Contract not deploying on blockchain using solc & web3

Question

I am using the npm package of solc to compile the contracts and accessing it as given here. It is compiling my contracts. But when I try to deploy the contract using

web3.eth.sendTransaction({data: code}, function(err, address) {
  if (!err)
    console.log(address); // "0x7f9fade1c0d57a7af66ab4ead7c2eb7b11a91385"
});

as given here. I am doing all this in a JavaScript file. I am running a node locally using geth, and I am accessing it using the web3 httpprovider. When I execute the file, I am getting error as:

D:\Projectfolder\node_modules\solc\soljson.js:1
(function (exports, require, module, __filename, __dirname) { var Module;if(!Module)Module=(typeof Module!=="undefined"?Module:null)||{};var moduleOve
rrides={};for(var key in Module){if(Module.hasOwnProperty(key)){moduleOverrides[key]=Module[key]}}var ENVIRONMENT_IS_WEB=typeof window==="object";var
ENVIRONMENT_IS_WORKER=typeof importScripts==="function";var ENVIRONMENT_IS_NODE=typeof process==="object"&&typeof require==="function"&&!ENVIRONMENT_I
S_WEB&&!ENVIRONMENT_IS_WORKER;var ENVIRONMENT_IS_SHELL=!ENVIRONMENT_IS_WEB&&!ENVIRONMENT_IS_NODE&&!ENVIRONMENT_IS_WORKER;if(ENVIRONMENT_IS_NODE){if(!M
odule["print"])Module["print"]=function print(x){process["stdout"].write(x+"\n")};if(!Module["printErr"])Module["printErr"]=function printErr(x){proce
ss["stderr"].write(x+"\n")};var nodeFS=require("fs");var nodePath=require("path");Module["read"]=function read(filename,binary){filename=nodePath["nor
malize"](filename);var ret=nodeFS["readFileSync"](filename);if(!

Error: invalid address
    at inputAddressFormatter (D:\Projectfolder\node_modules\web3\lib\web3\formatters.js:271:11)
    at inputTransactionFormatter (D:\Projectfolder\node_modules\web3\lib\web3\formatters.js:97:20)
    at D:\Projectfolder\node_modules\web3\lib\web3\method.js:89:28
    at Array.map (native)
    at Method.formatInput (D:\Projectfolder\node_modules\web3\lib\web3\method.js:88:32)
    at Method.toPayload (D:\Projectfolder\node_modules\web3\lib\web3\method.js:114:23)
    at Eth.send [as sendTransaction] (D:\Projectfolder\node_modules\web3\lib\web3\method.js:139:30)
    at Object.<anonymous> (D:\FILEPATH\check.js:22:10)
    at Module._compile (module.js:413:34)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:422:10)

How do I remove the error?

I tried another contract, changed the line as web3.eth.sendTransaction({from:web3.eth.accounts[0], data: bytecode, gas: 300000}
And it's working. But when I try to deploy famous greeter contract using web3 line as: web3.eth.sendTransaction(_greeting,{from:web3.eth.accounts[0], data: bytecode, gas: 300000}
It still throws error.

Oh, finally this is resolved. I just needed to add JSON.parse(abiDefinition). Now the greeter contract is also working. This one is deployed using greeterContract.new(_greeting,{from:web3.eth.accounts[0], data:bytecode, gas: 300000}

Answer 1

Your issue is most likely caused by a missing from: eth.accounts[0] parameter from your eth.sendTransaction(...) call.

Try running either of the following step-by-step examples to see what kind of parameters and data is expected at each step:

• For a Testnet blockchain example, try executing the instructions in Why is my Greeter contract not mined on --testnet? .

• For a private blockchain example, try executing the instructions in Deploying the Greeter contract via the geth CLI is not registering in my private blockchain .

If you can run either of the examples above, your geth and solc installation is working as expected, and your problem is most likely in the parameters of your eth.sendTransaction(...) call.

---

Answering question in the comment below

I would next check your data: code statement.

You should see the following type of result when you type code:

> code
"0x606060405260405161023e38038061023e8339810160405280510160008054600160a060020a031916331790558060016000509080519060200190828054600181600116156101000203166002900490600052602060002090601f016020900481019282601f10609f57805160ff19168380011785555b50608e9291505b8082111560cc57600081558301607d565b50505061016e806100d06000396000f35b828001600101855582156076579182015b82811115607657825182600050559160200191906001019060b0565b509056606060405260e060020a600035046341c0e1b58114610026578063cfae321714610068575b005b6100246000543373ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff908116911614156101375760005473ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff16ff5b6100c9600060609081526001805460a06020601f6002600019610100868816150201909416939093049283018190040281016040526080828152929190828280156101645780601f1061013957610100808354040283529160200191610164565b60405180806020018281038252838181518152602001915080519060200190808383829060006004602084601f0104600f02600301f150905090810190601f1680156101295780820380516001836020036101000a031916815260200191505b509250505060405180910390f35b565b820191906000526020600020905b81548152906001019060200180831161014757829003601f168201915b505050505090509056"

If your data looks different, you are not passing your compiled code to the eth.sendTransaction(...) call.

---

Further edit - seeing that you are using JSON-RPC to deploy

There is some example code in https://github.com/ethereum/web3.js/blob/develop/example/contract.html to deploy a contract using JSON-RPC.

There is an assignment to the default account in the example:

web3.eth.defaultAccount = web3.eth.coinbase;

And the Application Binary Interface is passed using the eth.contract(...).new(...) call.

var abi = compiled.test.info.abiDefinition;
...
web3.eth.contract(abi).new({data: code}, function (err, contract) {

One other thing is to make sure that you account is unlocked, so you will have to run geth with parameters similar to

geth --rpc --unlock 0 console
...
Unlocking account 0 | Attempt 1/3
Passphrase: 

Answer 2

As Bokky mentioned, you need a from key and sending address tuple when calling send transaction. Have a look at a valid transaction here (contract deployment transactions are very similar, see below):

web3.eth.sendTransaction({from: web3.eth.coinbase, to: '0x2910543af39aba0cd09dbb2d50200b3e800a63d2', value: web3.toWei(1, 'ether'), data: web3.toHex('EN7FQHHVG'), gas:25000});

A contract deployment transaction would look like:

var _greeting = "Hello World!"
var greeterContract = web3.eth.contract(greeterCompiled.greeter.info.abiDefinition);

var greeter = greeterContract.new(_greeting,{from:web3.eth.accounts[0], data: greeterCompiled.greeter.code, gas: 300000}, function(e, contract){
    if(!e) {

      if(!contract.address) {
        console.log("Contract transaction send: TransactionHash: " + contract.transactionHash + " waiting to be mined...");

      } else {
        console.log("Contract mined! Address: " + contract.address);
        console.log(contract);
      }

    }
})