How to decode an ETH contract output hex as string? - ethereum

When I make an eth_call to the Usdt smart contract on Eth MainNet, I get a 96-byte hex output.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000020 // What is this?
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000a // Size of the output
5465746865722055534400000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 // Output ("Tether USD")
I understand that the 3rd 32 bytes contain the actual string output with right padding, and the 2nd 32 bytes contain the output size in bytes with left padding. What do the 1st 32 bytes contain?
Rpc Call
{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_call","params":[{"To":"0xdAC17F958D2ee523a2206206994597C13D831ec7","Data":"0x06fdde03"},"latest"],"id":1}

The first 32byte slot is an offset that points to the length slot, which is immediately followed by slot(s) containing the actual param value.
The offset is useful in cases when a function returns multiple dynamic-length arrays (a string is represented as a dynamic-length byte array), like in this example:
pragma solidity ^0.8;
contract MyContract {
function foo() external pure returns (string memory, string memory) {
return ("Tether USD", "Ethereum");
}
}
Returned data:
# offset pointing to the length of the 1st param
0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000040
# offset pointing to the length of the 2nd param
0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000080
# 1st param length
0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000a
# followed by 1st param value
0x5465746865722055534400000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
# 2nd param length
0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000008
# followed by 2nd param value
0x457468657265756d000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
If you had a fixed-length param between those two, the returned data structure would look like this:
offset to the length of the 1st param
the (fixed length) 2nd param actual value
offset to the length of the 3rd param
the rest is the same as above
Docs: https://docs.soliditylang.org/en/latest/abi-spec.html#use-of-dynamic-types

Related

How to compare an ascii string with a uint8 array in Solidity?

I have a uint8 array containing ASCII codes for characters and a string variable, and I wish to make a comparison between them. For example:
uint8[3] memory foo = [98, 97, 122]; // baz
string memory bar = "baz";
bool result = keccak256(abi.encodePacked(foo)) == keccak256(abi.encodePacked(bytes(bar))); // false
Here I want the comparison to succeed, but it's a failure because encodePacked will keep the padding of all the uint8 elements in the array when encoding it.
How can I do it instead?
You are currently comparing encoded value abi.encodePacked(foo)) to hashed value keccak256(abi.encodePacked(bytes(bar)), which would never equal.
The uint8 fixed-size array is stored in memory in three separate slots - one for each item - and each of the items is ordered right to left (little endian).
0x
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000062
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000061
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000007a
But the string literal is stored as a dynamic-size byte array ordered left to right (big endian):
0x
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000020 # pointer
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003 # length
62617a0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 # value
So because the actual data is stored differently, you cannot perform a simple byte comparison of both arrays.
You can, however, loop through all items of the array and compare each item separately.
pragma solidity ^0.8;
contract MyContract {
function compare() external pure returns (bool) {
uint8[3] memory foo = [98, 97, 122]; // baz
string memory bar = "baz";
// typecast the `string` to `bytes` dynamic-length array
// so that you can use its `.length` member property
// and access its items individually (see `barBytes[i]` below, not possible with `bar[i]`)
bytes memory barBytes = bytes(bar);
// prevent accessing out-of-bounds index in the following loop
// as well as false positive if `foo` contains just the beginning of `bar` but not the whole string
if (foo.length != barBytes.length) {
return false;
}
// loop through each item of `foo`
for (uint i; i < foo.length; i++) {
uint8 barItemDecimal = uint8(barBytes[i]);
// and compare it to each decimal value of `bar` character
if (foo[i] != barItemDecimal) {
return false;
}
}
// all items have equal values
return true;
}
}

In what slots are variables stored that are defined after an array in Solidity?

So I know how arrays are stored in storage. If I understand it correctly it first stores the number of items in an array in the first slot, and then in the next slots, it stores the hashed values.
My question is what if I define uint after the array and the array during deployment has only 2 values. So it should take up 3 slots. Then in the fourth slot is the uint I defined.
What if there is a function that will push something to the array? How is it stored?
Will it be stored in the next free slot? Or will it push the uint to the next slot and replace it with the new value?
I hope the question is clear if not I will try to rephrase it.
Also if there is some good resource where I can learn all about storage in solidity please share the link.
Thanks a lot!
Fixed-size array stores its values in sequential order, starting with the 0th index. There's no prepended slot that would show the total length. Any unset values use the default value of 0.
pragma solidity ^0.8;
contract MyContract {
address[3] addresses; // storage slots 0, 1, 2
uint256 number; // storage slot 3
constructor(address[2] memory _addresses, uint256 _number) {
addresses = _addresses;
number = _number;
}
}
Passing 2 addresses to the constructor, storage slot values in this case:
0: _addresses[0]
1: _addresses[1]
2: default value of zero (third address was not defined)
3: _number
Dynamic-size array stores its values in keys that are hash of the property storage slot (in example below that's 0, as that's the first storage property), and immediately following slots. In the property storage slot, it stores the array length.
pragma solidity ^0.8;
contract MyContract {
/*
* storage slots:
* p (in this case value 0, as this is the first storage property) = length of the array
* keccak256(p) = value of index 0
* keccak256(p) + 1 = value of index 1
* etc.
*/
address[] addresses;
// storage slot 1
uint256 number;
constructor(address[] memory _addresses, uint256 _number) {
addresses = _addresses;
number = _number;
}
}
Passing 2 addresses to the constructor, storage slot values in this case:
0: value 2 (length of the array)
1: _number
0x290decd9548b62a8d60345a988386fc84ba6bc95484008f6362f93160ef3e563 (hash of uint 0): _addresses[0]
0x290decd9548b62a8d60345a988386fc84ba6bc95484008f6362f93160ef3e564 (hash of uint 0, plus 1): _addresses[1]
Docs: https://docs.soliditylang.org/en/v0.8.13/internals/layout_in_storage.html#mappings-and-dynamic-arrays
So to answer your questions:
What if there is a function that will push something to the array? How is it stored?
Will it be stored in the next free slot? Or will it push the uint to the next slot and replace it with the new value?
Fixed-size arrays cannot be resized. You can only rewrite its values, while the default value of each item is 0.
In case of dynamic-size arrays, it pushes the new value right after the last one. Since they are stored in slots which indexes are based on a hash, the probability of rewriting another value is practically 0 (i.e. that would mean a hash collision).
In both cases, it doesn't affect how other storage properties are stored.

Solidity and Web3 sha3() methods return something else

In my contract, I have a function that returns the sha3 hash of a certain set of values. While running some tests I found that the value returned from this function differs from the hash value generated by web3.utils.sha3() (with identical arguments).
Here is the code:
Solidity
function hashInfo() public onlyOwner view returns (bytes32) {
bytes32 hash = sha3(
'0x969A70A4fa9F69D2D655E4B743abb9cA297E5328',
'0x496AAFA2960f3Ff530716B5334c9aFf4612e3c27',
'jdiojd',
'oidjoidj',
'idjodj',
12345
)
return hash;
}
JS (web3)
async function testHash(instance){
const contractHash = await instance.methods.hashInfo().call({from: '0x969A70A4fa9F69D2D655E4B743abb9cA297E5328'});
const localHash = web3.utils.sha3(
'0x969A70A4fa9F69D2D655E4B743abb9cA297E5328',
'0x496AAFA2960f3Ff530716B5334c9aFf4612e3c27',
'jdiojd',
'oidjoidj',
'idjodj',
12345
)
console.log(contractHash);
console.log(localHash);
console.log('local == contract: ' + (contractHash == localHash));
}
The resulting console output is:
0xe65757c5a99964b72d217493c192c073b9a580ec4b477f40a6c1f4bc537be076
0x3c23cebfe35b4da6f6592d38876bdb93f548085baf9000d538a1beb31558fc6d
local == contract: false
Any ideas? Does this have something to do with passing multiple arguments to the functions? I have also tried to convert everything to a string and concatenate them into one single string, but also without success.
Thanks in advance!
UPDATE
I found out there also if a web3 method called web3.utils.soliditySha3(). This too did not work and gave the following result:
0xe65757c5a99964b72d217493c192c073b9a580ec4b477f40a6c1f4bc537be076
0x0cf65f7c81dab0a5d414539b0e2f3807526fd9c15e197eaa6c7706d27aa7a0f8
local == contract: false
I'm happy I came after your update as I was just gonna suggest solditySHA3. Now that you've got the right function your problem is most likely with Soldity packing it's parameters.
As you can see here, sha3 is an alias to keccak256 which tightly packs it's arguments. Following the link on that page takes you here which fully explains how it's handled. Basically just take the inputs to soliditySHA3 and pack the bits as if they were the sizes of the variables you used. So if you hashed two uint32s (32 bits each, 64 total) you need to take the 2 64 bit Javascript numbers and compress them into 1 Javascript number.
For cases where more than 64 bits are needed I believe you can pass sequential ints (sets of 64 bits) to soliditySHA3 or you could use a BigInt. Personally, I usually try to only hash 256 bit variables together to avoid having to manually pack my bits on the JS end, but we all know that space constraints are huge in Solidity. I hope I helped, and let me know if you have further questions.

How is the below Ethereum contract function call data is constructed?

0x5537f99e000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000072268656c6c6f2200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
5537f99e is the function name, which is 'setstring'
2268656c6c6f22 is the argument to the function, which is 'hello',
Please explain how this raw data to a ethereum contract is consturcted. I'm confused at those offsets.
You can find the reference here https://solidity.readthedocs.io/en/develop/abi-spec.html
if your function is
function setstring(string string_value) {
}
first 4bytes 0x5537f99e
First 4 bytes of data is derived as the first 4 bytes of the Keccak hash of the ASCII form of the signature setstring(string)
next 32 bytes 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000020
This means the location of the data part of your string_value, measured in bytes from the start of the arguments block. In this case, the next block
next 32 bytes
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000007
This means size of your string, 7. "hello"
next 32 bytes
2268656c6c6f2200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
The contents of the "hello" encoded in UTF-8.

What do the functions lowByte() and highByte() do?

I've made this small experimental program in Arduino to see how the functions lowByte() and highByte() work. What exactly are they supposed to return when passed a value?
On entering the character '9' in the serial monitor it prints the following:
9
0
218
255
How does that come? Also, the last 2 lines are being printed for all values inputted. Why is this happening?
int i=12;
void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop()
{
if(Serial.available())
{
i = Serial.read() - '0'; // conversion of character to number. eg, '9' becomes 9.
Serial.print(lowByte(i)); // send the low byte
Serial.print(highByte(i)); // send the high byte
}
}
If you have this data:
10101011 11001101 // original
// HighByte() get:
10101011
// LowByte() get:
11001101
An int is a 16-bit integer on Arduino. So you are reading the high and low part as a byte.
As the actual buffer is "9\n", that is why the second bit prints out 'funny' numbers due to subtracting the result with '0'.
Serial.print needs to be formatted to a byte output if that's what you want to see.
Try:
Serial.print(lowByte, BYTE)
In addition to Rafalenfs' answer, Should you provide a larger data type:
00000100 10101011 11001101 // original
// HighByte() will NOT return: 00000100, but will return:
10101011
// LowByte() will still return:
11001101
Highbyte() returns the second lowest bit (as specified by the documentation: https://www.arduino.cc/reference/en/language/functions/bits-and-bytes/highbyte/)