Calling a function from another contract is not working. But calling the function from deployed contract is working

Question

I have a problem with calling a function from another contract. I don't know why it is not working.

Contract DateTime(https://github.com/pipermerriam/ethereum-datetime) is a util for converting inputs to timestamp.

This code is DateTime.

pragma solidity ^0.5.7;

contract DateTime {
    /*
     *  Date and Time utilities for ethereum contracts
     *
     */
    struct _DateTime {
        uint16 year;
        uint8 month;
        uint8 day;
        uint8 hour;
        uint8 minute;
        uint8 second;
        uint8 weekday;
    }

    uint constant DAY_IN_SECONDS = 86400;
    uint constant YEAR_IN_SECONDS = 31536000;
    uint constant LEAP_YEAR_IN_SECONDS = 31622400;

    uint constant HOUR_IN_SECONDS = 3600;
    uint constant MINUTE_IN_SECONDS = 60;

    uint16 constant ORIGIN_YEAR = 1970;

    function isLeapYear(uint16 year) public pure returns (bool) {
        if (year % 4 != 0) {
            return false;
        }
        if (year % 100 != 0) {
            return true;
        }
        if (year % 400 != 0) {
            return false;
        }
        return true;
    }

    function leapYearsBefore(uint year) public pure returns (uint) {
        year -= 1;
        return year / 4 - year / 100 + year / 400;
    }

    function getDaysInMonth(uint8 month, uint16 year) public pure returns (uint8) {
        if (month == 1 || month == 3 || month == 5 || month == 7 || month == 8 || month == 10 || month == 12) {
            return 31;
        }
        else if (month == 4 || month == 6 || month == 9 || month == 11) {
            return 30;
        }
        else if (isLeapYear(year)) {
            return 29;
        }
        else {
            return 28;
        }
    }

    function parseTimestamp(uint timestamp) internal pure returns (_DateTime memory dt) {
        uint secondsAccountedFor = 0;
        uint buf;
        uint8 i;

        // Year
        dt.year = getYear(timestamp);
        buf = leapYearsBefore(dt.year) - leapYearsBefore(ORIGIN_YEAR);

        secondsAccountedFor += LEAP_YEAR_IN_SECONDS * buf;
        secondsAccountedFor += YEAR_IN_SECONDS * (dt.year - ORIGIN_YEAR - buf);

        // Month
        uint secondsInMonth;
        for (i = 1; i <= 12; i++) {
            secondsInMonth = DAY_IN_SECONDS * getDaysInMonth(i, dt.year);
            if (secondsInMonth + secondsAccountedFor > timestamp) {
                dt.month = i;
                break;
            }
            secondsAccountedFor += secondsInMonth;
        }

        // Day
        for (i = 1; i <= getDaysInMonth(dt.month, dt.year); i++) {
            if (DAY_IN_SECONDS + secondsAccountedFor > timestamp) {
                dt.day = i;
                break;
            }
            secondsAccountedFor += DAY_IN_SECONDS;
        }

        // Hour
        dt.hour = getHour(timestamp);

        // Minute
        dt.minute = getMinute(timestamp);

        // Second
        dt.second = getSecond(timestamp);

        // Day of week.
        dt.weekday = getWeekday(timestamp);
    }

    function getYear(uint timestamp) public pure returns (uint16) {
        uint secondsAccountedFor = 0;
        uint16 year;
        uint numLeapYears;

        // Year
        year = uint16(ORIGIN_YEAR + timestamp / YEAR_IN_SECONDS);
        numLeapYears = leapYearsBefore(year) - leapYearsBefore(ORIGIN_YEAR);

        secondsAccountedFor += LEAP_YEAR_IN_SECONDS * numLeapYears;
        secondsAccountedFor += YEAR_IN_SECONDS * (year - ORIGIN_YEAR - numLeapYears);

        while (secondsAccountedFor > timestamp) {
            if (isLeapYear(uint16(year - 1))) {
                secondsAccountedFor -= LEAP_YEAR_IN_SECONDS;
            }
            else {
                secondsAccountedFor -= YEAR_IN_SECONDS;
            }
            year -= 1;
        }
        return year;
    }

    function getMonth(uint timestamp) public pure returns (uint8) {
        return parseTimestamp(timestamp).month;
    }

    function getDay(uint timestamp) public pure returns (uint8) {
        return parseTimestamp(timestamp).day;
    }

    function getHour(uint timestamp) public pure returns (uint8) {
        return uint8((timestamp / 60 / 60) % 24);
    }

    function getMinute(uint timestamp) public pure returns (uint8) {
        return uint8((timestamp / 60) % 60);
    }

    function getSecond(uint timestamp) public pure returns (uint8) {
        return uint8(timestamp % 60);
    }

    function getWeekday(uint timestamp) public pure returns (uint8) {
        return uint8((timestamp / DAY_IN_SECONDS + 4) % 7);
    }

    function toTimestamp(uint16 year, uint8 month, uint8 day) public pure returns (uint timestamp) {
        return toTimestamp(year, month, day, 0, 0, 0);
    }

    function toTimestamp(uint16 year, uint8 month, uint8 day, uint8 hour) public pure returns (uint timestamp) {
        return toTimestamp(year, month, day, hour, 0, 0);
    }

    function toTimestamp(uint16 year, uint8 month, uint8 day, uint8 hour, uint8 minute) public pure returns (uint timestamp) {
        return toTimestamp(year, month, day, hour, minute, 0);
    }

    function toTimestamp(uint16 year, uint8 month, uint8 day, uint8 hour, uint8 minute, uint8 second) public pure returns (uint timestamp) {
        uint16 i;

        // Year
        for (i = ORIGIN_YEAR; i < year; i++) {
            if (isLeapYear(i)) {
                    timestamp += LEAP_YEAR_IN_SECONDS;
            }
            else {
                    timestamp += YEAR_IN_SECONDS;
            }
        }

        // Month
        uint8[12] memory monthDayCounts;
        monthDayCounts[0] = 31;
        if (isLeapYear(year)) {
            monthDayCounts[1] = 29;
        }
        else {
            monthDayCounts[1] = 28;
        }
        monthDayCounts[2] = 31;
        monthDayCounts[3] = 30;
        monthDayCounts[4] = 31;
        monthDayCounts[5] = 30;
        monthDayCounts[6] = 31;
        monthDayCounts[7] = 31;
        monthDayCounts[8] = 30;
        monthDayCounts[9] = 31;
        monthDayCounts[10] = 30;
        monthDayCounts[11] = 31;

        for (i = 1; i < month; i++) {
            timestamp += DAY_IN_SECONDS * monthDayCounts[i - 1];
        }

        // Day
        timestamp += DAY_IN_SECONDS * (day - 1);

        // Hour
        timestamp += HOUR_IN_SECONDS * (hour);

        // Minute
        timestamp += MINUTE_IN_SECONDS * (minute);

        // Second
        timestamp += second;

        return timestamp;
    }
}

And then I call toTimestamp(uint16 year, uint8 month, uint8 day) in this contract.

contract SimpleToken is ERC20, ERC20Detailed, ERC20Burnable {
    DateTime dateTime;
    ...


    function insertItemYYYYMM(uint256 _value, uint16 year, uint8 month) onlyOwne public returns (bool){
        uint256 time = dateTime.toTimestamp(year, month, 1);
        ...

I learned that calling a function from another contract can be just like that from a book. I couldn't get any information from debug. It's too hard to me.

getting an error from Remix.

transact to SimpleToken.insertItemYYYYMM errored: VM error: revert.
revert  The transaction has been reverted to the initial state.
Note: The constructor should be payable if you send value.  Debug the transaction to get more information.

Thank you!

Answer 1

Here's a version of your test that works:

pragma solidity ^0.5.7;

contract SimpleTest {

    DateTime dateTime;

    event LogInsertItemYYYMMDD(address sender, uint256 value, uint16 year, uint8 month, uint256 timeStamp);

    constructor(address dateTimeAddress) public  { // <=== how it discovers the address
        dateTime = DateTime(dateTimeAddress);      // <=== what it does with it, as SMarx suggested
    }

    function insertItemYYYYMM(uint256 _value, uint16 year, uint8 month, uint8 day) public returns (bool){
        uint256 time = dateTime.toTimestamp(year, month, day);
        emit LogInsertItemYYYMMDD(msg.sender, _value, year, month, time);
        return true;
    }
}

You need to choreograph the test a little:

1. Deploy DateTime
2. Get ready to deploy SimpleTest. Copy DateTime's address to the clipboard.
3. Paste DateTime's address into SimpleTest's constructor and deploy it.
4. Try the insertItemYYYYMM() function.

You can inspect the transaction log and see the timeStamp output to confirm that much is working.

The function name and context suggests you plan to go further so you have correctly not made this a view function. I added an event so we can observe what's happening so far.

Hope it helps.