IBM Cloud VSCode Blockchain Extension
Using the VSCode Extension for Interacting with a Blockchain
Note: Just use Ubuntu, you shouldn't run into all the build issues that you will with Windows for Node
VSCode Extension
Download the VSCode Extension from the Extensions Tab named IBM Blockchain, when that is done click Reload to reload your VSCode. Next you will see that the IBM Blockchain extension has been added on your extensions menu
Connecting to a Blockchain on the Cloud
Configuration
Before you can connect to your IBM Cloud Blockchain, you will need the following
- Connection Profile
- Certificate
- Private Key
Connection Profile
From your IBM Blockchain Dashboard navigate to Overview > Connection > Download to download your Connection Profile json file
Certificate and Private Key
From the IBM Blockchain Dashboard navigate to Certificate Authority > Generate Certificate (Admin)
Copy the Certificate into a text file, and do the same for the Private Key. Be sure to store these in a secure place and to not expose them publicly
Add Your Certificate
Next add your certificate by navigating to Members > Certificates > Add Certificate and enter a Name for your certificate and your Certificate that was generated previously and Submit, then click on Restart to restart all your peers
Configure the Extension
Now click on the IBM Blockchain extension on your extensions panel, and in the panel hover beside the Blockchain Connections and click the + button. You will then be directed to give a name to the connection and select your Connection Profile, Certificate and Private Key files that you had previously downloaded/created
Create a Smart Contract
From the VSCode Command Palatte (Can be accessed with Ctrl + Shift + P) search for Create Smart Contract Package and click on the command
You will then be asked to choose a language, I'll be using Typescript
Then you will need to choose a folder for the project, create a folder called smartcontracts and select that and you can chose to open in new window or add to workspace
The smart contract files will then be generated
To the .gitignore add node_modules if you plan on using git
Install Dependencies
Install dependencies with npm i
Python Versions and Path
If you get a Can't find Python executable "python" error, you can read this page about adding python to your path with Anaconda
You will need to be running Python 2.7, so make sure that you configure your environment to be such. You can add new environments from the Anaconda Navigator. Check your Python version from a new terminal with python --version
You can configure a new Anaconda environment with Python 2.7 (I named mine python2.7) and you can then modify your Python Path to be C:\tools\Anaconda3\envs\python2.7 instead to reference your new environment
If you run into the node-gyp issue, look at the installation instructions on the node-gyp documentation
For more information you can also look at the Node on Windows Guidelines
MSBuild
If you run into the MSBuild version error, let me know how you fixed it otherwise just switch to Ubuntu and start over
Test the build
We can test the build to make sure we don't have any problems with the current setup
npm run build
Run the Tests
npm run test