Web3.js for Ethereum

Essential Ethereum JS Library for DApps

It is a crucial component of DApps that run on the Ethereum blockchain. It is a js library that is used for interacting with the Ethereum blockchain. It helps the developers to interact with smart contracts, retrieve data from the Ethereum blockchain, and send transactions. It makes interaction easier with the Ethereum network and provides a very simple and developer-friendly API to perform various blockchain-related tasks. It refers to the evolution of the internet, where the decentralized and trustless nature of blockchain is integrated into web applications. It allows handling ERC-20 and other token standards as well as managing the native cryptocurrency of Ethereum (Ether).

Functionalities of Web3

There are some key functionalities of Web3 like.

1. Interacting with smart contracts (it provides methods that help to read data from existing contracts, call functions and deploy contracts)
2. Event handling (this helps us to subscribe to events emitted by smart contracts and enable them to listen for a particular time or at the occurrence of an event )
3. Managing transactions and the accounts (it helps in the creation and management of Ethereum and in sending and signing of transactions
4. Ethereum node connection (helps in connecting Ethereum local/public nodes to interact with Ethereum network )

How to use web3 in your DApps?

To make use of web3 in your Decentralized app, follow the steps mentioned below.

1. Setup

• Install node.js and npm (node package manager) on your machine and check the version to ensure that the latest version of the node is installed using the following command.
  
• Create a new folder for DApp and initialize npm ( node package manager)
  
• Now install web3.js as a dependency by using the following command:
  

2. Now, to interact with the blockchain, connect to the Ethereum network with the help of web3.js you can easily connect to the local/remote Ethereum node.

3. To interact with the blockchain or sign transactions, now create/import the Ethereum wallets with the help of web3.js

4. To send transactions to the contract or to call the function, you will need the contract address and its application binary interface.

5. Now handle the transaction lifecycle, like sending transactions, signing them, and listening to transaction events.

6. Now, you have to just handle the errors and responses from the Ethereum blockchain.