truffle console issues without testrpc running

Question

I am attempting to deploy a contract to the ropsten network and having issues with truffle console. I am following this tutorial. When I try to access the console with this command -

$ truffle console

I get this error:

➜  voting truffle console
Error: Invalid JSON RPC response: ""
    at Object.InvalidResponse 

I don't have an issue accessing the console while testrpc is running. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

for truffle you need 2 instances of cmd:
- one with testrpc running
- one with truffle(.cmd) console

you could use the browser for the ropsten testnet
http://ethereum.github.io/browser-solidity

(sorry i have low reputation for comments)

Answer 2

Check your truffle.js file for various networks available. You can add some code yourself if it's not available.

module.exports = {
  networks: {
    development: {
      host: 'localhost',
      port: 8545,
      network_id: '*'
    },
    ropsten: {
      provider: provider,
      network_id: 3 // official id of the ropsten network
    }
  }
}

You can add something like this and then

truffle console --network ropsten

Hope that helps.