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Alan Buenrostro
Alan Buenrostro

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🚀 Diving into the XRP Ledger with JavaScript

#beginners #javascript #web3 #blockchain

Installing The XRPL Library

This tutorial uses the xrpl library installed via npm

npm install xrpl
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Baby Steps.

In order to make meaningful interactions with the xrp ledger , such as currency transactions, wallet creation, etc. We must first connect to the server.

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We do so, by:

  1. importing the Client Object from the xrpl library
  2. Instantiating the Client object with the xrpl websocket server address.
  3. making a connection using connect()
  4. Disconnecting when the interaction is done. 
//ES6 Imports
import {Client} from 'xrpl'

async function connectToLedger(){
    //Instantiate the object with xrpl address as an argument and store its reference.
    const client = new Client('wss://s.altnet.rippletest.net:51233/')
    //Connect Via the connect function
    await client.connect()
    console.log(await client.connection)
        //insert other code down here
        //Bla Bla Bla 
        client.disconnect();
    }

connectToLedger()
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A brief breakdown xrp test network : wss://s.altnet.rippletest.net:51233/1

Faucets

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In the realm of xrp, there exist a set of developer tools called Faucets aka test nets.
Faucets, Replicate the functionality of the mainet allowing you to test ledger interactions on a testing environment, and it also provides a websocket for fulfilling these interactions. These interactions include but are not limited to wallet creation, and token transactions.

Learn more: https://xrpl.org/resources/dev-tools/xrp-faucets

Why Dov We Need Faucets?

Some mainet interactions requires a small amount of xrp for ex; transactions, fund transfers, and tokenization, The benefit of a faucet really starts to shine when it comes to testing transactions and other important blockchain functionality without risking real xrp.

Wallet Creation

Now lets create a wallet and provide some funds.

import {Client} from 'xrpl'

async function connectToLedger(){
    //Instantiate the object with xrpl address as an argument and store its reference.
    const client = new Client('wss://s.altnet.rippletest.net:51233/')
    //Connect Via the connect function
    await client.connect()

        //Instantiating A wallet with fundWallet and storing its reference.
        let testFund = await client.fundWallet();
        //Waiting for promise and storing referennce of the wallet property
        let wallet = (await testFund).wallet
        //Waiting for promise and storing the wallet balance property
        let balance = (await testFund).balance
        console.log(`Wallet Public Key : ${wallet.publicKey} \nWallet Balance : ${balance}` )
        client.disconnect();
    }

connectToLedger()
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Code Breakdown

fundWallet()

on line 10 we call the asynchronous fundWallet method from our previous client object.
this function returns an object containing a Wallet object, and within the Wallet object there are details such as its publicKey andprivateKey and seed phrase.
Alongside the Wallet object we have its balance.
In essence the function:

  1. generates a new wallet.

  2. Initiates a faucet transaction that sends 100 test XRP to the wallet’s public address via a WebSocket connection. This triggers a sequence of interactions between operation and issuer accounts on the test network.

    Why FundWallet?

    As we mentioned earlier, this is a testing environment, so we are able to utilize functions such as fundWallet to easily retrieve a dispensable wallet with dispensable funds, however you are not allowed to use fundWallet() on the mainet, you need to generate a wallet and send it funds via an external wallet with xrp or a Digital Exchange. See [[#Generating A wallet on the main-net.]] for more details.

Ex

{
  wallet: Wallet {
    publicKey: 'kgphikthpotpruktf325235rpkopkwpokgwopenr12359322f',
    privateKey: 'idjfi0wufj14faafaaffff110124812401gsafawfwafa4',
    classicAddress: 'idjfi0wufj14afafawawfafaafawfawfaw95329595f',
    seed: 'afiafjawifjawoifaw'
  },
  balance: 100
}
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Querying data from a ledger.

client.request()

This method, is used for querying various types of ledger data, Afterall a ledger is a data structure and thus can be used as database. This method accepts a object map for query configuration. The current configuration we are using is:

        let onChainData= await client.request({
            command:"account_info", //The type of data we want to querry
            account:wallet.address, // The specific account or adress we want to querry
            ledger_index:"validated", // Most recently validated ledger index
        });
        console.log(`Balance In Drops : ${onChainData.result.account_data.Balance}`)
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Config Key Description
command The query type
account The account we desire to query in this context were using the address of the recently generated wallet
ledger_index A specific ledger selector - in this context were selecting the most recently validated ledger index containing information surrounding this address.

Once the request is fulfilled it should return an object similar to this one:

{
  api_version: 2,
  id: 6,
  result: {
    account_data: {
      Account: 'fafawfawwfajifjawifawjfawf',
      Balance: '100000000',
      //.... Ledger Data
    },
    account_flags: {
      //.... Ledger Data      
      //.... Ledger Data
    },
    ledger_hash: 'faiwhfa9w0fhaw0f9ahf90awhf90awfhaw90fhawf0aw9ha9fhaw',
    ledger_index: 67999825,
    validated: true
  },
  type: 'response'
}
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Final Source Code 

import {Client} from 'xrpl'

async function connectToLedger(){
    //Instantiate the object with xrpl address as an argument and store its reference.
    const client = new Client('wss://s.altnet.rippletest.net:51233/')
    //Connect Via the connect function
    await client.connect()
        //Instantiating A wallet with fundWallet and storing its reference.
        let testFund = await client.fundWallet();
        //Waiting for promise and storing the wallet property
        let wallet = (await testFund).wallet
        //Waiting for promise and storing the wallet balance property
        let balance = (await testFund).balance
        console.log(`Wallet Public Key : ${wallet.publicKey} \nWallet Balance : ${balance}` )
        //Configuring querry via object
        let onChainData= await client.request({
            command:"account_info", //The type of data we want to querry
            account:wallet.address, // The specific account or adress we want to querry
            ledger_index:"validated", // Most recently validated ledger index
        });
        console.log(`Balance In Drops : ${onChainData.result.account_data.Balance}`)

        client.disconnect(); // A gracefull disconnect
    }

connectToLedger()
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Generating a wallet and account on the main-net.

You can generate and receive its private and public key but it or any related data wont be on the ledger until a transaction its made to the wallet address.

Generating A Wallet 

import {Wallet} from xrpl
let wallet = Wallet.generate();
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Generate a wallet from seed

If you want to generate a wallet address based on a seed phrase:

import {Wallet} from xrpl
let wallet = Wallet.fromSeed("AFNAK9310913JFSAANFJFn")
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