Billing Note Documentation¶

Overview¶

The Billing Note model (bill.note) groups multiple customer invoices for consolidated billing and payment processing. It provides a way to bundle invoices together, track combined totals, and facilitate batch payment collection.

Model Information¶

Model Name: bill.note Display Name: Billing Note Name Field: number Key Fields: None (no unique constraint defined)

Features¶

✅ Audit logging enabled (_audit_log)
❌ Multi-company support (company_id)
❌ Full-text content search (_content_search)
✅ Automatic sequence numbering
✅ Computed totals from linked invoices
✅ One-click payment creation

Key Fields Reference¶

Header Fields¶

Field	Type	Required	Description
`number`	Char	✅	Billing note number (auto-generated)
`date`	Date	✅	Billing note date
`customer_id`	Many2One	✅	Customer contact
`remarks`	Text	❌	Additional remarks/notes
`company_id`	Many2One	❌	Company

Computed Fields¶

Field	Type	Description
`amount_total`	Decimal	Sum of all invoice totals
`amount_due`	Decimal	Sum of all invoice due amounts

Relationship Fields¶

Field	Type	Description
`invoices`	One2Many	Customer invoices in this billing note
`payments`	One2Many	Payments referencing this billing note

Default Values¶

_defaults = {
    "number": _get_number,                    # Auto-generated sequence
    "date": lambda *a: time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d"),  # Today
    "company_id": lambda *a: access.get_active_company(),
}

Default Ordering¶

Records are ordered by ID descending (newest first):

_order = "id desc"

API Methods¶

1. Create Billing Note¶

Method: create(vals, context)

Creates a new billing note with auto-generated number.

Parameters:

vals = {
    "customer_id": customer_id,     # Required: Customer
    "date": "2024-12-15",           # Optional: Date (defaults to today)
    "remarks": "December invoices", # Optional: Remarks
}

Returns: int - New record ID

Example:

bill_note_id = get_model("bill.note").create({
    "customer_id": customer_id,
    "remarks": "Q4 2024 Invoices",
})

2. Get Total¶

Method: get_total(ids, context)

Calculates totals from linked invoices.

Returns:

{
    "amount_total": sum(invoice.amount_total for all invoices),
    "amount_due": sum(invoice.amount_due for all invoices),
}

Example:

totals = get_model("bill.note").get_total([bill_note_id])
print(f"Total: {totals[bill_note_id]['amount_total']}")
print(f"Due: {totals[bill_note_id]['amount_due']}")

3. Copy to Payment¶

Method: copy_to_payment(ids, context)

Creates a payment record pre-populated with all invoices from the billing note.

Behavior: 1. Creates incoming payment (type = "in") 2. Adds payment lines for each invoice 3. Sets full invoice amounts as defaults 4. Links payment to billing note via related_id

Returns: Navigation to payment form with alert message

Example:

result = get_model("bill.note").copy_to_payment([bill_note_id])
# Returns: {
#     "next": {"name": "payment", "mode": "form", "active_id": payment_id},
#     "alert": "Payment XXX copied from billing note"
# }

Model	Relationship	Description
`account.invoice`	One2Many (invoices)	Invoices in billing note
`account.payment`	One2Many (payments)	Payments for this billing note
`contact`	Many2One (customer_id)	Customer
`company`	Many2One (company_id)	Company

Common Use Cases¶

Use Case 1: Create Monthly Billing Note¶

# Find customer's unpaid invoices for the month
customer_id = 123
invoices = get_model("account.invoice").search_browse([
    ["contact_id", "=", customer_id],
    ["type", "=", "out"],
    ["state", "=", "waiting_payment"],
    ["date", ">=", "2024-12-01"],
    ["date", "<=", "2024-12-31"],
])

if invoices:
    # Create billing note
    bill_note_id = get_model("bill.note").create({
        "customer_id": customer_id,
        "remarks": "December 2024 Invoices",
    })

    # Link invoices
    invoice_ids = [inv.id for inv in invoices]
    get_model("account.invoice").write(invoice_ids, {
        "bill_note_id": bill_note_id
    })

    # Get totals
    note = get_model("bill.note").browse([bill_note_id])[0]
    print(f"Billing Note: {note.number}")
    print(f"Invoices: {len(note.invoices)}")
    print(f"Total: {note.amount_total}")

Use Case 2: Process Payment from Billing Note¶

# Create payment for entire billing note
bill_note = get_model("bill.note").browse([bill_note_id])[0]

# Use copy_to_payment to create pre-filled payment
result = get_model("bill.note").copy_to_payment([bill_note_id])

# Payment is created with all invoices, ready to post
payment_id = result["next"]["active_id"]
get_model("account.payment").post([payment_id])

Use Case 3: Generate Billing Note Report¶

# Get billing note summary
bill_note = get_model("bill.note").browse([bill_note_id])[0]

print(f"Billing Note: {bill_note.number}")
print(f"Customer: {bill_note.customer_id.name}")
print(f"Date: {bill_note.date}")
print(f"Remarks: {bill_note.remarks}")
print("-" * 50)
print("Invoices:")

for inv in bill_note.invoices:
    print(f"  {inv.number}: {inv.amount_total:,.2f} (Due: {inv.amount_due:,.2f})")

print("-" * 50)
print(f"Total Amount: {bill_note.amount_total:,.2f}")
print(f"Total Due: {bill_note.amount_due:,.2f}")

Use Case 4: Track Payment Status¶

# Check payment status for billing note
bill_note = get_model("bill.note").browse([bill_note_id])[0]

total_paid = sum(pmt.amount for pmt in bill_note.payments if pmt.state == "posted")
remaining = bill_note.amount_due

print(f"Billing Note: {bill_note.number}")
print(f"Total: {bill_note.amount_total:,.2f}")
print(f"Paid: {total_paid:,.2f}")
print(f"Remaining: {remaining:,.2f}")

if remaining == 0:
    print("Status: FULLY PAID")
elif total_paid > 0:
    print("Status: PARTIALLY PAID")
else:
    print("Status: UNPAID")

Billing Note Flow¶

1. Identify invoices to bundle
   │
2. Create billing note
   │
3. Link invoices to billing note
   │
4. Send billing note to customer
   │
5. Customer makes payment
   │
   ├─ Option A: Use copy_to_payment
   │   └─ Creates payment with all invoices
   │
   └─ Option B: Manual payment
       └─ Reference billing note
   │
6. Track payment status via amount_due

Best Practices¶

1. Group Invoices by Customer¶

# Good: All invoices same customer
bill_note = get_model("bill.note").create({
    "customer_id": customer_id,
})

# Only link invoices for this customer
for inv in invoices:
    if inv.contact_id.id == customer_id:
        inv.write({"bill_note_id": bill_note_id})

2. Add Meaningful Remarks¶

# Good: Clear remarks
bill_note = get_model("bill.note").create({
    "customer_id": customer_id,
    "remarks": "Project ABC - Phase 2 Invoices (Dec 2024)",
})

3. Use Copy to Payment for Efficiency¶

# Good: Use built-in function
result = get_model("bill.note").copy_to_payment([bill_note_id])
# Payment is pre-filled with all invoices

Troubleshooting¶

"No invoices in billing note"¶

Cause: No invoices linked via bill_note_id Solution: Link invoices: invoice.write({"bill_note_id": bill_note_id})

"Amount total is 0"¶

Cause: No invoices or all invoices have amount_total = 0 Solution: Verify invoices are posted and have amounts

"Sequence not generating"¶

Cause: Sequence type "bill_note" not configured Solution: Create sequence with type = "bill_note"

Testing Examples¶

Unit Test: Billing Note Totals¶

def test_billing_note_totals():
    # Create billing note
    bill_note_id = get_model("bill.note").create({
        "customer_id": customer_id,
    })

    # Create and link invoices
    for amount in [100, 200, 300]:
        inv_id = get_model("account.invoice").create({
            "type": "out",
            "contact_id": customer_id,
            "bill_note_id": bill_note_id,
            "lines": [("create", {
                "description": "Test",
                "qty": 1,
                "unit_price": amount,
            })]
        })
        get_model("account.invoice").post([inv_id])

    # Verify totals
    note = get_model("bill.note").browse([bill_note_id])[0]
    assert len(note.invoices) == 3
    assert note.amount_total == 600.00

Security Considerations¶

Permission Model¶

Billing note access linked to invoice permissions
Payment creation requires payment permissions

Data Access¶

Multi-company support via company_id
Customer filtering via customer_id

Configuration Requirements¶

Setting	Type	Description
Sequence (type="bill_note")	Sequence	Auto-numbering for billing notes

Version History¶

Last Updated: December 2024 Model Version: bill_note.py Framework: Netforce

Additional Resources¶

Invoice Documentation: account.invoice
Payment Documentation: account.payment
Contact Documentation: contact

This documentation is generated for developer onboarding and reference purposes.

Billing Note Documentation¶

Overview¶

Model Information¶

Features¶

Key Fields Reference¶

Header Fields¶

Computed Fields¶

Relationship Fields¶

Default Values¶

Default Ordering¶

API Methods¶

1. Create Billing Note¶

2. Get Total¶

3. Copy to Payment¶

Related Models¶

Common Use Cases¶

Use Case 1: Create Monthly Billing Note¶

Use Case 2: Process Payment from Billing Note¶

Use Case 3: Generate Billing Note Report¶

Use Case 4: Track Payment Status¶

Billing Note Flow¶

Best Practices¶

1. Group Invoices by Customer¶

2. Add Meaningful Remarks¶

3. Use Copy to Payment for Efficiency¶

Troubleshooting¶

"No invoices in billing note"¶

"Amount total is 0"¶

"Sequence not generating"¶

Testing Examples¶

Unit Test: Billing Note Totals¶

Security Considerations¶

Permission Model¶

Data Access¶

Configuration Requirements¶

Version History¶

Additional Resources¶