10-savinggasview.md

title	actions	requireLogin	material
Saving Gas With 'View' Functions	checkAnswer hints	true	editor language startingCode answer sol zombiehelper.sol zombiefeeding.sol zombiefactory.sol ownable.sol pragma solidity ^0.4.19; import "./zombiefeeding.sol"; contract ZombieHelper is ZombieFeeding { modifier aboveLevel(uint _level, uint _zombieId) { require(zombies[_zombieId].level >= _level); _; } function changeName(uint _zombieId, string _newName) external aboveLevel(2, _zombieId) { require(msg.sender == zombieToOwner[_zombieId]); zombies[_zombieId].name = _newName; } function changeDna(uint _zombieId, uint _newDna) external aboveLevel(20, _zombieId) { require(msg.sender == zombieToOwner[_zombieId]); zombies[_zombieId].dna = _newDna; } // Create your function here } pragma solidity ^0.4.19; import "./zombiefactory.sol"; contract KittyInterface { function getKitty(uint256 _id) external view returns ( bool isGestating, bool isReady, uint256 cooldownIndex, uint256 nextActionAt, uint256 siringWithId, uint256 birthTime, uint256 matronId, uint256 sireId, uint256 generation, uint256 genes ); } contract ZombieFeeding is ZombieFactory { KittyInterface kittyContract; function setKittyContractAddress(address _address) external onlyOwner { kittyContract = KittyInterface(_address); } function feedAndMultiply(uint _zombieId, uint _targetDna, string _species) public { require(msg.sender == zombieToOwner[_zombieId]); Zombie storage myZombie = zombies[_zombieId]; _targetDna = _targetDna % dnaModulus; uint newDna = (myZombie.dna + _targetDna) / 2; if (keccak256(_species) == keccak256("kitty")) { newDna = newDna - newDna % 100 + 99; } _createZombie("NoName", newDna); } function feedOnKitty(uint _zombieId, uint _kittyId) public { uint kittyDna; (,,,,,,,,,kittyDna) = kittyContract.getKitty(_kittyId); feedAndMultiply(_zombieId, kittyDna, "kitty"); } } pragma solidity ^0.4.19; import "./ownable.sol"; contract ZombieFactory is Ownable { event NewZombie(uint zombieId, string name, uint dna); uint dnaDigits = 16; uint dnaModulus = 10 ** dnaDigits; uint cooldownTime = 1 days; struct Zombie { string name; uint dna; uint32 level; uint32 readyTime; } Zombie[] public zombies; mapping (uint => address) public zombieToOwner; mapping (address => uint) ownerZombieCount; function _createZombie(string _name, uint _dna) internal { uint id = zombies.push(Zombie(_name, _dna, 1, uint32(now + cooldownTime))) - 1; zombieToOwner[id] = msg.sender; ownerZombieCount[msg.sender]++; NewZombie(id, _name, _dna); } function _generateRandomDna(string _str) private view returns (uint) { uint rand = uint(keccak256(_str)); return rand % dnaModulus; } function createRandomZombie(string _name) public { require(ownerZombieCount[msg.sender] == 0); uint randDna = _generateRandomDna(_name); randDna = randDna - randDna % 100; _createZombie(_name, randDna); } } /** * @title Ownable * @dev The Ownable contract has an owner address, and provides basic authorization control * functions, this simplifies the implementation of "user permissions". */ contract Ownable { address public owner; event OwnershipTransferred(address indexed previousOwner, address indexed newOwner); /** * @dev The Ownable constructor sets the original `owner` of the contract to the sender * account. */ function Ownable() public { owner = msg.sender; } /** * @dev Throws if called by any account other than the owner. */ modifier onlyOwner() { require(msg.sender == owner); _; } /** * @dev Allows the current owner to transfer control of the contract to a newOwner. * @param newOwner The address to transfer ownership to. */ function transferOwnership(address newOwner) public onlyOwner { require(newOwner != address(0)); OwnershipTransferred(owner, newOwner); owner = newOwner; } } pragma solidity ^0.4.19; import "./zombiefeeding.sol"; contract ZombieHelper is ZombieFeeding { modifier aboveLevel(uint _level, uint _zombieId) { require(zombies[_zombieId].level >= _level); _; } function changeName(uint _zombieId, string _newName) external aboveLevel(2, _zombieId) { require(msg.sender == zombieToOwner[_zombieId]); zombies[_zombieId].name = _newName; } function changeDna(uint _zombieId, uint _newDna) external aboveLevel(20, _zombieId) { require(msg.sender == zombieToOwner[_zombieId]); zombies[_zombieId].dna = _newDna; } function getZombiesByOwner(address _owner) external view returns(uint[]) { } }

Awesome! Now we have some special abilities for higher-level zombies, to give our owners an incentive to level them up. We can add more of these later if we want to.

Let's add one more function: our DApp needs a method to view a user's entire zombie army — let's call it getZombiesByOwner.

This function will only need to read data from the blockchain, so we can make it a view function. Which brings us to an important topic when talking about gas optimization:

View functions don't cost gas

view functions don't cost any gas when they're called externally by a user.

This is because view functions don't actually change anything on the blockchain – they only read the data. So marking a function with view tells web3.js that it only needs to query your local Ethereum node to run the function, and it doesn't actually have to create a transaction on the blockchain (which would need to be run on every single node, and cost gas).

We'll cover setting up web3.js with your own node later. But for now the big takeaway is that you can optimize your DApp's gas usage for your users by using read-only external view functions wherever possible.

Note: If a view function is called internally from another function in the same contract that is not a view function, it will still cost gas. This is because the other function creates a transaction on Ethereum, and will still need to be verified from every node. So view functions are only free when they're called externally.

Put it to the test

We're going to implement a function that will return a user's entire zombie army. We can later call this function from web3.js if we want to display a user profile page with their entire army.

This function's logic is a bit complicated so it will take a few chapters to implement.

1. Create a new function named getZombiesByOwner. It will take one argument, an address named _owner.

2. Let's make it an external view function, so we can call it from web3.js without needing any gas.

3. The function should return a uint[] (an array of uint).

Leave the function body empty for now, we'll fill it in in the next chapter.