How do I encode a uint256 as bytes to feed to a function "sliceuint", with web3.js and solidity?

Question

I have a function from a library:

    function sliceUint(bytes bs, uint start)
        internal pure
        returns (uint)
    {
        require(bs.length >= start + 32, "slicing out of range");
        uint x;
        assembly {
            x := mload(add(bs, add(0x20, start)))
        }
        return x;
    }

the purpose of which is it takes bytes-encoded parameter and converts it to a uint. The reason I need this is because I need to interact with a contract function that has a bytes calldata _extra parameter that will call back to my contract with. I need to pass in a uint256 in the initial call, then decode with sliceuint on the callback so I can recover it.

If I understand the assembly right, it's loading into x, from the bytes bs variable, but from an offset of 0x20+start.

My question is:

1. How do I convert from a uint256 to bytes in Solidity to feed to the function?
2. How do I convert from a uint256 to bytes in Web3.js for same?

In web3.js I have tried:

web3.eth.abi.encodeParameter('bytes', 1337)
'0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000020539000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000'

and passed that to the bytes parameter of my function. It usually reverts with an error that I may have tried to access an array out of bounds or didn't provide enough gas (I provided enough gas.)

If I try to follow what the sliceUint function does, it seems like it's pulling from the wrong place (0x80 looks like the right place) so what am I doing wrong am I encoding wrong, calling sliceUint wrong?

Answer 1

If you want to encode 1234 to a bytes array from web3 you can combine toHex and padLeft from web3.utils.

> web3.utils.padLeft(web3.utils.toHex(1234), 64)

0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000004d2

To decode from solidity call sliceUint with start = 0

bytes memory a = hex"00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000004d2";
uint256 x = sliceUint(a, 0);