Jaco GreeffandThibaut Sardan
55fb391465
* Make a start * Intro * Installation * Flatten * Move METHODS_*.md to substrate/*.md * Basics * Apply suggestions from code review Co-Authored-By: Thibaut Sardan <33178835+Tbaut@users.noreply.github.com> * Substrate links * Create * api.consts * Typo * Typo, ms -> md * types.basics (SIP) * Type basics * api.consts jumps to api.query * Start to api.query * Basic queries * Point starting to actual overview * api.rpc * Derive detour * Query subs & query multi * Apply suggestions from code review Co-Authored-By: Thibaut Sardan <33178835+Tbaut@users.noreply.github.com> * typo * Query extras * Basic transactions * Misplaced , * keyring WIP * Keyring wrap-up * Subs SIP * tx subs more WIP * tx subs * Small types cleanups * Apply suggested changes from @JoshOrndorff * Clarify naked await * tx wrapping WIP * Wrap api.wrap * TS placeholder * [WIP] markers for not-started * Clarifying comments * Additional clarifications * types.extend... well, extended... * Remove *nix * Warp up TypeScript... it is it (for now) * Some small text clarifications * Some cleanups * Cleanups, typos * keyring cleanups * Cleanups * Wrap * api.wrap wrapped... hopefully * typos * Registration typos * typescript typos, hope I caught most...
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Installation
Yes, it really is as simple as installing from npm, so we are not going to waste too much time with the bare basics, just install the API via
yarn add @polkadot/api
And it will be added and ready for use. The above will always install the latest stable release, which should allow you to connect to testsnets and local nodes that are tracking versioned releases for Polkadot and Substrate.
Betas
For users who have a slightly higher appetite for risk, or are using bleeding-edge master branches of either Polkadot/Substrate, we also publish a beta version as soon as anything is merged into the API master branch. This version really contains all the latest fixes and features and is the version we actually use inside the polkadot-js projects - eating our own dogfood.
To install a beta version, either to test or for support of a feature that is available in Substrate master (and has not yet made it to a stable api release), you can install it via the @beta tag, i.e.
yarn add @polkadot/api@beta
Other dependencies
In most cases, you don't need to do anything else apart from just installing @polkadot/api above. It has dependencies such as @polkadot/types which are installed automatically alongside. When using yarn the dependencies are installed, flattened, available for use and you will never run into issues with mismatched versions.
This means that by simply installing @polkadot/api, you will have access to utilities (crypto and normal), types, providers and even higher-order (derived) API functions. (We will get to all of these in follow-up sections)
If you do however decide to explicitly install other packages (even though they are dependencies), please make sure that the versions inside the api package always match with your versions, i.e. if you installed @polkadot/api 0.91.0-beta.22 and you have your own version of @polkadot/types, ensure that it is also 0.91.0-beta.22.
API basics
So we have it installed. Before we jump into actual real-world usage, let's understand what the API gives us.