eth_call | Fantom

Fantom API method that enables instant execution of a new message call without requiring the creation of a transaction on the blockchain. This can be useful for testing and debugging by simulating transfers or smart contract transactions and retrieving data from the blockchain.

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Disclaimer

The interactive example in this page uses eth_call to call the totalSupply() method from the WFTM Token smart contract on Fantom Chain.

Parameters

• object — the transaction call object:
  • from — (optional) the address string used to send the transaction.
  • to — the string of the address to which the transaction is directed, a wallet, or a smart contract.
  • gas — (optional) the maximum amount of gas that can be used by the transaction.
  • gasprice — (optional) the amount of gas price the sender is willing to pay for each gas unit in Wei.
  • value — (optional) the value sent with this transaction, encoded as hexadecimal.
  • data — (optional) additional data to be sent with the call, usually used to invoke functions from smart contracts as a string of the hash of the method signature and encoded parameters. See the Ethereum Contract ABI.
• quantity or tag — the integer of a block encoded as hexadecimal or the string with:
• latest — the most recent block in the blockchain and the current state of the blockchain at the most recent block. A chain reorganization is to be expected.
• safe—the block that received justification from the beacon chain. Although this block could be involved in a chain reorganization, it would necessitate either a coordinated attack by the majority of validators or severe propagation latency.
• finalized—the block accepted as canonical by more than 2/3 of the validators. A chain reorganization is extremely unlikely, requiring burning at least 1/3 of the staked amount.
• earliest — the earliest available or genesis block.
• pending—the pending state and transactions block. This is the current state of transactions that have been broadcast to the network but have not yet been included in a block.

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See the default block parameter.

Response

• data — the result of executing the specified call on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), encoded as a hexadecimal string.

eth_call code examples

The following code snippets clearly demonstrate how to simulate a standard ether transfer between two accounts. Note that when using eth_call to simulate a transfer or a smart contract transaction, the sender account must have a sufficient balance to cover the associated gas fee.

const { Web3 } = require('web3');
const NODE_URL = "CHAINSTACK_NODE_URL";
const web3 = new Web3(NODE_URL);

async function simulateTransfer() {
    try {
        // Define the accounts to transfer between
        const fromAddress = "0x95222290DD7278Aa3Ddd389Cc1E1d165CC4BAfe5";
        const toAddress = "0x19e7e376e7c213b7e7e7e46cc70a5dd086daff2a";

        // Define the value to transfer (converted to Wei)
        const value = web3.utils.toWei("100", "ether");

        // Build transaction object
        const transactionObject = {
            from: fromAddress,
            to: toAddress,
            gas: 21000, // 21000 is the standard for a regular tranfer
            value: value,
            data: ""
        }

        // Use eth_call to simulate the transfer on the latest block
        const result = await web3.eth.call({
            transactionObject
        }, "latest");

        console.log(`Transaction hash: ${result}`);
    } catch (error) {
        console.error(`Error: ${error.message}`);
    }
}

simulateTransfer();

const ethers = require('ethers');
const NODE_URL = "CHAINSTACK_NODE_URL";
const provider = new ethers.JsonRpcProvider(NODE_URL);

const simulateTransfer = async () => {
  try {    
    // Define the accounts to transfer between
    const fromAddress = "0x95222290DD7278Aa3Ddd389Cc1E1d165CC4BAfe5";
    const toAddress = "0x19e7e376e7c213b7e7e7e46cc70a5dd086daff2a";

    // Define the value to transfer
    const value = ethers.parseEther("1");

    // Build transaction object
    const transactionObject = {
        from: fromAddress,
        to: toAddress,
        gasLimit: ethers.toQuantity(21000),
        value: value
    }

    // Use eth_call to simulate the transfer on the latest block
    const result = await provider.call(transactionObject);
    console.log(`Result: ${result}`);

  } catch (error) {
    console.error(`Error: ${error.message}`);

  }
}

simulateTransfer();

from web3 import Web3  
node_url = "CHAINSTACK_NODE_URL"

web3 = Web3(Web3.HTTPProvider(node_url)) 

# Define the accounts to transfer between
from_address = web3.to_checksum_address('0x95222290DD7278Aa3Ddd389Cc1E1d165CC4BAfe5')
to_address = web3.to_checksum_address('0x19e7e376e7c213b7e7e7e46cc70a5dd086daff2a')

# Define the value to transfer (in Ether)
value = web3.to_wei(1, 'ether')

# Build the transaction object
transaction = {
    'from': from_address,
    'to': to_address,
    'gas': 21000,  # 21000 is the standard for a regular transfer
    'value': value,
    'data': '',
}

# Use eth_call to simulate the transfer
result = web3.eth.call(transaction, 'latest')
print(result)

Executing this code will produce a return value of 0x, indicating a successful transaction. This implies that the transaction will be executed without errors when the code is used to send the transaction.

Use case

A common use case for eth_call is calling smart contract functions. For example, interact with an ERC-20 token smart contract deployed on the Fantom network and retrieve the balance of a specific account.

Try the eth_call RPC method yourself