On-chain views

On-chain views description

• The On-chain views feature was introduced in the Hangzhou protocol.
• Views are meant to be called by a contract. It can be the contract where the view is defined or another contract.
• Views help to avoid the need to use callbacks in contracts.
• Views take arguments as input and may depend on the contract's storage declaring the view.
• Views are read-only and won't modify the contract's storage where the view is defined.
• Views return a result as output which is immediately available on the stack of the caller contract.
• The types ticket, operation, big_map, and sapling_state are not allowed in the argument or return types of views.

Declaring an on-chain view

A contract can define none, one, or multiple on-chain views. The views are declared at the top level of the contract script and are formed by a name, an argument type, a result type, and a sequence of instructions.

Example of a contract script that declares multiple views:

parameter nat ;
storage nat ;
code { CAR ; NIL operation ; PAIR } ;
view "add" nat nat { UNPAIR ; ADD } ;
view "id" nat (pair nat nat) { } ;
view "test_failwith" nat (pair nat nat) { FAILWITH } ;
view "step_constants" unit (pair (pair mumav mumav) (pair (pair address address) address ))
     { DROP ;
       SOURCE;
       SENDER;
       SELF_ADDRESS;
       PAIR;
       PAIR;
       BALANCE;
       AMOUNT;
       PAIR;
       PAIR;
     } ;

view "succ" (pair nat address) nat
     { CAR;
       UNPAIR;
       PUSH nat 1; ADD;
       PAIR;
       DUP; CDR; SWAP;
       VIEW "is_twenty" nat; ASSERT_SOME;
     } ;
view "is_twenty" (pair nat address) nat
     {
       CAR;
       DUP;
       CAR;
       PUSH nat 20 ;
       COMPARE;
       EQ ;
       IF { CAR; }
          { DUP; CDR; SWAP; VIEW "succ" nat; ASSERT_SOME }
     } ;
view "fib" nat nat
     {
       CAR;
       DUP;
       PUSH nat 0 ;
       COMPARE ;
       EQ ;
       IF { }
          { DUP;
            PUSH nat 1;
            COMPARE;
            EQ;
            IF { }
               { DUP;
                 PUSH nat 1; SWAP; SUB; ABS;
                 SELF_ADDRESS;
                 SWAP;
                 VIEW "fib" nat;
                 IF_SOME { SWAP;
                           PUSH nat 2; SWAP; SUB; ABS;
                           SELF_ADDRESS;
                           SWAP;
                           VIEW "fib" nat;
                           IF_SOME { ADD; } { FAIL }
                         }
                         { FAIL };
               }
          }
     }

Calling an on-chain view

Views are meant to be called by a contract using the Michelson Instruction View followed by the view name and its result type.

Example of a contract script having a call to a view named fib:

parameter (pair nat address) ;
storage nat;
code {
       CAR;
       UNPAIR;
       VIEW "fib" nat;
       IF_SOME {NIL operation ; PAIR;} { FAIL }
     }

Example of calling a contract entrypoint that makes a call to a view using Taquito:

The following live code example shows a contract (contractCallFib) calling the view fib of another contract (contractTopLevelViews).

The example first shows the initial storage of the contract contractCallFib. It calls the default entry point of contractCallFib with the value of its storage + 1 and the address of the contract contractTopLevelViews. A call is made to the fib view of contractTopLevelViews with the storage + 1 as argument. The view returns the value of the Fibonacci sequence at the position represented by storage + 1. The storage of contractCallFib is updated to the result of the view.

Contract API

Live Editor

const contractTopLevelViews = 'KT1Anag1s3N7erRXrRAtPpRC2PRXrqcCJ43m'; const contractCallFib = 'KT1KPDBat3prp2G81aDDLyJ38Vbq6YLYFQo8'; Tezos.contract.at(contractCallFib) .then((contract) => { contract.storage() .then((storage) => { println(`The initial storage of ${contractCallFib} is ${storage}.`); const fibPosition = storage.toNumber() + 1; println(`Calling the default method of ${contractCallFib} will call the view fib of ${contractTopLevelViews} with ${fibPosition}.`); return contract.methodsObject.default({ 0: fibPosition, 1: contractTopLevelViews }).send() .then((op) => { println(`Waiting for ${op.hash} to be confirmed...`); return op.confirmation().then(() => op.hash) .then(() => { return contract.storage() .then((finalStorage) => { println(`The storage is now ${finalStorage} which corresponds to the value of the Fibonacci sequence at position ${fibPosition}.`); }) }) }) }) }) .catch((error) => println(`Error: ${JSON.stringify(error, null, 2)}`));

const contractTopLevelViews = 'KT1Anag1s3N7erRXrRAtPpRC2PRXrqcCJ43m';
const contractCallFib = 'KT1KPDBat3prp2G81aDDLyJ38Vbq6YLYFQo8';

Tezos.contract.at(contractCallFib)
  .then((contract) => {
    contract.storage()
      .then((storage) => {
        println(`The initial storage of ${contractCallFib} is ${storage}.`);
        const fibPosition = storage.toNumber() + 1;
        println(`Calling the default method of ${contractCallFib} will call the view fib of ${contractTopLevelViews} with ${fibPosition}.`);
        return contract.methodsObject.default({ 0: fibPosition, 1: contractTopLevelViews }).send()
          .then((op) => {
            println(`Waiting for ${op.hash} to be confirmed...`);
            return op.confirmation().then(() => op.hash)
              .then(() => {
                return contract.storage()
                  .then((finalStorage) => {
                    println(`The storage is now ${finalStorage} which corresponds to the value of the Fibonacci sequence at position ${fibPosition}.`);
                  })
              })
          })
      })
  })
  .catch((error) => println(`Error: ${JSON.stringify(error, null, 2)}`));

Result

Wallet API

Live Editor

const contractTopLevelViews = 'KT1Anag1s3N7erRXrRAtPpRC2PRXrqcCJ43m'; const contractCallFib = 'KT1KPDBat3prp2G81aDDLyJ38Vbq6YLYFQo8'; Tezos.wallet.at(contractCallFib) .then((contract) => { contract.storage() .then((storage) => { println(`The initial storage of ${contractCallFib} is ${storage}.`); const fibPosition = storage.toNumber() + 1; println(`Calling the default method of ${contractCallFib} will call the view fib of ${contractTopLevelViews} with ${fibPosition}.`); return contract.methodsObject.default({ 0: fibPosition, 1: contractTopLevelViews }).send() .then((op) => { println(`Waiting for ${op.opHash} to be confirmed...`); return op.confirmation().then(() => op.opHash) .then(() => { return contract.storage() .then((finalStorage) => { println(`The storage is now ${finalStorage} which corresponds to the value of the Fibonacci sequence at position ${fibPosition}.`); }) }) }) }) }) .catch((error) => println(`Error: ${JSON.stringify(error, null, 2)}`));

const contractTopLevelViews = 'KT1Anag1s3N7erRXrRAtPpRC2PRXrqcCJ43m';
const contractCallFib = 'KT1KPDBat3prp2G81aDDLyJ38Vbq6YLYFQo8';

Tezos.wallet.at(contractCallFib)
  .then((contract) => {
    contract.storage()
      .then((storage) => {
        println(`The initial storage of ${contractCallFib} is ${storage}.`);
        const fibPosition = storage.toNumber() + 1;
        println(`Calling the default method of ${contractCallFib} will call the view fib of ${contractTopLevelViews} with ${fibPosition}.`);
        return contract.methodsObject.default({ 0: fibPosition, 1: contractTopLevelViews }).send()
          .then((op) => {
            println(`Waiting for ${op.opHash} to be confirmed...`);
            return op.confirmation().then(() => op.opHash)
              .then(() => {
                return contract.storage()
                  .then((finalStorage) => {
                    println(`The storage is now ${finalStorage} which corresponds to the value of the Fibonacci sequence at position ${fibPosition}.`);
                  })
              })
          })
      })
  })
  .catch((error) => println(`Error: ${JSON.stringify(error, null, 2)}`));

Result

How to simulate a view execution using Taquito

Taquito offers the ability to simulate the result of on-chain views.

The user can create an instance of ContractAbstraction using the at method of the Contract or Wallet API with the contract's address that defines the views. The contractViews member of the ContractAbstraction instance is dynamically populated with methods that match the on-chain view names.

contractViews is an object where the key is the view name, and the value is a function that takes the view arguments as a parameter and returns an instance of OnChainView class.

If the view takes multiple arguments, the view parameter is expected in an object format and not flattened arguments.

Note for reference, the flattened arguments are the expected format when calling a contract entry point using the methods member, but we plan to move away from this format in favor the object one, which is also used for the storage when deploying a contract see the difference between methodsObject and methods members of the ContractAbstraction.

A method named getSignature on the OnChainView class allows inspecting the parameter and the returned type of the view.

The executeView method of the OnChainView class allows simulating the view. It takes a viewCaller as a parameter representing the contract address which is the caller of the view, and an optional source which is the public key hash of the account that initialized this view execution.

Here is an example:

Contract API

Live Editor

const contractTopLevelViews = 'KT1Anag1s3N7erRXrRAtPpRC2PRXrqcCJ43m'; const contractCallFib = 'KT1KPDBat3prp2G81aDDLyJ38Vbq6YLYFQo8'; const fibPosition = 7; Tezos.contract.at(contractTopLevelViews) .then((contract) => { return contract.contractViews.fib(fibPosition).executeView({ viewCaller: contractCallFib }) .then((viewResult) => { println(`The result of the view simulation is ${viewResult}.`); }) }) .catch((error) => println(`Error: ${JSON.stringify(error, null, 2)}`));

const contractTopLevelViews = 'KT1Anag1s3N7erRXrRAtPpRC2PRXrqcCJ43m';
const contractCallFib = 'KT1KPDBat3prp2G81aDDLyJ38Vbq6YLYFQo8';
const fibPosition = 7;

Tezos.contract.at(contractTopLevelViews)
  .then((contract) => {
    return contract.contractViews.fib(fibPosition).executeView({ viewCaller: contractCallFib })
      .then((viewResult) => {
        println(`The result of the view simulation is ${viewResult}.`);
      })
  })
  .catch((error) => println(`Error: ${JSON.stringify(error, null, 2)}`));

Result

Wallet API

Live Editor

const contractTopLevelViews = 'KT1Anag1s3N7erRXrRAtPpRC2PRXrqcCJ43m'; const contractCallFib = 'KT1KPDBat3prp2G81aDDLyJ38Vbq6YLYFQo8'; const fibPosition = 7; Tezos.wallet.at(contractTopLevelViews) .then((contract) => { return contract.contractViews.fib(fibPosition).executeView({ viewCaller: contractCallFib }) .then((viewResult) => { println(`The result of the view simulation is ${viewResult}.`); }) }) .catch((error) => println(`Error: ${JSON.stringify(error, null, 2)}`));

const contractTopLevelViews = 'KT1Anag1s3N7erRXrRAtPpRC2PRXrqcCJ43m';
const contractCallFib = 'KT1KPDBat3prp2G81aDDLyJ38Vbq6YLYFQo8';
const fibPosition = 7;

Tezos.wallet.at(contractTopLevelViews)
  .then((contract) => {
    return contract.contractViews.fib(fibPosition).executeView({ viewCaller: contractCallFib })
      .then((viewResult) => {
        println(`The result of the view simulation is ${viewResult}.`);
      })
  })
  .catch((error) => println(`Error: ${JSON.stringify(error, null, 2)}`));

Result

caution

On-chain views should not be confused with lambda views which are also available on the ContractAbstraction class. See the documentation for lambda_view.

Follow this link for more information about on-chain views: https://tezos.gitlab.io/active/michelson.html#operations-on-views