Technical Tutorial For Setting Up The Venom Smart Contract Development Environment

One of the most challenging aspects of programming or building a project is to set up the development environment, and this can be super frustrating sometimes. I am here to help you through this unwanted stress but with a focus on the Venom Smart Contract Development Environment.
To set up the Venom Smart Contract Development Environment, you need to consider these steps:

1. Install Locklift: To be able to use Locklift effectively you need to understand it first. Now what is Locklift? Locklift is a development environment that allows you to compile, deploy, and test your Venom contracts. You can install it by running the command npm install -g locklift.

2. Initialize your first project: After successfully installing Locklift. Run the command locklift init --path sample-project to initialize a new Locklift project. This command will create a new project folder called "sample-project" and fill it with sample files.

3. Configure your project: The configuration file for your project is called locklift.config.ts. You can modify this file to configure your environment based on the Venom blockchain networks. For example, you can modify the compiler version, linker version, and network configurations.

4. Run the local node: To run a local node, ensure that you have Docker installed and execute the following command: docker run -d -e USER_AGREEMENT=yes --rm --name local-node -p80:80 tonlabs/local-node. This command will start a local blockchain node that is accessible at http://localhost/graphql.

5. Test and develop: You can now run tests and start developing your smart contracts on the local node. To run tests on the local network using the specified configuration, run the command locklift test --network local --config ./locklift.config.ts.

Also, it is important to note that the smart contract development language of the Venom blockchain is Threaded Solidity (T-Sol). T-Sol is similar to Solidity, the language used by developers to build smart contracts on Ethereum. T-Sol is tailor-made to facilitate the Venom Actor Model and provides built-in functionalities for building dApps and managing smart contracts. Additionally, there is a T-Sol plugin available for JetBrains IDEs that is designed to make writing TVM-based smart contracts more comfortable and faster. The plugin is open-source and was released under the MIT license.

How to configure Locklift for the Venom smart contract development environment

To configure Locklift for the Venom Smart Contract Development Environment, follow these steps:

1. Open the locklift.config.ts file: The configuration file for your project is called locklift.config.ts. You can modify this file to configure your environment based on the Venom blockchain networks.

2. Modify the configuration file: Modify parameters like compiler.version, linker.version, and network configurations as needed. Here's the basic layout for Venom blockchain networks:

    import { LockliftConfig } from "locklift";
    import { FactorySource } from "./build/factorySource";
   
    declare global {
      const locklift: import("locklift").Locklift<FactorySource>;
      const LOCAL_NETWORK_ENDPOINT = "http://localhost/graphql";
      const config: LockliftConfig = {
        compiler: {
          ...
        },
        ...
      };
    }
   

   1. Save the configuration file: Save the locklift.config.ts file after making the necessary changes.

By following these steps, you can configure Locklift for the Venom Smart Contract Development Environment. The locklift.config.ts file is crucial for setting up your Locklift environment and specifying how your project will interact with different networks. It is important to note that Locklift is a Node JS framework designed to facilitate the building, testing, running, and maintaining of smart contracts for TVM (Threaded Virtual Machine) blockchains like Everscale, Venom, Gosh, and TON. Locklift is typically utilized through a local installation in your project, ensuring reproducibility and preventing future version conflicts.

The locklift.config.ts file is crucial for setting up the Locklift environment and specifying how your project will interact with different networks. It allows you to configure your environment based on the Venom blockchain networks, and modify parameters like compiler.version, linker.version, and network configurations as needed. The configuration file is typically used to specify settings such as network connections, giver settings, key management, and more. The locklift.config.ts file can be modified by opening it and changing the parameters as needed. The basic layout for Venom blockchain networks is as follows:

import { LockliftConfig } from "locklift";
import { FactorySource } from "./build/factorySource";

declare global {
  const locklift: import("locklift").Locklift<FactorySource>;
  const LOCAL_NETWORK_ENDPOINT = "http://localhost/graphql";
  const config: LockliftConfig = {
    compiler: {
      ...
    },
    ...
  };
}

The given code snippet is written in TypeScript and contains type declarations and global variables.

1. The import { LockliftConfig } from "locklift"; statement imports the LockliftConfig` type from the "locklift" module.

2. The import { Factory } from "./build/factorySource"; statement imports the FactorySource type from the "./build/factorySource" file.

3. The declare global { ... } block is used to define global variables in TypeScript. In this case, it is defining two global variables a. locklift variable is of type import("locklift").Locklift<FactorySource>. It represents an instance of the Locklift class with the generic type FactorySource. This instance provides functionality for interacting with the "locklift module b. The LOCAL_NETWORK_ENDPOINT variable is a string that represents the endpoint URL for a local network. It is set to "http://localhost/graphql".

4. The config variable is declared with the type LockliftConfig and assigned an object containing various properties related to the locklift configuration. These properties include a nested compiler object with additional configurations.

Overall, this snippet defines type declarations and global variables related to the locklift module and its configuration.

The parameters that can be modified in the locklift.config.ts file for the Venom Smart Contract Development Environment include:

• compiler.version: This specifies the version of the TON Solidity compiler to use.

• linker.version: This specifies the version of the TON linker to use.

• network configurations: This specifies the network configurations for the different Venom blockchain networks.

• giver settings: This also specifies the giver settings for the different Venom blockchain networks.

• key management: Specifies the key management settings for the different Venom blockchain networks.

By modifying these parameters, you can configure your Locklift environment to interact with the Venom blockchain networks in the way that best suits your project's needs.