Error when calling a function from smart contract

Question

I was trying to call the balanceOf function in web3.py and I ran into a problem. I started getting this: "web3.exceptions.BadFunctionCallOutput: Could not transact with/call contract function, is contract deployed correctly and chain synced?" error when I called the balanceOf method. I called the method like this:

contract.functions.balanceOf("0x174dE9daF56Aa0399870c31AAc5209a8D7E88Ee2").call()

and from what I saw on the internet this seemed okay, but I removed the line and the error stopped occuring, so what is the fix to this problem

Answer 1

For each of the function defined in the abi there is a defined return type. For the balanceOf method normally a uint256 is expected (at least for most token standards). The error indicates that the value returned cannot be parse into a uint256.

This can happen if the contract at the address does not implement the method or implements it with a different return type or if there is no contract at the specified address.

To provide more info it would be good to know what address your contract instance is linked to.