Register a data contract#

In this tutorial we will register a data contract.

Prerequisites#

Code#

Defining contract documents#

As described in the data contract explanation, data contracts must include one or more developer-defined documents.

The most basic example below (tab 1) demonstrates a data contract containing a single document type (note) which has a single string property (message).

The second tab shows the same data contract with an index defined on the $ownerId field. This would allow querying for documents owned by a specific identity using a where clause.

The third tab shows a data contract requiring the optional $createdAt and $updatedAt base fields. Using these fields enables retrieving timestamps that indicate when a document was created or modified.

The fourth tab shows a data contract using a byte array. This allows a contract to store binary data.

The fifth tab shows a data contract configured to store contract history. This allows all contract revisions to be retrieved in the future as needed.

🚧

Since Platform v0.25.16, each document property must assign position value to support backwards compatibility for contract updates.

Since Platform v0.23, an index can only use the ascending order (asc). Future updates will remove this restriction.

{
  "note": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "message": {
        "type": "string",
        "position": 0
      }
    },
    "additionalProperties": false
  }
}

{
  "note": {
    "type": "object",
    "indices": [
      {
        "name": "ownerId",
        "properties": [{ "$ownerId": "asc" }], "unique": false }
    ],
    "properties": {
      "message": {
        "type": "string",
        "position": 0
      }
    },
    "additionalProperties": false
  }
}

/*
An identity's documents are accessible via a query including a where clause like:
{
  where: [['$ownerId', '==', 'an identity id']],
}
*/

{
  "note": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "message": {
        "type": "string",
        "position": 0
      }
    },
    "required": ["$createdAt", "$updatedAt"],
    "additionalProperties": false
  }
}

/*
If $createdAt and/or $updatedAt are added to the list of required properties 
for a document, all documents of that type will store a timestamp indicating
when the document was created or modified. 

This information will be returned when the document is retrieved.
*/

{
 "block": {
   "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "hash": {
        "type": "array",
        "byteArray": true,
        "maxItems": 64,
        "description": "Store block hashes",
        "position": 0
      }
    },
    "additionalProperties": false
  }
}
 
/*
Setting `"byteArray": true` indicates that the provided data will be an 
array of bytes (e.g. a NodeJS Buffer).
*/

// Identical to the minimal contract
// Contract history configuration is done in code and
// is not part of the contract itself.
{
  "note": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "message": {
        "type": "string",
        "position": 0
      }
    },
    "additionalProperties": false
  }
}

📘

Please refer to the data contract reference page for more comprehensive details related to contracts and documents.

Registering the data contract#

The following examples demonstrate the details of creating contracts using the features described above. Also, note that the sixth tab shows a data contract with contract history enabled to store each contract revision so it can be retrieved as needed for future reference:

const Dash = require('dash');

const clientOpts = {
  network: 'testnet',
  wallet: {
    mnemonic: 'a Dash wallet mnemonic with funds goes here',
    unsafeOptions: {
      skipSynchronizationBeforeHeight: 875000, // only sync from mid-2023
    },    
  },
};
const client = new Dash.Client(clientOpts);

const registerContract = async () => {
  const { platform } = client;
  const identity = await platform.identities.get('an identity ID goes here');

  const contractDocuments = {
    note: {
      type: 'object',
      properties: {
        message: {
          type: 'string',
          "position": 0
        },
      },
      additionalProperties: false,
    },
  };

  const contract = await platform.contracts.create(contractDocuments, identity);
  console.dir({ contract: contract.toJSON() });

  // Sign and submit the data contract
  await platform.contracts.publish(contract, identity);
  return contract;
};

registerContract()
  .then((d) => console.log('Contract registered:\n', d.toJSON()))
  .catch((e) => console.error('Something went wrong:\n', e))
  .finally(() => client.disconnect());

const Dash = require('dash');

const clientOpts = {
  network: 'testnet',
  wallet: {
    mnemonic: 'a Dash wallet mnemonic with funds goes here',
    unsafeOptions: {
      skipSynchronizationBeforeHeight: 875000, // only sync from mid-2023
    },
  },
};
const client = new Dash.Client(clientOpts);

const registerContract = async () => {
  const { platform } = client;
  const identity = await platform.identities.get('an identity ID goes here');

  const contractDocuments = {
    note: {
      type: 'object',
      indices: [{
        name: 'ownerId',
        properties: [{ $ownerId: 'asc' }],
        unique: false,
      }],
      properties: {
        message: {
          type: 'string',
          "position": 0
        },
      },
      additionalProperties: false,
    },
  };

  const contract = await platform.contracts.create(contractDocuments, identity);
  console.dir({ contract: contract.toJSON() });

  await platform.contracts.publish(contract, identity);
  return contract;
};

registerContract()
  .then((d) => console.log('Contract registered:\n', d.toJSON()))
  .catch((e) => console.error('Something went wrong:\n', e))
  .finally(() => client.disconnect());

const Dash = require('dash');

const clientOpts = {
  network: 'testnet',
  wallet: {
    mnemonic: 'a Dash wallet mnemonic with funds goes here',
    unsafeOptions: {
      skipSynchronizationBeforeHeight: 875000, // only sync from mid-2023
    },
  },
};
const client = new Dash.Client(clientOpts);

const registerContract = async () => {
  const { platform } = client;
  const identity = await platform.identities.get('an identity ID goes here');

  const contractDocuments = {
    note: {
      type: 'object',
      properties: {
        message: {
          type: 'string',
          "position": 0
        },
      },
      required: ['$createdAt', '$updatedAt'],
      additionalProperties: false,
    },
  };

  const contract = await platform.contracts.create(contractDocuments, identity);
  console.dir({ contract: contract.toJSON() });

  await platform.contracts.publish(contract, identity);
  return contract;
};

registerContract()
  .then((d) => console.log('Contract registered:\n', d.toJSON()))
  .catch((e) => console.error('Something went wrong:\n', e))
  .finally(() => client.disconnect());

const Dash = require('dash');

const clientOpts = {
  network: 'testnet',
  wallet: {
    mnemonic: 'a Dash wallet mnemonic with funds goes here',
    unsafeOptions: {
      skipSynchronizationBeforeHeight: 875000, // only sync from mid-2023
    },
  },
};
const client = new Dash.Client(clientOpts);

const registerContract = async () => {
  const { platform } = client;
  const identity = await platform.identities.get('an identity ID goes here');

  const contractDocuments = {
    block: {
      type: 'object',
      properties: {
        hash: {
          type: 'array',
          byteArray: true,
          maxItems: 64,
          description: 'Store block hashes',
          "position": 0
        },
      },
      additionalProperties: false,
    },
  };

  const contract = await platform.contracts.create(contractDocuments, identity);
  console.dir({ contract: contract.toJSON() }, { depth: 5 });

  await platform.contracts.publish(contract, identity);
  return contract;
};

registerContract()
  .then((d) => console.log('Contract registered:\n', d.toJSON()))
  .catch((e) => console.error('Something went wrong:\n', e))
  .finally(() => client.disconnect());

const Dash = require('dash');

const clientOpts = {
  network: 'testnet',
  wallet: {
    mnemonic: 'a Dash wallet mnemonic with funds goes here',
    unsafeOptions: {
      skipSynchronizationBeforeHeight: 875000, // only sync from mid-2023
    },
  },
};
const client = new Dash.Client(clientOpts);

const registerContract = async () => {
  const { platform } = client;
  const identity = await platform.identities.get('an identity ID goes here');

  const contractDocuments = {
    note: {
      type: 'object',
      properties: {
        message: {
          type: 'string',
          "position": 0
        },
      },
      additionalProperties: false,
    },
  };

  const contract = await platform.contracts.create(contractDocuments, identity);
  contract.setConfig({
    canBeDeleted: false,
    readonly: false,    // Make contract read-only
    keepsHistory: true, // Enable storing of contract history
    documentsKeepHistoryContractDefault: false,
    documentsMutableContractDefault: true,
  })
  console.dir({ contract: contract.toJSON() });

  // Sign and submit the data contract
  await platform.contracts.publish(contract, identity);
  return contract;
};

registerContract()
  .then((d) => console.log('Contract registered:\n', d.toJSON()))
  .catch((e) => console.error('Something went wrong:\n', e))
  .finally(() => client.disconnect());

👍

Make a note of the returned data contract id as it will be used used in subsequent tutorials throughout the documentation.

What’s Happening#

After we initialize the Client, we create an object defining the documents this data contract requires (e.g. a note document in the example). The platform.contracts.create method takes two arguments: a contract definitions JSON-schema object and an identity. The contract definitions object consists of the document types being created (e.g. note). It defines the properties and any indices.

Once the data contract has been created, we still need to submit it to DAPI. The platform.contracts.publish method takes a data contract and an identity parameter. Internally, it creates a State Transition containing the previously created contract, signs the state transition, and submits the signed state transition to DAPI. A response will only be returned if an error is encountered.

📘 Wallet Operations

The JavaScript SDK does not cache wallet information. It re-syncs the entire Core chain for some wallet operations (e.g. client.getWalletAccount()) which can result in wait times of 5+ minutes.

A future release will add caching so that access is much faster after the initial sync. For now, the skipSynchronizationBeforeHeight option can be used to sync the wallet starting at a certain block height.