Odoo API Integrations for Business Central

A Business Central extension (AL) that pulls products from Odoo into a staging list, so they can be checked before they become items.

What it does

• Connects to Odoo through its external JSON-RPC API (/jsonrpc, object.execute_kw).
• Fetches product templates in pages (search_read with limit and offset), so a large catalogue doesn't run into timeouts.
• Stages them in an Odoo Items list: name, internal reference, category, unit of measure, prices, currency and volume.
• Create Item turns a reviewed product into a Business Central item and keeps the link, so the same product can't be created twice.
• Test Connection on the setup page checks the settings and shows how many products are waiting in Odoo.

Design notes

• The API key stays out of the database. It is saved in isolated storage (encrypted when encryption is enabled), handled as SecretText and merged into the request body with SecretStrSubstNo, so it never sits in a plain Text variable or shows up in the debugger.
• Odoo's JSON quirks are handled. Empty fields come back as false rather than null, and many2one fields come back as [id, "name"]. The parser deals with both, so a category shows as All / Saleable and not [1,"All / Saleable"].
• Errors you can act on. Odoo reports business errors (unknown field, missing access right) with HTTP 200 and an error object. The extension shows Odoo's own message instead of a generic failure.
• Re-runs are safe. Products are matched on their Odoo ID, so syncing again updates the list instead of duplicating it, and the link to the created item is kept.
• Currency check. Item creation stops if the Odoo prices are in a different currency from the local currency, rather than creating an item with wrong prices.
• Builds with no CodeCop, UICop or PerTenantExtensionCop warnings.

Requirements

• Business Central 28 (runtime 17), online or on-premises.
• An Odoo database and an API key for the user the integration runs as (in Odoo: Preferences > Account Security > New API Key).

Setup

1. Open the folder in VS Code with the AL Language extension, run AL: Download Symbols and publish (F5). launch.json has a cloud sandbox and a local container configuration.
2. In Business Central, open Extension Management, select the extension, choose Configure and turn on Allow HttpClient Requests. Sandboxes block outgoing calls from extensions published from VS Code until this is on.
3. Assign the Odoo Integration permission set.
4. Open Odoo Connection Setup, fill in the fields below and choose Test Connection.

Field	Example	Where to find it
Base URL	https://mycompany.odoo.com	The address you use to open Odoo
Database Name	mycompany	Odoo database selector, or ask your Odoo admin
Odoo User ID	2	Odoo Settings > Users, open the user: the ID is in the URL
API Key		Created in Odoo as described above

Usage

Open Odoo Items and choose Sync from Odoo. Review the list, select a product and choose Create Item. The new item card opens so you can finish the posting groups and other item setup.

Project structure

src/
  Codeunits/
    OdooAPIClient.Codeunit.al        JSON-RPC calls and error handling
    OdooItemSync.Codeunit.al         paging, field mapping, item creation
  Tables/
    OdooItem.Table.al                staging table
    OdooConnectionSetup.Table.al     connection settings and API key storage
  Pages/
    OdooItemList.Page.al
    OdooItemCard.Page.al
    OdooConnectionSetup.Page.al
  PermissionSets/
    OdooIntegration.PermissionSet.al

Next steps

• Scheduled sync through the Job Queue.
• Customers and vendors (res.partner).
• Support for Odoo's newer JSON-2 API (Odoo 19 and later).

Author

Prabin Bhusal, Business Central AL developer. LinkedIn

License

MIT