java bip-39_web3j: Lightweight Java and Android library for integration with Ethereum clients

web3j: Web3 Java Ethereum Ðapp API

web3j is a lightweight, highly modular, reactive, type safe Java and Android library for working with

Smart Contracts and integrating with clients (nodes) on the Ethereum network:

This allows you to work with the Ethereum blockchain, without the

additional overhead of having to write your own integration code for the platform.

The Java and the Blockchain talk provides an

overview of blockchain, Ethereum and web3j.

Features

Complete implementation of Ethereum's JSON-RPC

client API over HTTP and IPC

Ethereum wallet support

Auto-generation of Java smart contract wrappers to create, deploy, transact with and call smart

contracts from native Java code

(Solidity

and

Truffle definition formats supported)

Reactive-functional API for working with filters

Support for Parity's

Personal, and Geth's

Personal client APIs

Support for Infura, so you don't have to run an Ethereum client yourself

Comprehensive integration tests demonstrating a number of the above scenarios

Command line tools

Android compatible

Support for JP Morgan's Quorum via web3j-quorum

It has five runtime dependencies:

RxJava for its reactive-functional API

OKHttp for HTTP connections

Jackson Core for fast JSON

serialisation/deserialisation

Jnr-unixsocket for *nix IPC (not available on

Android)

It also uses JavaPoet for generating smart contract

wrappers.

Full project documentation is available at

docs.web3j.io.

Donate

You can help fund the development of web3j by donating to the following wallet addresses:

Ethereum

0x2dfBf35bb7c3c0A466A6C48BEBf3eF7576d3C420

Bitcoin

1DfUeRWUy4VjekPmmZUNqCjcJBMwsyp61G

Commercial support and training

Commercial support and training is available from blk.io.

Quickstart

A web3j sample project is available that

demonstrates a number of core features of Ethereum with web3j, including:

Connecting to a node on the Ethereum network

Loading an Ethereum wallet file

Sending Ether from one address to another

Deploying a smart contract to the network

Reading a value from the deployed smart contract

Updating a value in the deployed smart contract

Viewing an event logged by the smart contract

Getting started

Add the relevant dependency to your project:

Maven

Java 8:

org.web3j

core

3.4.0

Android:

org.web3j

core

3.3.1-android

Gradle

Java 8:

compile ('org.web3j:core:3.4.0')

Android:

compile ('org.web3j:core:3.3.1-android')

Start a client

Start up an Ethereum client if you don't already have one running, such as

Geth:

$ geth --rpcapi personal,db,eth,net,web3 --rpc --testnet

$ parity --chain testnet

Or use Infura, which provides free clients running in the cloud:

Web3j web3 = Web3j.build(new HttpService("https://ropsten.infura.io/your-token"));

For further information refer to

Using Infura with web3j

Instructions on obtaining Ether to transact on the network can be found in the

testnet section of the docs.

Start sending requests

To send synchronous requests:

Web3j web3 = Web3j.build(new HttpService()); // defaults to http://localhost:8545/

Web3ClientVersion web3ClientVersion = web3.web3ClientVersion().send();

String clientVersion = web3ClientVersion.getWeb3ClientVersion();

To send asynchronous requests using a CompletableFuture (Future on Android):

Web3j web3 = Web3j.build(new HttpService()); // defaults to http://localhost:8545/

Web3ClientVersion web3ClientVersion = web3.web3ClientVersion().sendAsync().get();

String clientVersion = web3ClientVersion.getWeb3ClientVersion();

To use an RxJava Observable:

Web3j web3 = Web3j.build(new HttpService()); // defaults to http://localhost:8545/

web3.web3ClientVersion().observable().subscribe(x -> {

String clientVersion = x.getWeb3ClientVersion();

...

});

Note: for Android use:

Web3j web3 = Web3jFactory.build(new HttpService()); // defaults to http://localhost:8545/

...

IPC

web3j also supports fast inter-process communication (IPC) via file sockets to clients running on

the same host as web3j. To connect simply use the relevant IpcService implementation instead of

HttpService when you create your service:

// OS X/Linux/Unix:

Web3j web3 = Web3j.build(new UnixIpcService("/path/to/socketfile"));

...

// Windows

Web3j web3 = Web3j.build(new WindowsIpcService("/path/to/namedpipefile"));

...

Note: IPC is not currently available on web3j-android.

Working with smart contracts with Java smart contract wrappers

web3j can auto-generate smart contract wrapper code to deploy and interact with smart contracts

without leaving the JVM.

To generate the wrapper code, compile your smart contract:

$ solc .sol --bin --abi --optimize -o /

Then generate the wrapper code using web3j's Command line tools:

web3j solidity generate /path/to/.bin /path/to/.abi -o /path/to/src/main/java -p com.your.organisation.name

Now you can create and deploy your smart contract:

Web3j web3 = Web3j.build(new HttpService()); // defaults to http://localhost:8545/

Credentials credentials = WalletUtils.loadCredentials("password", "/path/to/walletfile");

YourSmartContract contract = YourSmartContract.deploy(

, ,

GAS_PRICE, GAS_LIMIT,

, ..., ).send(); // constructor params

Alternatively, if you use Truffle, you can make use of its .json output files:

# Inside your Truffle project

$ truffle compile

$ truffle deploy

Then generate the wrapper code using web3j's Command line tools:

$ cd /path/to/your/web3j/java/project

$ web3j truffle generate /path/to/.json -o /path/to/src/main/java -p com.your.organisation.name

Whether using Truffle or solc directly, either way you get a ready-to-use Java wrapper for your contract.

So, to use an existing contract:

YourSmartContract contract = YourSmartContract.load(

"0x

|", , , GAS_PRICE, GAS_LIMIT);

To transact with a smart contract:

TransactionReceipt transactionReceipt = contract.someMethod(

,

...).send();

To call a smart contract:

Type result = contract.someMethod(, ...).send();

To fine control your gas price:

contract.setGasProvider(new DefaultGasProvider() {

...

});

For more information refer to Smart Contracts.

Filters

web3j functional-reactive nature makes it really simple to setup observers that notify subscribers

of events taking place on the blockchain.

To receive all new blocks as they are added to the blockchain:

Subscription subscription = web3j.blockObservable(false).subscribe(block -> {

...

});

To receive all new transactions as they are added to the blockchain:

Subscription subscription = web3j.transactionObservable().subscribe(tx -> {

...

});

To receive all pending transactions as they are submitted to the network (i.e. before they have

been grouped into a block together):

Subscription subscription = web3j.pendingTransactionObservable().subscribe(tx -> {

...

});

Or, if you'd rather replay all blocks to the most current, and be notified of new subsequent

blocks being created:

There are a number of other transaction and block replay Observables described in the

docs.

Topic filters are also supported:

EthFilter filter = new EthFilter(DefaultBlockParameterName.EARLIEST,

DefaultBlockParameterName.LATEST, )

.addSingleTopic(...)|.addOptionalTopics(..., ...)|...;

web3j.ethLogObservable(filter).subscribe(log -> {

...

});

Subscriptions should always be cancelled when no longer required:

subscription.unsubscribe();

Note: filters are not supported on Infura.

For further information refer to Filters and Events and the

Web3jRx

interface.

Transactions

web3j provides support for both working with Ethereum wallet files (recommended) and Ethereum

client admin commands for sending transactions.

To send Ether to another party using your Ethereum wallet file:

Web3j web3 = Web3j.build(new HttpService()); // defaults to http://localhost:8545/

Credentials credentials = WalletUtils.loadCredentials("password", "/path/to/walletfile");

TransactionReceipt transactionReceipt = Transfer.sendFunds(

web3, credentials, "0x

|",

BigDecimal.valueOf(1.0), Convert.Unit.ETHER)

.send();

Or if you wish to create your own custom transaction:

Web3j web3 = Web3j.build(new HttpService()); // defaults to http://localhost:8545/

Credentials credentials = WalletUtils.loadCredentials("password", "/path/to/walletfile");

// get the next available nonce

EthGetTransactionCount ethGetTransactionCount = web3j.ethGetTransactionCount(

address, DefaultBlockParameterName.LATEST).sendAsync().get();

BigInteger nonce = ethGetTransactionCount.getTransactionCount();

// create our transaction

RawTransaction rawTransaction = RawTransaction.createEtherTransaction(

nonce, , , , );

// sign & send our transaction

byte[] signedMessage = TransactionEncoder.signMessage(rawTransaction, credentials);

String hexValue = Hex.toHexString(signedMessage);

EthSendTransaction ethSendTransaction = web3j.ethSendRawTransaction(hexValue).send();

// ...

Although it's far simpler using web3j's Transfer

for transacting with Ether.

Using an Ethereum client's admin commands (make sure you have your wallet in the client's

keystore):

Admin web3j = Admin.build(new HttpService()); // defaults to http://localhost:8545/

PersonalUnlockAccount personalUnlockAccount = web3j.personalUnlockAccount("0x000...", "a password").sendAsync().get();

if (personalUnlockAccount.accountUnlocked()) {

// send a transaction

}

If you want to make use of Parity's

Personal or

Trace, or Geth's

Personal client APIs,

you can use the org.web3j:parity and org.web3j:geth modules respectively.

Command line tools

A web3j fat jar is distributed with each release providing command line tools. The command line

tools allow you to use some of the functionality of web3j from the command line:

Wallet creation

Wallet password management

Transfer of funds from one wallet to another

Generate Solidity smart contract function wrappers

Please refer to the documentation for further

information.

Further details

In the Java 8 build:

web3j provides type safe access to all responses. Optional or null responses

are wrapped in Java 8's

Optional type.

Asynchronous requests are wrapped in a Java 8

CompletableFutures.

web3j provides a wrapper around all async requests to ensure that any exceptions during

execution will be captured rather then silently discarded. This is due to the lack of support

in CompletableFutures for checked exceptions, which are often rethrown as unchecked exception

causing problems with detection. See the

Async.run() and its associated

test for details.

In both the Java 8 and Android builds:

Quantity payload types are returned as BigIntegers.

For simple results, you can obtain the quantity as a String via

Response.getResult().

It's also possible to include the raw JSON payload in responses via the includeRawResponse

parameter, present in the

HttpService

and

IpcService

classes.

Tested clients

Geth

Parity

You can run the integration test class

CoreIT

to verify clients.

Related projects

For a .NET implementation, check out Nethereum.

For a pure Java implementation of the Ethereum client, check out

EthereumJ and

Ethereum Harmony.

Projects using web3j

Please submit a pull request if you wish to include your project on the list:

Companies using web3j

Please submit a pull request if you wish to include your company on the list:

Build instructions

web3j includes integration tests for running against a live Ethereum client. If you do not have a

client running, you can exclude their execution as per the below instructions.

To run a full build (excluding integration tests):

$ ./gradlew check

To run the integration tests:

$ ./gradlew -Pintegration-tests=true :integration-tests:test

Thanks and credits

The Nethereum project for the inspiration

Othera for the great things they are building on the platform

Finhaus guys for putting me onto Nethereum

bitcoinj for the reference Elliptic Curve crypto implementation

Everyone involved in the Ethererum project and its surrounding ecosystem

And of course the users of the library, who've provided valuable input & feedback