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What is a Vara program?​

A Vara program (sometimes referred to as a smart contract) is a piece of code compiled to Wasm, deployed to the blockchain, and can be executed by anyone who sends a message to it. The program can store data, receive and send messages, and perform any other actions allowed by the Gear Protocol.

Every program should have a set of exported functions that can be called by the Gear Protocol. These functions are called entry points. The Gear Protocol has a set of predefined entry points used to initialize the program, handle incoming messages, and process replies to previously sent messages.

However, it's impossible to implement any business logic without using imported functions that form the API for the program. The Gear Protocol has a set of predefined API functions that can be used by any program. These include low-level functions allowing developers to load incoming message payloads, send messages, and perform other actions. Additionally, there are higher-level libraries that enable convenient interaction with the Gear Protocol.

Predefined entry points (exported functions)​

handle()​

The central exported function of the Vara program is handle(). It is called every time the program receives an incoming message. Below is the Rust example code:

#[no_mangle]
extern "C" fn handle() {
    // Execute this code during explicitly incoming message
}

This function is obligatory to be defined in the program. It establishes the main business logic of the program. For example:

  • Checking the incoming message and performing actions based on the message type.
  • Sending a message to another program.
  • Sending a reply to the message that was received by the program.

init()​

As with any other program intended to be executed in some environment, a Vara program has its lifecycle. It is initialized, receives messages, and can be terminated. By defining the optional init() function, one can perform actions during program initialization, such as storing data in the program's memory. The init() function is invoked only once at program initialization.

#[no_mangle]
extern "C" fn init() {
    // Execute this code during program initialization
}

If there is no init() function in the program, the program will be initialized without any custom actions.

handle_reply()​

The third most important function is handle_reply(). It is called when the program receives a reply to the message that was sent by the program. For example, you can check the reply and perform some actions depending on the reply type.

#[no_mangle]
extern "C" fn handle_reply() {
    // Execute this code during handling reply on the previously sent message
}

There is no need to define the handle_reply() function if the program doesn't intend to receive replies. In this case, the program will ignore all incoming replies.

The reply message is similar to the ordinary message, but it has some differences:

  • The reply message is sent to the user or program that has sent the original message. The destination of the reply message cannot be set explicitly.
  • Only one reply message per execution can be sent. We get an error if we try to send more than one reply message.
  • Even if the program execution is failed (for example, panic is called or the gas limit is exceeded), the reply message will be sent anyway.
  • The reply message is processed in handle_reply() function instead of handle() function for the ordinary message. We have mentioned this above but it is worth underlining it again.

API functions (imported functions)​

There are a lot of imported functions that can be used by the Vara program. They are called API functions. These functions are provided by the runtime that executes the Gear program. The most convenient way to use these functions is to use the Gear standard library called gstd. It is a set of high-level functions that are implemented on top of the low-level API functions.

More details about the Gear Protocol's standard library can be found in the Gear Library section.

Basic stages of the Vara program lifecycle​

The typical lifecycle of a Vara program involves utilizing the Rust programming language for example. However, it's essential to note that the same principles apply to any other programming language that can be compiled into WebAssembly (Wasm).

1. Write the program code.​

You can find the minimal example in the Getting Started section. It is a simple program that stores the counter, can increment and decrement it and returns the current value of the counter.

More advanced examples can be found in the Gear Foundation organization on GitHub: https://github.com/gear-foundation

2. Test the program.​

The Vara developer community recommends using the gtest crate for testing Vara programs as it enables program unit tests to be written and run in the local environment.

The more advanced way to test the program is to use the gclient crate that allows you to run the program in the blockchain network. It is useful when you need to test the program in a real environment.

You can find more details about testing in the Program Testing section.

3. Compile the program into Wasm.​

The Vara developer community recommends using the gear-wasm-builder crate in a custom build script build.rs.

Add it to the [build-dependencies] section in the Cargo.toml file:

[build-dependencies]
gear-wasm-builder = { git = "https://github.com/gear-tech/gear.git", tag = "v1.1.1", features = ["wasm-opt"] }

And add the following code to the build.rs file:

fn main() {
    gear_wasm_builder::build();
}

The compiled Wasm files can be found in the target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release directory.

4. Deploy the program to the blockchain.​

Program deployment is a process of storing the program's Wasm code on the blockchain and its initialization. The user pays a fee for the deployment transaction. The program is deployed to the blockchain only once. After that, it can be executed by anyone by sending a message to it.

If initialization fails (for example, the program panics in the init() function), the program is not deployed and the user gets an error.

More details about the program deployment can be found in the Upload Program section.

5. Execute the program.​

The program can be executed by sending a message to it. The message can be sent by the user or by another program. The user pays a fee for the message execution. The program can send a reply to the message. The reply is sent to the user or program that has sent the original message.

6. Terminate the program.​

The program can be terminated by calling the gstd::exec::exit function. Also, the program is paused if the rent is not paid.

The program can't be executed after termination.

Program key features​

Vara programs have a lot of features that make them unique. Let's explore the most important of them.

State function​

Vara programs can store the state in persistent memory. Anyone can read this memory from the blockchain.

To make state reading more convenient, Vara programs can define the state() function.

#[no_mangle]
extern "C" fn state() {
    msg::reply(any_encodable_data, 0).expect("Failed to share state");
}

This function is stored in the blockchain in the same Wasm blob with handle() and init() functions. But unlike them, it is not executed using extrinsic and doesn't affect the blockchain state. It can be executed for free by any node with a fully synchronized blockchain state. There is a dedicated read_state RPC call for this.

The data returned by the state() function can be converted to any convenient representation by using a state-conversion program. This is a separate program compiled into Wasm and dedicated to being executed on the off-chain runner. It should contain a set of meta-functions that accept the data returned by the state() function and return the data in a convenient format. There is a dedicated read_state_using_wasm RPC call for reading the program state using the state-conversion program.

More details about state functions can be found in the State Functions section.

Asynchronous programming​

In some cases, it is more convenient to express some concepts in an asynchronous programming style. For example, when you need to wait for a reply from another program or wait for a certain time.

Under the hood, the async/await syntax is a kind of syntactic sugar that generates a state machine around gstd::exec::wait and gstd::exec::wake functions. The state machine is stored in the program's persistent memory.

Note that in case of using async functions, you are to declare the async main() function with #[async_main] attribute instead of the handle() function:

#[gstd::async_main]
async fn main() {
    // Async code here
}

The initialization function can also be declared as an async function:

#[gstd::async_init]
async fn init() {
    // Async init code here
}

More details about asynchronous programming can be found in the Asynchronous Programming section.

Creating programs from programs​

Both users and programs are actors in terms of the Gear programming model. Therefore, any actor can create a new program and deploy it to the blockchain.

The only prerequisite is that the code of the program should be stored in the blockchain. This can be done by using the upload_code extrinsic that returns an identifier of the uploaded code. The code can be uploaded only once, then it can be used for creating multiple programs.

There are several helper functions for creating programs from programs in the gstd::prog module.

More details about creating programs from programs can be found in the Create Program section.

Gas reservation​

Vara programs use gas for measuring the complexity of the program execution. The user pays a fee for the gas used by the program. Some part of the gas limit may be reserved during the current execution to be spent later. This gas reserving mechanism can be used to shift the burden of paying for program execution from one user to another. Also, it makes it possible to run some deferred actions using delayed messages described below.

You can find more details about gas reservation in the Gas Reservation section.

Delayed messages​

Vara's programs can send messages to other actors during the current execution and after some time. This mechanism can be used to implement deferred actions.

Use functions with *_delayed suffix from gstd::msg module to send a delayed message to a program or user. The message will be sent after the specified number of blocks.

More details about delayed messages can be found in the Delayed Messages section.

System signals​

Sometimes the system that executes the program should communicate with it in some manner. For example, the program should be notified when the rent is not paid. This can be done by using system signals.

The handle_signal() function should be declared in the program to handle system signals. It is executed when the program receives a system signal.

 #[no_mangle]
extern "C" fn handle_signal() {
    // Handle system signal here
}

You can find more details about system signals in the System Signals section.

Reply deposit​

Usually, the reply sender pays a gas fee for the reply message execution. However, sometimes it is more convenient to shift this burden to the program that receives the reply. This can be done by using the reply deposit mechanism.

The reply deposit is a part of the gas limit reserved during the current execution to be spent later. The reserved gas can be used to pay for the reply message execution. To do this, the program should call the gstd::exec::reply_deposit function. This function provides a gas deposit from the current message to handle the reply message on the given message ID. This message ID should be sent within the execution. Once the destination actor or system sends a reply to it, the gas limit is ignored; if the program provides a deposit, only it will be used for the execution of handle_reply.

More details about reply deposit can be found in the Reply Deposit section.