openerp-expert-framework team mailing list archive

["P. Christeas" <xrg@xxxxxxxxx>]

Taking a second look at the "account_merge_invoice" I somehow realize now that 
there might be a generic need for merging of records in OpenERP.
That is, let ORM have a merge(cr, uid, src=[id1, id2,...], dest=id, ..) [1,2] 
function.
The tricky part is to update referencing records. Example, when 2 partners are 
merged, all purchase orders should be updated to point to the merged id. 
However, this would be quite easy to standardize into the ORM API.

Such a generic implementation should solve the problem of knowing which 
modules need to be updated when a merge occurs (what if my custom module also 
references partners and I have to update my tables? ). ORM /does/ know all the 
table relations.

Of course, the implementation should have hooks, in order to customize the 
behaviour at such an update  (like, compute totals again or re-position 
information, warnings or anything).


What do you think? Has there ever been some thought on this subject, before?

If that's ok with everybody, I think I could start a draft implementation of 
the feature at ORM level and ask you again about your opinion.





[1] perhaps name the function "records_merge" or something more  unique, 
because "merge" is used in some places already.
[2] also, some wizards that implement merging functionality could be ported to 
the API.