Limit Text Field Characters in Odoo Tree View: Easy Guide

To limit the number of characters shown in a tree view for a text field in Odoo, you can use a combination of XML and Python. In Odoo tree views don’t support truncating text directly in the XML view, but you can achieve this by modifying the field value in Python and displaying the truncated text in the tree view.

Here’s how you can do it:

Step-by-Step Approach

1. Add a Computed Field in Python:
   You can define a computed field in Python that truncates the text and show this field in the tree view. The computed field will contain a shortened version of the original text field. In your models.py file, define a computed field like this:

   from odoo import models, fields

   class YourModel(models.Model):
       _name = 'your.model'

       full_text = fields.Text('Full Text')  # The original text field
       short_text = fields.Char(
           string='Short Text',
           compute='_compute_short_text',
           store=False
       )

       def _compute_short_text(self):
           for record in self:
               if record.full_text:
                   record.short_text = record.full_text[:50] + '...' if len(record.full_text) > 50 else record.full_text

In this example, the short_text field will show the first 50 characters of the full_text field followed by ellipsis (...) if the text is longer than 50 characters.

2. Update the Tree View XML:
   You’ll now need to display the short_text field in the tree view. In your views.xml, update the tree view to use the short_text field instead of full_text:

   <tree>
       <field name="short_text" string="Short Text" />
   </tree>

Explanation:

• The short_text field is computed by truncating the original full_text to a set character limit (e.g., 50 characters).
• In the tree view, instead of showing the full text, you show the short_text which is the truncated version.

Advantages:

• The full text remains intact in the database, but the tree view will only show the shortened version.
• Users can see the full content in the form view if needed.

This way, you can easily limit the number of characters displayed in a tree view in Odoo.

Conclusion

If you want to put a limit on the number of characters displayed in a tree view specifically for a text field in managed Odoo server solutions, you can utilize a mixture of Python & XML. In Odoo, tree views don’t support abbreviating text simply in the XML view, but you can easily get this by changing the value of a field in Python and showing the abbreviated text in the tree view.