Description

Everything contained in this repository is in draft form and subject to change at any time and provided for information purposes only. LaunchPAD does not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this repository and the information is provided “as is” with no representations or warranties, express or implied. This code is owned and copyrighted by LaunchPAD and cannot be used by anyone for any purpose.

Description:

Command-line REPL javascript console. web3.js provides access to an Ethereum blockchain. Compiled contracts are represented as objects. Each deployed contract (with available dapp-deploy metadata) is associated with its on-chain address.

Installation:

npm install -g @launchpadinc/dapp-console

aside:

• Before installation, you first might want to check whether your $PATH contains any conflicting symbolic links: which dapp-console
• At present, the dapphub/dapp toolchain doesn't include a console library; But that may change in the future.

Simple Example:

lxterminal -e testrpc

mkdir ~/my_dapp
cd ~/my_dapp

dapp init
dapp deploy
dapp console

# > typeof web3
# 'object'

# > web3.eth.accounts
# [ '0xd9aac9e3ad5c0a8e31e9f6c97eb65de594b2d1ce',
#   '0xc0f332c8d93b642100d97d25200711b0e1e0a7a4',
#   '0xf3409d30955200079cc2f45eeb2a15e404ffde7f',
#   '0x7941b525c26fe13046010a09c3770d7ac9f5b4e7',
#   '0x3c99d0bf3c9f531df22153983d1eaa6ea937fc5a',
#   '0xdecdf444097fc18e4bfb8f9ccf9902c9b42fa9e3',
#   '0xf467e060531229521f92e128469870e111d19ab3',
#   '0x0dbdf14919e1a0ce6996e1908c86c63e74353d0a',
#   '0x351b1ca0bc8b8ff41a3eaf0e9b321d4f74e5bed4',
#   '0xc82b8fec5aa10a93b8dcc00d75b1bfe9ebc668c6' ]

# > typeof DSTest
# 'object'

# > typeof Test
# 'object'

# > Test.address
# '0x12345'

# > Test.IS_TEST()
# true

# > Test.test_basic_sanity.call()
# []

Options:

$ dapp-console --help

Command-line REPL javascript console.
'Web3.js' provides access to an Ethereum blockchain.
Compiled contracts are represented as objects.
Each deployed contract (with available 'dapp-deploy' metadata)
is associated with its on-chain address.

Usage: dapp-console [options]


Options:
 -h, --host                 Ethereum JSON-RPC server hostname  [string] [default: "localhost"]
 -p, --port                 Ethereum JSON-RPC server port number  [number] [default: 8545]
 --tls, --https, --ssl      Require TLS handshake (https:) to connect to Ethereum JSON-RPC server  [boolean] [default: false]
 -d, --contracts_directory  Path to directory containing all contract artifacts: (.abi, .deployed)
                            note: The default path assumes that the current directory is the root of a compiled "dapp" project.  [string] [default: "./out"]
 -i, --input_file           Path to javascript file to execute, then quit.  [string]
 -e, --execute              Inline javascript to execute, then quit  [string]
 --help                     Show help  [boolean]

Examples:
 dapp-console                                                                  connect to: "http://localhost:8545"
 dapp-console -h "mainnet.infura.io" -p 443 --ssl                              connect to: "https://mainnet.infura.io:443"
 dapp-console -d "/path/to/compiled/contracts"                                 load contracts into REPL console
 dapp-console -i "/path/to/script.js"                                          execute a script file
 dapp-console -e 'console.log("unlocked accounts:", "\n", web3.eth.accounts)'  execute an inline script

copyright: LaunchPAD Inc. <github.com/launchpadinc>
license: 

Notes:

• This tool is standalone
• It is intended to be used in combination with dapp-deploy
• It is intended to complement the dapphub/dapp toolchain
• When dapp is installed, this tool can be invoked by the command: dapp console [options]
• When used standalone, it can be invoked by the command: dapp-console [options]

Methodology:

• initialize web3
• find all .abi and .deployed files in "contracts directory"
• for each .abi:
  • create a javascript object to represent the contract
    • name of object = filename (without extension)
    • object = web3.eth.contract(abi)
  • if a corresponding .deployed file exists,
    and 1+ addresses are mapped to the network ID of the current blockchain:
    • associate the object to the more recent deployment address
      • object = object.at(address)
• if -e is used to execute an inline script,
  or -i is used to execute a script from an input file:
  • create a sandboxed execution environment
  • initialize its context to contain all of the contract objects
  • mixin a few additionally useful variables
  • run the script
  • if the return value is a Promise: wait until it resolves
  • exit
• otherwise:
  • begin the REPL

Additional Script Execution Context Variables:

• always available:
  • toAscii(hex)
    • trims trailing \u0000 from web3.toAscii(hex)
      • When a "bytes32" is converted to a 32 character ascii string with web3.toAscii(hex), if the string contains fewer than 32 characters, then the length of the string remains 32 bytes and the unused characters are filled with: "\u0000"
      • I noticed than when a script outputs several of these strings (ex: in console.log() statements), and the output is directed to a log file, only the first ("bytes32" converted) string appears in the file.
      • I believe this is the result of these "\u0000" characters being recognized by the file system as indicating an EOF (end-of-file) marker.
      • The purpose of this wrapper function is to sanitize the output of web3.toAscii(hex) so strings are safe to write to the file system.
• only available when executing --input_file
  • __cwd
    • current working directory
  • __realpath
    • the absolute path to the javascript file that is being evaluated
  • __dirname
    • the absolute path to the directory of the javascript file that is being evaluated
  • __filename
    • the filename of the javascript file that is being evaluated

REPL Commands:

• For info about advanced usage of REPLs in Node.js, please refer to: "Commands and Special Keys"