ethereumjs-abi

What is ethereumjs-abi?

The ethereumjs-abi package is a JavaScript library for encoding and decoding data according to the Ethereum ABI (Application Binary Interface) specifications. It is commonly used for interacting with smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, allowing developers to encode function calls and decode responses.

What are ethereumjs-abi's main functionalities?

Encoding Function Calls

This feature allows you to encode function calls to be sent to a smart contract. The example encodes a call to the 'transfer' function with an address and a value.

const abi = require('ethereumjs-abi');
const methodSignature = 'transfer(address,uint256)';
const params = ['0xRecipientAddress', 1000];
const encodedData = abi.simpleEncode(methodSignature, ...params);
console.log(encodedData.toString('hex'));

Decoding Function Responses

This feature allows you to decode the response from a smart contract function call. The example decodes the response from a 'balanceOf' function call.

const abi = require('ethereumjs-abi');
const methodSignature = 'balanceOf(address)';
const encodedData = '0xEncodedData';
const decodedData = abi.simpleDecode(methodSignature, Buffer.from(encodedData, 'hex'));
console.log(decodedData);

Encoding Event Logs

This feature allows you to encode event logs for smart contract events. The example encodes a 'Transfer' event log with from and to addresses and a value.

const abi = require('ethereumjs-abi');
const eventSignature = 'Transfer(address,address,uint256)';
const params = ['0xFromAddress', '0xToAddress', 1000];
const encodedLog = abi.simpleEncode(eventSignature, ...params);
console.log(encodedLog.toString('hex'));

Decoding Event Logs

This feature allows you to decode event logs from smart contract events. The example decodes a 'Transfer' event log.

const abi = require('ethereumjs-abi');
const eventSignature = 'Transfer(address,address,uint256)';
const encodedLog = '0xEncodedLog';
const decodedLog = abi.simpleDecode(eventSignature, Buffer.from(encodedLog, 'hex'));
console.log(decodedLog);

Other packages similar to ethereumjs-abi

web3-eth-abi

The web3-eth-abi package is part of the Web3.js library and provides similar functionality for encoding and decoding Ethereum ABI data. It is more integrated with the Web3.js ecosystem, making it a good choice if you are already using Web3.js for other Ethereum interactions.

ethers

The ethers package is a complete Ethereum library that includes ABI encoding and decoding among many other features. It is known for its simplicity and ease of use, and it provides a more modern and modular approach compared to ethereumjs-abi.

abi-decoder

The abi-decoder package focuses specifically on decoding Ethereum ABI data, particularly for transaction input data and logs. It is simpler and more focused compared to ethereumjs-abi, making it a good choice if you only need decoding functionality.

README

ethereumjs-abi

or #ethereumjs on freenode

Module implementing the Ethereum ABI in Javascript. Can be used with RPC libraries for communication or with ethereumjs-vm to implement a fully fledged simulator.

Usage

Manual encoding and decoding

There are three methods of interest:

• methodID to create a function signature
• rawEncode to encode fields and
• rawDecode to decode fields

Example code:

var abi = require('ethereumjs-abi')

// returns the encoded binary (as a Buffer) data to be sent
var encoded = abi.rawEncode([ "address" ], [ "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000" ])

// returns the decoded array of arguments
var decoded = abi.rawDecode([ "address" ], data)

Encoding and decoding aided by the JSON ABI definition

Planned for the future is supporting the JSON ABI definition:

var abi = require('ethereumjs-abi')

// need to have the ABI definition in JSON as per specification
var tokenAbi = [{"constant":true,"inputs":[{"name":"","type":"address"}],"name":"balanceOf","outputs":[{"name":"","type":"uint256"}],"type":"function"},{"constant":false,"inputs":[{"name":"_to","type":"address"},{"name":"_value","type":"uint256"}],"name":"transfer","outputs":[{"name":"success","type":"bool"}],"type":"function"},{"inputs":[],"type":"constructor"}]

var encoded = abi.encode(tokenAbi, "balanceOf(uint256 address)", [ "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000" ])

var decoded = abi.decode(tokenAbi, "balanceOf(uint256 address)", data)

Simple encoding and decoding

var abi = require('ethereumjs-abi')

// returns the encoded binary (as a Buffer) data to be sent
var encoded = abi.simpleEncode("balanceOf(address):(uint256)", "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000")

// returns the decoded array of arguments
var decoded = abi.simpleDecode("balanceOf(address):(uint256)", data)

Solidity tightly packed formats

This library also supports creating Solidity's tightly packed data constructs, which are used together with sha3, sha256 and ripemd160 to create hashes.

Solidity code:

contract HashTest {
  function testSha3() returns (bytes32) {
   address addr1 = 0x43989fb883ba8111221e89123897538475893837;
   address addr2 = 0;
   uint val = 10000;
   uint timestamp = 1448075779;

   return sha3(addr1, addr2, val, timestamp); // will return 0xc3ab5ca31a013757f26a88561f0ff5057a97dfcc33f43d6b479abc3ac2d1d595
 }
}

Creating the same hash using this library:

var abi = require('ethereumjs-abi')
var BN = require('bn.js')

abi.soliditySHA3(
    [ "address", "address", "uint", "uint" ],
    [ new BN("43989fb883ba8111221e89123897538475893837", 16), 0, 10000, 1448075779 ]
).toString('hex')

For the same data structure:

• sha3 will return 0xc3ab5ca31a013757f26a88561f0ff5057a97dfcc33f43d6b479abc3ac2d1d595
• sha256 will return 0x344d8cb0711672efbdfe991f35943847c1058e1ecf515ff63ad936b91fd16231
• ripemd160 will return 0x000000000000000000000000a398cc72490f72048efa52c4e92067e8499672e7 (NOTE: it is 160bits, left padded to 256bits)

Note that ripemd160() in Solidity returns bytes20 and if you cast it to bytes32, it will be right padded with zeroes.

Using Serpent types

Serpent uses a different notation for the types, even though it will serialize to the same ABI.

We provide two helpers to convert between these notations:

• fromSerpent: convert a Serpent notation to the ABI notation
• toSerpent: the other way around

Example usage:

abi.fromSerpent('s')    // [ 'bytes' ]
abi.fromSerpent('i')    // [ 'int256' ]
abi.fromSerpent('a')    // [ 'int256[]' ]
abi.fromSerpent('b8')   // [ 'bytes8' ]
abi.fromSerpent('b8i')  // [ 'bytes8', 'int256' ]

abi.toSerpent([ 'bytes' ])             // 's'
abi.toSerpent([ 'int256' ])            // 'i'
abi.toSerpent([ 'int256[]' ])          // 'a'
abi.toSerpent([ 'bytes8' ])            // 'b8'
abi.toSerpent([ 'bytes8', 'int256' ])  // 'b8i'

It is to be used in conjunction with rawEncode and rawDecode:

var encoded = abi.rawEncode(abi.fromSerpent("i"), [ "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000" ])

var decoded = abi.rawDecode([...abi.fromSerpent("i"), ...abi.fromSerpent("i")], data)

Note: Serpent uses arbitary binary fields. If you want to store strings it is preferable to ensure it is stored as UTF8. Buffer.from(<string>, 'utf8') can be used to ensure it is properly encoded.

Contributing

I am more than happy to receive improvements. Please send me a pull request or reach out on email or twitter.

There is a lot missing, grep for FIXME in the source code to find inspiration.

EthereumJS

See our organizational documentation for an introduction to EthereumJS as well as information on current standards and best practices.

If you want to join for work or do improvements on the libraries have a look at our contribution guidelines.

License

Copyright (C) 2015 Alex Beregszaszi

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of
this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in
the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to
use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of
the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR
COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER
IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Changelog

[0.6.8] - 2019-08-13

• Added support for arrays in Solidity tight packing ABI.solidityPack() function, PR #82