Icon LinkInteracting With Contracts

There are 4 ways to interact with contracts: get, dryRun, simulate, call.

Icon Linkget

The get method should be used to read data from the blockchain without using resources. It can be used with an unfunded wallet or even without a wallet at all:

const contract = new Contract(contractId, abi, provider);
 
const { value } = await contract.functions.get_count().get();

Icon LinkdryRun

The dryRun method should be used to dry-run a contract call. It does not spend resources and can be used with an unfunded wallet or even without a wallet at all:

const contract = new Contract(contractId, abi, provider);
 
const { value } = await contract.functions.increment_counter(1).dryRun();

Icon Linksimulate

The simulate method should be used to dry-run a contract call, ensuring that the wallet used has sufficient funds to cover the transaction fees, without consuming any resources.

A funded wallet it's required:

const contract = new Contract(contractId, abi, fundedWallet);
 
const { value } = await contract.functions.increment_counter(10).simulate();

Icon Linkcall

The call method submits a real contract call transaction to the node, resolving immediately upon submission and returning a transactionId along with a waitForResult callback to wait for transaction execution. This behavior aligns with the natural behaviour of blockchains, where transactions may take a few seconds before being recorded on the chain.

Real resources are consumed, and any operations executed by the contract function will be processed on the blockchain.

const { transactionId, waitForResult } = await contract.functions.increment_counter(10).call();
 
const { value } = await waitForResult();

Icon LinkisReadOnly (utility)

If you want to figure out whether a function is read-only, you can use the isReadOnly method:

 
const isReadOnly = contract.functions.get_count.isReadOnly();
 
if (isReadOnly) {
  await contract.functions.get_count().get();
} else {
  const { waitForResult } = await contract.functions.get_count().call();
  await waitForResult();
}

If the function is read-only, you can use the get method to retrieve onchain data without spending gas.

If the function is not read-only you will have to use the call method to submit a transaction onchain which incurs a gas fee.