IBM Blockchain Platform Extension for VSCode

The IBM Blockchain Platform extension has been created to assist users in developing, testing, and deploying smart contracts; including connecting to Hyperledger Fabric environments.

⚠ Please note: this extension is available for early experimentation. There are many features and improvements to come before the v1.0 release. Please bear this in mind, and if you find something you'd like to see added, let the team know by raising a GitHub issue or suggestion (see "Contact Us" below).

Contact Us

If you have find any problems or want to make suggestions for future features please create issues and suggestions on Github. For any questions please create a question on Stack Overflow.

Tutorial

Follow our Tutorial and learn how to develop, test and deploy smart contracts using VSCode.

Requirements

You will need the following installed in order to use the extension:

• VSCode version 1.32 or greater
• Node v8.x or greater and npm v5.x or greater
• Docker version v17.06.2-ce or greater
• Docker Compose v1.14.0 or greater

⚠ Please note: From version 0.1.0+, your smart contract package.json should depend on at least fabric-contract@1.4.0-beta2. This is only required for smart contracts not created using version 0.1.0+ of this extension.

If you are using Windows, you must also ensure the following:

• Your version of Windows supports Hyper-V and Docker:
  • Windows 10 Enterprise, Pro, or Education with 1607 Anniversary Update or later
• Docker for Windows is configured to use Linux containers (this is the default)
• You have installed the C++ Build Tools for Windows from windows-build-tools
• You have installed OpenSSL v1.0.2 from Win32 OpenSSL
  • Install the normal version, not the version marked as "light"
  • Install the Win32 version into C:\OpenSSL-Win32 on 32-bit systems
  • Install the Win64 version into C:\OpenSSL-Win64 on 64-bit systems

You can check your installed versions by running the following commands from a terminal:

• node --version
• npm --version
• docker --version
• docker-compose --version

Features

The IBM Blockchain Platform extension provides an explorer and commands accessible from the Command Palette, for developing smart contracts quickly:

Smart Contract Development Lifecycle

Please note that all operations shown are also possible using the commands in the table above, issued at the VSCode command-prompt.

Create a Fabric smart contract project

Use the Create Smart Contract Project command to start a new project. Select from the available smart contract programming languages. Choose a directory to store the project (or create a new one). A skeleton project will be generated with a very basic smart contract, unit tests, a package.json and other useful files.

Edit / write smart contract files

You'll find the smart contract file in the lib directory of a newly generated project if you use JavaScript and in the src directory if you use TypeScript.

Package a smart contract project

To package a project you have open in your workspace, run the Package a Smart Contract Package command. Packages will be added to the Smart Contract Packages panel in the explorer view.

Alternatively, navigate to the explorer view (click the IBM Blockchain Platform icon in the left-navigation) then click the add icon on the Smart Contract Packages view (this will again package up the project you have open in your workspace).

When you package a smart contract project, all of the smart contract code is added into a new Fabric smart contract package file (using the standard Fabric chaincode deployment specification format). You can deploy this package using this extension. Alternatively, you can deploy the package using other tools, such as the Fabric CLI (peer chaincode install command).

Export a smart contract package

Right-click a package and select the Export Package option. You can select where the package is exported to. Use this to take the packages you have made and deploy them somewhere else, using other tools, such as the Fabric CLI (peer chaincode install command).

Connect to local_fabric runtime

The local_fabric runtime can be enabled in Local Fabric Ops panel. The first time you enable it, Fabric images will be installed.
Click the menu on the Local Fabric Ops header-bar for management options (including start/stop and teardown). Left-click the local_fabric identity to connect to it within the Fabric Gateways view.

Teardown the local_fabric runtime

When you start/stop the local_fabric, all data will be maintained. Choose Teardown Fabric Runtime from the Local Fabric Ops header-bar to completely teardown the runtime and start over (you must then confirm this action).

Connect to a specified (remote) Fabric runtime and discover the existing resources

Left-click a gateway identity to activate connect to the blockchain runtime it represents. Expand the sections in the navigation tree to explore its resources. When you're done, use the "back" icon in the section's header-bar to disconnect.

Install smart contract package

Smart contract packages are installed on Fabric peers. Start local_fabric, find a peer under Nodes in the Local Fabric Ops panel and right-click to select Install Smart Contract. Alternatively click on + Install or right-click Installed under Smart Contracts in the Local Fabric Ops panel

Instantiate smart contract package

Start local_fabric, find a channel under Channels in the Local Fabric Ops panel and right-click to select Instantiate Smart Contract. Alternatively click on + Instantiate or right-click Instantiated under Smart Contracts in the Local Fabric Ops panel. You will be asked to select from a list of open projects, smart contract packages or smart contracts installed on peers in the channel.

It is useful to think of installing on peers as the first step and instantiating on a channel as the second step of deploying a smart contract package.

Submit transaction

Once connected to a Fabric gateway in the Fabric Gateways panel, right-click a transaction under an instantiated smart contract and click Submit transaction. This will submit a transaction to a smart contract.

Edit an existing blockchain connection

Gateways and their wallets can be edited by right-clicking and selecting Edit Gateway in the Fabric Gateways panel. This will open User Settings, with the gateway available for editing. This is not available for the local_fabric runtime.

Debugging a smart contract

Debugging your smart contract allows you to run through the smart contract transactions with breakpoints and output, to ensure your transaction works as intended. To debug your smart contract follow these steps:

1. Ensure you are connected to the local_fabric runtime and that the local_fabric peer is in development mode. Development mode is indicated by an infinity symbol on a peer, under Nodes in the Local Fabric Ops panel. To toggle development mode, right-click the peer and select Toggle Development Mode.
2. Open your smart contract project in your workspace.
3. Open the debug view in Visual Studio Code using the left-hand navigation bar.
4. Select the Debug Smart Contract configuration by using the dropdown in the upper-left.
5. Package and install the smart contract by clicking the play button.
6. Add breakpoints to the smart contract by clicking on the relevant line numbers in your smart contract files.
7. Click Instantiate in the Local Fabric Ops panel. In the Fabric Gateways panel, you can now right click on transactions to submit them, execution will be paused on any breakpoints you've defined.
8. To submit or evaluate a transaction click the blockchain icon on the debug toolbar.

To make iterative changes to your smart contract while debugging, after making your changes click the restart button. Restarting debugging means you don't need to instantiate the contract again. Please note, as this stores the smart contract in local memory, for many changes to large smart contracts, you may need to reinstantiate the smart contract.

⚠ Please note after installing 0.3.3, you may no longer be able to debug existing smart contract projects that are written in TypeScript. You must add the following two settings to your launch configuration in launch.json:

"outFiles": [
    "${workspaceFolder}/dist/**/*.js"
] 

A valid launch configuration is as follows:

    "type": "fabric:node",
    "request": "launch",
    "name": "Debug Smart Contract",
    "preLaunchTask": "tsc: build - tsconfig.json",
    "outFiles": [
        "${workspaceFolder}/dist/**/*.js"
    ]
} 

Note that the values of the preLaunchTask and outFiles settings are specific to your project configuration, and the values above are only guaranteed to work with a TypeScript smart contract project generated by this extension.

Connecting to your own Hyperledger Fabric instance

Using this extension, you can connect to a pre-configured local instance of Hyperledger Fabric named local_fabric, or you can connect to your own Hyperledger Fabric instance. If you choose to connect to your own Hyperledger Fabric instance, it must be running Hyperledger Fabric v1.4.0 or later. From v0.2.0+, you can use a file system wallet to import identities to connect with. Alternatively, provide a name, user certificate and private key and the extension will generate a new file system wallet. In either case, this file system wallet can be used by your Blockchain applications.

⚠ Please note: v0.3.0 has restructured fabric connections to fabric gateways, so you will need to add any connections created with previous releases again in order to use them.

When using the pre-configured local instance of Hyperledger Fabric named local_fabric, the extension will automatically pull and use the correct Docker images.

If you want to start and connect to your own Hyperledger Fabric instance, ensure that you are using Hyperledger Fabric v1.4.0 or later by following the Fabric documentation here:

https://hyperledger-fabric.readthedocs.io/en/release-1.4/install.html

Supported Operating Systems

Linux, Mac OS, and Windows are currently the only supported operating systems for use with the extension.

Telemetry Reporting

The extension uses telemetry reporting to track usage data and help improve future extension versions.

For instructions on how to disable telemetry reporting, please visit the visit the Visual Studio Code FAQ.

Future Additions

To track the projects future features, visit GitHub Issues.

License

The source code files are made available under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (Apache-2.0), located in the LICENSE file.

This software uses the IBM Plex Sans font licensed under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1. Copyright © 2017 IBM Corp. with Reserved Font Name "Plex"

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