Alice, a freelance developer with a knack for tackling new frontiers, recently embarked on a mission that many would find daunting. Freshly hired to develop a front-end interface for a series of Ethereum smart contracts, she found herself at the crossroads of innovation. With her contracts developed in Solidity, Alice’s immediate goal was to create a page listing the functions of these contracts. But Alice was always one to think ahead; she knew that eventually, she wanted to interact with these functions directly through her interface.

As Alice delved into the depths of Web3.js, she realized that her starting point was to understand the ABI — Application Binary Interface — of her contracts. The ABI is the gateway through which her JavaScript code would communicate with the blockchains, understanding the shapes and forms of her Solidity contract functions.

With her trusty text editor and a console full of logs, Alice began her journey by fetching the ABI for her contract. She knew that once she had the ABI, listing the contract’s functions would be a piece of cake. She turned to Web3.js, which allowed her to interact with a node through a RPC, using an HTTP connection.

The Code

import axios from "axios";

const response = await axios.get(`https://api-testnet.polygonscan.com/api?module=contract&action=getabi&address=${contractAddress}&apikey=<YOUR_API_KEY_HERE>`);
if (response && response.data && response.data.status === "1" && response.data.result) {
    const abi = JSON.parse(response.data.result);
    const functions = abi.filter((item) => item.type === "function");
    console.log("ABI", abi);
    console.log("Functions", functions);
}

In conclusion, by understanding and utilizing the ABI of Solidity contracts, JavaScript and Web3.js developers like Alice can create powerful front-end applications that interact seamlessly with the Ethereum blockchain. With the ABI as the blueprint and Web3.js as the toolset, the possibilities for blockchain-enabled applications are virtually limitless.

Alice’s story is a testament to the power of bridging the gap between smart contracts and the user interface, and her journey illuminates the path for other developers to follow in the exciting realm of Web3 development.

You can also find a list and execute functions of a contract using tools provided by DevWeb3.co. They have a collection of tools that can help you integrate your application with any EVM-compatible blockchain.