SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) API is a web service protocol for standard information exchange between applications. Odoo is a popular open-source ERP system that provides a SOAP API that allows developers to interact with Odoo data and functions from external applications. With the help of SOAP API in Odoo, developers can create and update files, fetch data, execute transactions, etc., and perform many tasks. This API is particularly useful for integrating Odoo with other systems, such as CRMs, eCommerce platforms, and mobile apps. Odoo Web services are the means of transferring data over the internet or intranet networks using standard messaging systems. They aren’t limited to a single programming language and use standard libraries such as HTML, XML, WSDL, SOAP, and REST.
In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of integrating Odoo with SOAP to enable efficient data transfer between the user portal and Odoo.
SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is a lightweight and XML-based protocol that facilitates the exchange of information in a decentralized environment. By combining SOAP-based requests and responses with a transport protocol like HTTP, a medium is created that enables applications/systems to publish database-backed web services quickly and easily.
SOAP web services follow a standard, XML-based encoding method for request/response transfers from the portal to the system and back, including:
a) A request to request a service included in the constraints
b) A response from a service method, including return values and output properties
c) Service error
SOAP requests and responses are transported using HTTP, HTTPS, or other transport methods and can be quickly implemented for any standard operating system.
Here is an example of a SOAP request and response:
Example of a SOAP request:
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:example="http://www.example.com">
<soapenv:Header/>
<soapenv:Body>
<example:GetStockPrice>
<example:StockName>IBM</example:StockName>
</example:GetStockPrice>
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>
In this example, we are making a SOAP request to the web service to get IBM's stock price. The request is wrapped in a SOAP envelope containing a SOAP header and a SOAP body. The body contains the actual request, and this is the "GetStockPrice" function with the "StockName" parameter set to "IBM."
SOAP Response Example:
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:example="http://www.example.com">
<soapenv:Header/>
<soapenv:Body>
<example:GetStockPriceResponse>
<example:Price>125.45</example:Price>
</example:GetStockPriceResponse>
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>
In this example, we receive a SOAP response from a web service with values from IBM. The response is also contained in a SOAP envelope containing a SOAP header and a SOAP body. The actual response includes this "GetStockPriceResponse" function with the "price" parameter set to "125.45". This is the IBM value we requested in the SOAP request.
Odoo supports SOAP web services for integration with external systems. With Odoo's built-in Web Services module, you can define SOAP Web Services and use them to perform various operations on Odoo documents.
Here's an example of how to call the Odoo SOAP web service from a Python script using the Zeep library:
import zeep
# Create a SOAP client
client = zeep.Client(wsdl='http://example.com/odoo-soap/wsdl')
# Call a SOAP operation
response = client.service.get_product('ABC123')
# Process the SOAP response
print(response)
In this example, we create a SOAP client using the zeep library and pass the final URL of the Odoo SOAP web service. We then call the SOAP client's "get_product" function and pass the product as input. The SOAP response is returned as a Python object that we can manipulate and use for further processing.