Lesson 7: What's the difference between calling ethers.getContract() and ethers.getContractFactory() ?

[nsawit]

I'm still confused about the uses of getContract() and getContractFacgory().
Looking at the SimpleStorage test script from previous lesson. We used getContractFactory()

describe("SimpleStorage", () => {
    let simpleStorageFactory, simpleStorage
    beforeEach(async () => {
        const simpleStorageFactory = await ethers.getContractFactory(
            "SimpleStorage"
        )

but here in FundMe, we now use getContract()

 beforeEach(async () => {
              deployer = (await getNamedAccounts()).deployer
              fundMe = await ethers.getContract("FundMe", deployer)
          })

[alymurtazamemon]

@nsawit These are just the functions of ethers that give us our compile contract (bypassing the name of the contract). I have answered this question here you can check for more info. #959

You can check also similar things in these discussions. #881

[krakxn]

To deploy a Contract, additional information is needed that is not available on a Contract object itself. Hence, the ContractFactory object is used, and getContractFactory is an accessor method which basically returns the ContractFactory of the Contract you explicitly state (the name).

Whereas, getContract just returns a new connection to a contract at "FundMe"'s address (with the deployer interface). Put simply, in this case it is already deployed and we are just using it.

[krakxn]

@pacelliv What is the question specifically? The reply, as it seems, is vague.