corda/docs/source/tutorial-cordapp.rst

The example CorDapp

The example CorDapp allows nodes to agree IOUs with each other, as long as they obey the following contract rules:

• The IOU's value is strictly positive
• A node is not trying to issue an IOU to itself

We will deploy and run the CorDapp on four test nodes:

• Notary, which hosts a validating notary service
• PartyA
• PartyB
• PartyC

Because data is only propagated on a need-to-know basis, any IOUs agreed between PartyA and PartyB become "shared facts" between PartyA and PartyB only. PartyC won't be aware of these IOUs.

Downloading the example CorDapp

Start by downloading the example CorDapp from GitHub:

• Set up your machine by following the quickstart guide <getting-set-up>
• Clone the example CorDapp from the cordapp-example repository using the following command: git clone https://github.com/corda/cordapp-example
• Change directories to the freshly cloned repo: cd cordapp-example

Opening the example CorDapp in IntelliJ

Let's open the example CorDapp in IntelliJ IDEA:

• Open IntelliJ
• A splash screen will appear. Click open, navigate to the folder where you cloned the cordapp-example, and click OK
• Once the project is open, click File, then Project Structure. Under Project SDK:, set the project SDK by clicking New..., clicking JDK, and navigating to C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_XXX (where XXX is the latest minor version number). Click OK
• Again under File then Project Structure, select Modules. Click +, then Import Module, then select the cordapp-example folder and click Open. Choose to Import module from external model, select Gradle, click Next then Finish (leaving the defaults) and OK
• Gradle will now download all the project dependencies and perform some indexing. This usually takes a minute or so

Project structure

The example CorDapp has the following structure:

.
├── config
│   ├── dev
│   │   └── log4j2.xml
│   └── test
│       └── log4j2.xml
├── doc
│   └── example_flow.plantuml
├── gradle
│   └── wrapper
│       ├── gradle-wrapper.jar
│       └── gradle-wrapper.properties
├── lib
│   ├── README.txt
│   └── quasar.jar
├── java-source
│   └── ...
├── kotlin-source
│   ├── build.gradle
│   └── src
│       ├── main
│       │   ├── kotlin
│       │   │   └── com
│       │   │       └── example
│       │   │           ├── api
│       │   │           │   └── ExampleApi.kt
│       │   │           ├── client
│       │   │           │   └── ExampleClientRPC.kt
│       │   │           ├── contract
│       │   │           │   └── IOUContract.kt
│       │   │           ├── flow
│       │   │           │   └── ExampleFlow.kt
│       │   │           ├── model
│       │   │           │   └── IOU.kt
│       │   │           ├── plugin
│       │   │           │   └── ExamplePlugin.kt
│       │   │           ├── schema
│       │   │           │   └── IOUSchema.kt
│       │   │           └── state
│       │   │               └── IOUState.kt
│       │   └── resources
│       │       ├── META-INF
│       │       │   └── services
│       │       │       └── net.corda.webserver.services.WebServerPluginRegistry
│       │       ├── certificates
│       │       │   ├── readme.txt
│       │       │   ├── sslkeystore.jks
│       │       │   └── truststore.jks
│       │       └── exampleWeb
│       │           ├── index.html
│       │           └── js
│       │               └── angular-module.js
│       └── test
│           └── kotlin
│               └── com
│                   └── example
│                       ├── Main.kt
│                       ├── contract
│                       │   └── IOUContractTests.kt
│                       └── flow
│                           └── IOUFlowTests.kt
├── .gitignore
├── LICENCE
├── README.md
├── TRADEMARK
├── build.gradle
├── gradle.properties
├── gradlew
├── gradlew.bat
└── settings.gradle

The key files and directories are as follows:

• The root directory contains some gradle files, a README and a LICENSE
• config contains log4j configs
• gradle contains the gradle wrapper, which allows the use of Gradle without installing it yourself and worrying about which version is required
• lib contains the Quasar jar which rewrites our CorDapp's flows to be checkpointable
• kotlin-source contains the source code for the example CorDapp written in Kotlin
  • kotlin-source/src/main/kotlin contains the source code for the example CorDapp
  • kotlin-source/src/main/resources contains the certificate store, some static web content to be served by the nodes and the WebServerPluginRegistry file
  • kotlin-source/src/test/kotlin contains unit tests for the contracts and flows, and the driver to run the nodes via IntelliJ
• java-source contains the same source code, but written in Java. CorDapps can be developed in any language targeting the JVM

Running the example CorDapp

There are two ways to run the example CorDapp:

• Via the terminal
• Via IntelliJ

Both approaches will create a set of test nodes, install the CorDapp on these nodes, and then run the nodes. You can read more about how we generate nodes here <generating-a-node>.

Running the example CorDapp from the terminal

Building the example CorDapp

• Open a terminal window in the cordapp-example directory

• Build the test nodes with our CorDapp using the following command:

  • Unix/Mac OSX: ./gradlew deployNodes
  • Windows: gradlew.bat deployNodes

  This will automatically build four nodes with our CorDapp already installed

Note

CorDapps can be written in any language targeting the JVM. In our case, we've provided the example source in both Kotlin (/kotlin-source/src) and Java (/java-source/src). Since both sets of source files are functionally identical, we will refer to the Kotlin version throughout the documentation.

• After the build finishes, you will see the generated nodes in the kotlin-source/build/nodes folder

  • There will be a folder for each generated node, plus a runnodes shell script (or batch file on Windows) to run all the nodes simultaneously

  • Each node in the nodes folder has the following structure:

    . nodeName
    ├── corda.jar              // The Corda node runtime.
    ├── corda-webserver.jar    // The node development webserver.
    ├── node.conf              // The node configuration file.
    └── cordapps               // The node's CorDapps.

Running the example CorDapp

Start the nodes by running the following command from the root of the cordapp-example folder:

• Unix/Mac OSX: kotlin-source/build/nodes/runnodes
• Windows: call kotlin-source\build\nodes\runnodes.bat

Warning

On Unix/Mac OSX, do not click/change focus until all seven additional terminal windows have opened, or some nodes may fail to start.

For each node, the runnodes script creates a node tab/window:

______               __
/ ____/     _________/ /___ _
/ /     __  / ___/ __  / __ `/         Top tip: never say "oops", instead
/ /___  /_/ / /  / /_/ / /_/ /          always say "Ah, Interesting!"
\____/     /_/   \__,_/\__,_/

--- Corda Open Source corda-3.0 (4157c25) -----------------------------------------------


Logs can be found in                    : /Users/joeldudley/Desktop/cordapp-example/kotlin-source/build/nodes/PartyA/logs
Database connection url is              : jdbc:h2:tcp://localhost:59472/node
Incoming connection address             : localhost:10007
Listening on port                       : 10007
Loaded CorDapps                         : corda-finance-corda-3.0, cordapp-example-0.1, corda-core-corda-3.0
Node for "PartyA" started up and registered in 38.59 sec


Welcome to the Corda interactive shell.
Useful commands include 'help' to see what is available, and 'bye' to shut down the node.

Fri Mar 02 17:34:02 GMT 2018>>> 

For every node except the notary, the script also creates a webserver terminal tab/window:

Logs can be found in /Users/username/Desktop/cordapp-example/kotlin-source/build/nodes/PartyA/logs/web
Starting as webserver: localhost:10009
Webserver started up in 42.02 sec

It usually takes around 60 seconds for the nodes to finish starting up. To ensure that all the nodes are running, you can query the 'status' end-point located at http://localhost:[port]/api/status (e.g. http://localhost:10009/api/status for PartyA).

Running the example CorDapp from IntelliJ

• Select the Run Example CorDapp - Kotlin run configuration from the drop-down menu at the top right-hand side of the IDE

• Click the green arrow to start the nodes:

  

• To stop the nodes, press the red square button at the top right-hand side of the IDE, next to the run configurations

Interacting with the example CorDapp

Via HTTP

The nodes' webservers run locally on the following ports:

• PartyA: localhost:10009
• PartyB: localhost:10012
• PartyC: localhost:10015

These ports are defined in each node's node.conf file under kotlin-source/build/nodes/NodeX/node.conf.

Each node webserver exposes the following endpoints:

• /api/example/me
• /api/example/peers
• /api/example/ious
• /api/example/create-iou with parameters iouValue and partyName which is CN name of a node

There is also a web front-end served from /web/example.

Warning

The content in web/example is only available for demonstration purposes and does not implement anti-XSS, anti-XSRF or other security techniques. Do not use this code in production.

Creating an IOU via the endpoint

An IOU can be created by sending a PUT request to the api/example/create-iou endpoint directly, or by using the the web form served from /web/example.

To create an IOU between PartyA and PartyB, run the following command from the command line:

curl -X PUT 'http://localhost:10009/api/example/create-iou?iouValue=1&partyName=O=PartyB,L=New%20York,C=US'

Note that both PartyA's port number (10009) and PartyB are referenced in the PUT request path. This command instructs PartyA to agree an IOU with PartyB. Once the process is complete, both nodes will have a signed, notarised copy of the IOU. PartyC will not.

Submitting an IOU via the web front-end

To create an IOU between PartyA and PartyB, navigate to /web/example, click the "create IOU" button at the top-left of the page, and enter the IOU details into the web-form. The IOU must have a positive value. For example:

Counterparty: Select from list
Value (Int):   5

And click submit. Upon clicking submit, the modal dialogue will close, and the nodes will agree the IOU.

Checking the output

Assuming all went well, you can view the newly-created IOU by accessing the vault of PartyA or PartyB:

Via the HTTP API:

• PartyA's vault: Navigate to http://localhost:10009/api/example/ious
• PartyB's vault: Navigate to http://localhost:10012/api/example/ious

Via web/example:

• PartyA: Navigate to http://localhost:10009/web/example and hit the "refresh" button
• PartyA: Navigate to http://localhost:10012/web/example and hit the "refresh" button

The vault and web front-end of PartyC (at localhost:10015) will not display any IOUs. This is because PartyC was not involved in this transaction.

Via the interactive shell (terminal only)

Nodes started via the terminal will display an interactive shell:

Welcome to the Corda interactive shell.
Useful commands include 'help' to see what is available, and 'bye' to shut down the node.

Fri Jul 07 16:36:29 BST 2017>>>

Type flow list in the shell to see a list of the flows that your node can run. In our case, this will return the following list:

com.example.flow.ExampleFlow$Initiator
net.corda.core.flows.ContractUpgradeFlow$Initiator
net.corda.core.flows.ContractUpgradeFlow$Initiator
net.corda.finance.flows.CashExitFlow
net.corda.finance.flows.CashIssueAndPaymentFlow
net.corda.finance.flows.CashIssueFlow
net.corda.finance.flows.CashPaymentFlow

Creating an IOU via the interactive shell

We can create a new IOU using the ExampleFlow$Initiator flow. For example, from the interactive shell of PartyA, you can agree an IOU of 50 with PartyB by running flow start ExampleFlow$Initiator iouValue: 50, otherParty: "O=PartyB,L=New York,C=US".

This will print out the following progress steps:

✅   Generating transaction based on new IOU.
✅   Verifying contract constraints.
✅   Signing transaction with our private key.
✅   Gathering the counterparty's signature.
    ✅   Collecting signatures from counterparties.
    ✅   Verifying collected signatures.
✅   Obtaining notary signature and recording transaction.
    ✅   Requesting signature by notary service
            Requesting signature by Notary service
            Validating response from Notary service
    ✅   Broadcasting transaction to participants
✅   Done

Checking the output

We can also issue RPC operations to the node via the interactive shell. Type run to see the full list of available operations.

You can see the newly-created IOU by running run vaultQuery contractStateType: com.example.state.IOUState.

As before, the interactive shell of PartyC will not display any IOUs.

Via the h2 web console

You can connect directly to your node's database to see its stored states, transactions and attachments. To do so, please follow the instructions in node-database.

Using the example RPC client

/src/main/kotlin-source/com/example/client/ExampleClientRPC.kt defines a simple RPC client that connects to a node, logs any existing IOUs and listens for any future IOUs. If you haven't created any IOUs when you first connect to one of the nodes, the client will simply log any future IOUs that are agreed.

Running the client via IntelliJ

Run the 'Run Example RPC Client' run configuration. By default, this run configuration is configured to connect to PartyA. You can edit the run configuration to connect on a different port.

Running the client via the command line

Run the following gradle task:

./gradlew runExampleClientRPCKotlin

This will connect the RPC client to PartyA and log their past and future IOU activity.

You can close the application using ctrl+C.

For more information on the client RPC interface and how to build an RPC client application, see:

• Client RPC documentation <clientrpc>
• Client RPC tutorial <tutorial-clientrpc-api>

Running nodes across machines

The nodes can be configured to communicate as a network even when distributed across several machines:

• Deploy the nodes as usual:

  • Unix/Mac OSX: ./gradlew deployNodes
  • Windows: gradlew.bat deployNodes

• Navigate to the build folder (kotlin-source/build/nodes)

• For each node, open its node.conf file and change localhost in its p2pAddress to the IP address of the machine where the node will be run (e.g. p2pAddress="10.18.0.166:10007")

• These changes require new node-info files to be distributed amongst the nodes. Use the network bootstrapper tool (see network-bootstrapper) to update the files and have them distributed locally:

  java -jar network-bootstrapper.jar kotlin-source/build/nodes

• Move the node folders to their individual machines (e.g. using a USB key). It is important that none of the nodes - including the notary - end up on more than one machine. Each computer should also have a copy of runnodes and runnodes.bat.

  For example, you may end up with the following layout:

  • Machine 1: Notary, PartyA, runnodes, runnodes.bat
  • Machine 2: PartyB, PartyC, runnodes, runnodes.bat

• After starting each node, the nodes will be able to see one another and agree IOUs among themselves

Warning

The bootstrapper must be run after the node.conf files have been modified, but before the nodes are distributed across machines. Otherwise, the nodes will not be able to communicate.

Note

If you are using H2 and wish to use the same h2port value for two or more nodes, you must only assign them that value after the nodes have been moved to their individual machines. The initial bootstrapping process requires access to the nodes' databases and if two nodes share the same H2 port, the process will fail.

Testing your CorDapp

Corda provides several frameworks for writing unit and integration tests for CorDapps.

Contract tests

You can run the CorDapp's contract tests by running the Run Contract Tests - Kotlin run configuration.

Flow tests

You can run the CorDapp's flow tests by running the Run Flow Tests - Kotlin run configuration.

Integration tests

You can run the CorDapp's integration tests by running the Run Integration Tests - Kotlin run configuration.

Debugging your CorDapp

See debugging-a-cordapp.