now / block.timestamp not working on testrpc?

Question

I'm having problems with testrpc, or at least I think that's the cause. This particular portion of code

if (now > info.deadline) {
    ended = true;
    refundEnabled = true;
    return false;
}

is never executed, it's as if now (or block.timestamp) is always smaller than deadline even when it's clearly not. Deadline is in unix timestamp (for example 1487399645), but that code is not executed even if I put 1.

Here's the contract:

pragma solidity ^0.4.6;

contract Project {

    struct projectInfo {
        address projectOwner;
        string name;
        uint256 amountToRaise;
        uint256 deadline;
    }

    projectInfo public info;
    uint256 public amountRaised;
    bool public ended;
    bool public refundEnabled;
    mapping(address => uint256) public contributions;

    function Project(string name, uint256 amountToRaise, uint256 deadline) {
        info = projectInfo(tx.origin, name, amountToRaise, deadline);
        amountRaised = 0;
        ended = false;
        refundEnabled = false;
    }

    function getInfo() constant returns (address, string, uint256, uint256) {
        return (info.projectOwner, info.name, info.amountToRaise, info.deadline);
    }

    function fund() payable returns (bool successful) {
        if (ended) {
            return false;
        }
        contributions[tx.origin] += msg.value;
        amountRaised += msg.value;
        if (now > info.deadline) {
            ended = true;
            refundEnabled = true;
            return false;
        }
        if (amountRaised >= info.amountToRaise) {
            ended = true;
            payout();
        }
        return true;
    }

    function payout() private returns (bool successful) {
        if (ended) {
            if (!info.projectOwner.send(this.balance)) {
                throw;
            }
        }
    }

    function refund() public returns (bool successful) {
        if (refundEnabled) {
            if (contributions[msg.sender] > 0) {
                if (msg.sender.send(contributions[msg.sender])) {
                    contributions[msg.sender] = 0;
                    return true;
                } else {
                    return false;
                }
            } else {
                throw;
            }
        }
    }
}

I'm deploying the contract from another contract and I'm testing fund() with this piece of Javascript:

function fund(address) {
    project = Project.at(address);
    project.fund({from: coinbase, value: 50, gas: 150000}).then(function(value) {
        console.log(value);
    });
}

The contract works perfectly on Browser Solidity, on TestRPC everything works fine except that particular if statement. Is this a problem of TestRPC or am I doing something wrong? I'm using TestRPC v3.0.3.

Answer 1

I had a similar problem, maybe it will help someone. Similar case as above, funding with deadline, testing with testrpc from javascript. While deadline functionality was working fine within each test case, I figured the date of contract creation is being changed in each test case. After some 'debugging' I figured the problem was with beforeEach close of test script - it deployed a new contract for each test case. :)

Answer 2

Recommend testing using truffle ganache: truffleframework.com/ganache

Their electron-based app complements testrpc pretty well for this kind of scenario.

Back to the question at hand, no mining happens on testrpc by default, so the blocktime only moves forward if you interact with the blockchain via a write.

https://ethfiddle.com/3MfpQS8bMy

Answer 3

In my experience, the timestamp "now" on testrpc is updated each time I send a Solidity Event. For example each time I call the following event inside my code:

Transfer(msg.sender, _to, _value);

When I have no events, then the "now" timestamp is always the same initial value when running on testrpc. Hope is accurate.