_id': fields.many2one('project.task', 'Task', ondelete='cascade', required=True),

        'hours': fields.float('Time Spent'),

        'user_id': fields.many2one('res.users', 'Done by', required=True),

    }

...

Using hours instead of a unit of measure and a value or defining in the application like in Tryton (http://www.tryton.org) what 1 day, 1 week, 1 month and 1 year of work means that your are obliged to encode hours in your time sheet...

Projects in OpenERP V5 Part 1

Code coming from the project module:

class project_work(osv.osv):
    _name = "project.task.work"
    _description = "Task Work"
    _columns = {
        'name': fields.char('Work summary', size=128),
        'date': fields.datetime('Date'),
        'task_id': fields.many2one('project.task', 'Task', ondelete='cascade', required=True),
        'hours': fields.float('Time Spent'),
        'user_id': fields.many2one('res.users', 'Done by', required=True),
    }

...

In this code, you can see that in the project work you have a user_id but It will be more interesting to link the employee (from the hr module).

Here is the problem:
You have a company with a lot of external consultants, you don't want them as users but you need to encode the time spent by these external consultants on your project to invoice your customer...

Balsamiq VS Pencil, how to make mockups for OpenERP?

Today, I'm trying to make a mockup for OpenERP with Balsamiq...

http://twitter.com/cedrickrier/status/27222698542

Like cedrickrier said Pencil is an OpenSource free alternative to Balsamiq but when you need to make simple mockups (just adding some fields for example), just use paint or gimp...

But for specific forms, it can be a good idea to use Pencil or Balsamiq...
I will post some mockups later... Stay connected...

OpenERP Webinar 1/5 Part 2

Well, after the answer to my first question, I've tried to ask another question.

Fabien showed an auto-completion for every many2one fields in OpenERP but as always in the demo there were only few records but how is the many2one showing the auto-completion with 10000 records starting by a when typing the letter a in the many2one. Querying 10000 records in the database?

After asking this a few times, I had no answers then I simply suppose that he never tested it...

After this second question, I simply quit the Webinar because he was only answering to some questions and the difficult ones, just skipping them...

OpenERP Webinar 1/5 Part 1

How was the first Webinar of OpenERP for version 6. Well, as usual Fabien Pinckaers goes fast into the menus (maybe scared about bugs).
During the questions session, I've tried to ask some questions to Fabien.
My first question: The calendar view in the GTK client is still limited to the number of records.
For example, imagine a customer with 2000 records in the calendar, he saw only the 80 first or 100 first in version 6. To see every records you need to remove the limit but then the system is so slow.
I've asked my questions 3 times without answer and then I was obliged to do a kind of spamming to have an answer.
The answer: The calendar in version 6 is still the same...
My opinion: Then if you want a real calendar use oultook...
My next question of the webinar 1/5 in my next post.

First message

I'm proud to write this first message.
This blog will try to explain how it is to develop with OpenERP.
My blog is named OpenERP Developer's Hell because sometimes it is very unpleasant to develop with OpenERP but I will also blog about good features in OpenERP.