How do I use ethers with the Astar network?

[saiakhil2012]

Ethers Version

v5.6.9

Search Terms

network, block format

Describe the Problem

extraData parameter inside a block is expected as mandatory

An interaction with a Blockchain such as writing new information into Blockchain using a Signer, fails at Block format check if extraData parameter is not present in the Block returned (i.e when eth_getBlockByNumber is called)

extraData parameter should be treated as optional

(also, just a note, in other libraries such as Web3.js or Web3j, the extraData parameter is not treated as mandatory)

Code Snippet

No response

Contract ABI

No response

Errors

#Following is the error at the DApp side using Ethers.js, if `extraData` parameter is not present in the Block returned by Blockchain network,

Error: invalid hash (argument="value", value=undefined, code=INVALID_ARGUMENT, version=providers/5.6.8)
    at Logger.makeError (/Users/malepatia/Workspace/ethers-custom/ethers.js/packages/ethers/node_modules/@ethersproject/logger/lib/index.js:233:21)
    at Logger.throwError (/Users/malepatia/Workspace/ethers-custom/ethers.js/packages/ethers/node_modules/@ethersproject/logger/lib/index.js:242:20)
    at Logger.throwArgumentError (/Users/malepatia/Workspace/ethers-custom/ethers.js/packages/ethers/node_modules/@ethersproject/logger/lib/index.js:245:21)
    at Formatter.hex (/Users/malepatia/Workspace/ethers-custom/ethers.js/packages/ethers/node_modules/@ethersproject/providers/lib/formatter.js:178:23)
    at Formatter.data (/Users/malepatia/Workspace/ethers-custom/ethers.js/packages/ethers/node_modules/@ethersproject/providers/lib/formatter.js:181:27)
    at Function.Formatter.check (/Users/malepatia/Workspace/ethers-custom/ethers.js/packages/ethers/node_modules/@ethersproject/providers/lib/formatter.js:375:40)
    at Formatter._block (/Users/malepatia/Workspace/ethers-custom/ethers.js/packages/ethers/node_modules/@ethersproject/providers/lib/formatter.js:250:32)
    at Formatter.block (/Users/malepatia/Workspace/ethers-custom/ethers.js/packages/ethers/node_modules/@ethersproject/providers/lib/formatter.js:255:21)
    at JsonRpcProvider.<anonymous> (/Users/malepatia/Workspace/ethers-custom/ethers.js/packages/ethers/node_modules/@ethersproject/providers/lib/base-provider.js:2070:82)
    at step (/Users/malepatia/Workspace/ethers-custom/ethers.js/packages/ethers/node_modules/@ethersproject/providers/lib/base-provider.js:48:23) {
  reason: 'invalid hash',
  code: 'INVALID_ARGUMENT',
  argument: 'value',
  value: undefined,
  checkKey: 'extraData',
  checkValue: undefined
}

Environment

No response

Environment (Other)

No response

[ricmoo]

To be fair, other libraries are very loose with what they accept as valid. In general, I want a caller to be able to rely on some things.

What network are you on that doesn’t have extraData? I have an upcoming minor numb soon, d as bd while this isn’t technically backwards compatible, if it is a strong use case I could consider it.

[saiakhil2012]

I am part of VMware Blockchain team (https://www.vmware.com/products/blockchain.html). I was trying to use Ethers.js with our network. But the transactions involving signer, did not go through, as there was no extraData in the block returned. It is an enterprise blockchain product and there is no concept of miners, as we use BFT, more specifically SBFT. So, we did not need extraData thus far.

[ricmoo]

Other similar chains have historically just included a extraData: "0x", to remain compatible with the Ethereum ecosystem in general (not necessarily just for ethers), but I likely won’t make this change as it could definitely break existing projects.

Fortunately, the Provider is meant to be trivial to sub-class to solve this exact problem. If you sub-class Provider to use a custom Formatter sub-class, which ignores the extraData. This isolates the change for just consumers of your chain, and is a great place to include any other chain-dependent functions you may wish to provide.

Does that make sense?

[saiakhil2012]

Sure, makes sense, Thanks!

[ricmoo]

(I’m going to move this to discussions and update the title with your chains name, and feel free to post a link to a package with a custom provider for others in the future to come across)