This article features a short tutorial to start smart contract development on Solana using Anchor framework. Before you get started, we assume you already had the experience with:
- Basic knowledge of Solana network
- Concepts of: Account, program, instruction
- Knowledge of Rust or C++ language
- Install and launch local network Solana
What is Anchor?
Anchor is a framework as well as a set of libraries that make developing applications on the Solana network faster and easier, However, you need to pay attention, the source code of the framework This has not been audited, please be careful when using. In addition, Anchor also provides a number of tools for developers.
- Rust crates and eDSL for writing Solana programs
- IDL specification
- TypeScript package for generating clients from IDL
- CLI command and workspace management for developing complete programs
Why do we use Anchor?
- Easy to use library
- The ingredients are clear
- Many utilities for faster build, test and deploy
- Having IDL generate client on javascript or Golang easy
Core components
An Anchor program consists of 3 main parts:
- Program: where the logic of the program is stored
- Account struct: where the account struct is defined, marked with #[derive(Accounts)]
- declare_id: Declare the address of the program, it uses this id for security checks as well as allowing other programs to access your key field
Like other networks Solana also develops RPC, creating IDLs and client apps from IDL similar to ABI on Ethereum.
In the anchor you need to setup workspace for your project, example workspace for devnet
[provider]
cluster = "devnet"
wallet = "~/.config/solana/id.json"
[programs.devnet]
basic_0 = "2Fcoq3dKjpZiKko9Ho4NZguunJsd9AiGHheF8VHPnk7D"
[scripts]
test = "yarn run mocha -t 1000000 tests/"
If you want to deploy testnet, you need to move cluster to testnet, view cluster list:
anchor cluster list
Install Anchor and create a program:
Step 1. Install the library
- Rust
source $HOME/.cargo/env
rustup component add rustfmt
- Solana:
sh -c "$(curl -sSfL https://releases.solana.com/v1.9.1/install)"
- Yarn:
npm install -g yarn
- Anchor:
npm i -g @project-serum/anchor-cli
Check anchor install: anchor --version
Step 2: Create a program
anchor init <new-project-name>
Note, you need to choose the appropriate Anchor version for the sample project or you may get an error when building because the old versions are no longer compatible. Let's take the example of creating a program that accepts a key-value pair start with declaring the program you declare in the lib.rs directory
use anchor_lang::prelude::*;
declare_id!("Fg6PaFpoGXkYsidMpWTK6W2BeZ7FEfcYkg476zPFsLnS");
#[program]
mod basic_0 {
use super::*;
pub fn initialize(_ctx: Context<Initialize>) -> Result<()> {
Ok(())
}
}
#[derive(Accounts)]
pub struct Initialize {}
A smart contract program on Solana will have the following structure:
processor.rs
instruction.rs
errors.rs
state.rs
lib.rs
Next we will run the program build command:
anchor build
If you don't use the anchor, it will be equivalent to the command
cargo build-bpf
Note if you build error, you need to update anchor-lang to version 0.24.2
In addition, it will run additional commands to generate the IDL file
anchor idl parse -f program/src/lib.rs -o target/idl/basic_0.json.
Similar to Ethereum, you will build a target directory, in addition it will generate a target/idl/basic_0.json file, this file is similar to the ABI.json file. Note that the idl file will also be used to generate the client source code on JS and Golang
Next, we will deploy the program, notice that you need to select the environment to deploy via the command:
solana config set --url localhost
- devnet
solana config set --url devnet
- testnet
solana config set --url testnet
- Mainnet-beta
solana config set --url mainnet-beta
Command to deploy to the network:
anchor deploy
After running this command, your program has been deployed to the blockchain. You can continue to create transactions with it by creating a client.
build successfully, you will get a log that looks like this: To deploy this program run:
$ solana program deploy /Volumes/WORKS/Dropbox/Blockchain/solana/SolTwit/target/deploy/sol_twit.so
Anchor CLI
USAGE:
anchor <SUBCOMMAND>
FLAGS:
-h, --help Prints help information
-V, --version Prints version information
SUBCOMMANDS:
build Builds the workspace
cluster Cluster commands
deploy Deploys each program in the workspace
expand Expands the macros of a program or the workspace
help Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
idl Commands for interacting with interface definitions
init Initializes a workspace
migrate Runs the deploy migration script
new Creates a new program
shell Starts a node shell with an Anchor client setup according to the local config
test Runs integration tests against a localnetwork
upgrade Upgrades a single program. The configured wallet must be the upgrade authority
verify Verifies the on-chain bytecode matches the locally compiled artifact. Run this
command inside a program subdirectory, i.e., in the dir containing the program's
Cargo.toml
Anchor version manager
Anchor version manager (avm) is provided to manage multiple installations of the anchor-cli binary. This may be required to produce verifiable builds, or if you'd prefer to work with an alternate version. Like NVM, some command we should remember:
USAGE:
avm <SUBCOMMAND>
OPTIONS:
-h, --help Print help information
-V, --version Print version information
SUBCOMMANDS:
help Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
install Install a version of Anchor
list List available versions of Anchor
uninstall Uninstall a version of Anchor
use Use a specific version of Anchor
Basic concepts to know before starting development
- Account: A record in Solana Ledger to store information or a executable program, Save funds called lamports. expressed through an address by a key aka public key
- Account owner: The address of the program that owns the account. Only the owner program can edit the account
- Block: A block of data, continuously generated and covered by votes. Contains transaction information.
- BPF loader: The Solana program that owns and loads BPF smart contract programs, allowing the program to interface with the runtime.
- keypair: A public key and corresponding private key for accessing an account.
- lamport: A fractional native token with the value of 0.000000001 sol.
- leader: The role of a validator when it is appending entries to the ledger.
- leader schedule: A sequence of validator public keys mapped to slots. The cluster uses the leader schedule to determine which validator is the leader at any moment in time.
