"""
:The login function is under
::    http://localhost:8069/xmlrpc/common
:For object retrieval use:
::    http://localhost:8069/xmlrpc/object
"""
import xmlrpclib

user = 'admin'
pwd = 'admin'
dbname = 'terp3'
model = 'res.partner'

sock = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy('http://localhost:8069/xmlrpc/common')
uid = sock.login(dbname ,user ,pwd)

sock = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy('http://localhost:8069/xmlrpc/object')

# CREATE A PARTNER
partner_data = {'name':'Tiny', 'active':True, 'vat':'ZZZZZ'}
partner_id = sock.execute(dbname, uid, pwd, model, 'create', partner_data)

# The relation between res.partner and res.partner.category is of type many2many
# To add  categories to a partner use the following format:
partner_data = {'name':'Provider2', 'category_id': [(6,0,[3, 2, 1])]}
# Where [3, 2, 1] are id fields of lines in res.partner.category

# SEARCH PARTNERS
args = [('vat', '=', 'ZZZZZ'),]
ids = sock.execute(dbname, uid, pwd, model, 'search', args)

# READ PARTNER DATA
fields = ['name', 'active', 'vat', 'ref']
results = sock.execute(dbname, uid, pwd, model, 'read', ids, fields)
print results

# EDIT PARTNER DATA
values = {'vat':'ZZ1ZZ'}
results = sock.execute(dbname, uid, pwd, model, 'write', ids, values)

# DELETE PARTNER DATA
results = sock.execute(dbname, uid, pwd, model, 'unlink', ids)

http://doc.openerp.com/developer/6_22_XML-RPC_web_services/

OpenERP: XML-RPC Web services (CRUD Example)

Python