Etherlime - January Status Update

Our fresh tool Etherlime is getting more and more glossy. We constantly work to polish it up and to improve its service. So in the next few paragraphs, we are going to update you with the newest functionalities it has enriched with.

What’s new?

With developers’ usability being one of the prime goals for Etherlime, this month we have focussed mainly on its practical progress. By adding some cosmetic improvements and additional utilities, the tool is now more efficient and easy to use. We are also working hard on bringing Etherlime closer to the community.

Unit tests syntax improvement

In previous status report we mentioned that we were working on optimising the unit text writing. Especially when it comes to make a function execution from non-deployer account. Previously you had to connect a wallet to a contract every time you needed to use different sender. In comparison, now you can just use the new syntax — `contract.from(address).method(params)`, passing any of ganache’s accounts or a custom wallet.

Wrapping ContractAt

Etherlime provides the option to work with an already deployed contract and now we have added one more way to do it quicker.

let contractInstance = etherlime.ContractAt(ContractDescriptor, deployedContractAddress)

This will wire up an instance of the wrapper connected to Etherlime ganache on the default port and default account and enables easer interaction with it.

Migration guide form Truffle to Etherlime

We have endeavoured to be helpful for all the users that see the pros of Etherlime but have already started their project with Truffle. Now, a step by step migration guide comes with many examples. It shows the differences and the changes that needed to be done in order to shift your script with Etherlime.

Supporting the community

We made a step forward to be more open to the community and to give prompt support to anyone who uses Etherlime and faces some difficulties. The tool has its own support group in Telegram. There you can write direct to the developers of the tool and ask your deep technical questions. Some of the next features we are going to develop on Etherlime has been requested by users from our community.

What are we currently developing?

Till the end of the January we have a few goals to accomplish and we are currently working on them.

Debugger

We have a significant progress integrating a debugger to the tool. Our team placed it on a high priority as we know it is essential part of the development of any software project.

Code scaffolding

The implementation of a CLI command that provides ready to use Decentralized Application (dApp) integrated with Etherlime is almost done. We named it shape because `etherlime shape <name>` will automatically outline a boilerplate code with all libraries/frameworks and settings needed for the project to run. As Angular is one of the most used front-end frameworks we started creating an integrated blockchain project with it. If anybody develops his own project that uses special framework and Etherlime is welcome to share it with us and we will include it as one of our shapes.

What’s next?

The 2019's arrival instigated us to outline long-term goals for the project’s development. We are focussing on making Etherlime the most user-friendly and usable framework out there and to share all the knowledge we have.

And the first helpers knocking on the door are:

Video lessons

We already gave the spoiler, but our team is going to create video lessons with the aim to teach the facets of blockchain development, while maintaining focus on how Etherlime helps to achieve your blockchain goals.

Debugger and Shapes

The debugger implementation and shapes (boxes) are the next features that are going to be finalised soon. Through them Etherlime will expand its functionality scope.

We believe the success of Etherlime depends not only on our passion to develop it (as we guarantee it’s big like those of a parent to his child) but on support from the community as well . So we encourage all blockchain enthusiasts and professionals to actively share their recommendations and experience.

Follow us on social media

• Etherlime Telegram
• Etherlime Twitter
• LimeChain website
• LimeChain Facebook page
• LimeChain LinkedIn

About the author: Desimira is Blockchain Developer and an inspiration for many. She followed her guts and became a Blockchain developer after being a journalist for 13 years. She enjoys developing smart contracts with Solidity and is eager to find out how the Blockchain technology will transform the world.