Accessing contract functions from web3 and javascript

Question

I have deployed a contract in a private blockchain using remix and ganache. Now I want to interact with it trough web3 and the console from my browser, but I'm not managing to interact with the contract functions in the browser. This in my index.html:

index.html

var simpleStorageAbi =
    [
        {
            "constant": false,
            "inputs": [],
            "name": "getValue",
            "outputs": [
                {
                    "name": "",
                    "type": "uint256"
                }
            ],
            "payable": false,
            "stateMutability": "nonpayable",
            "type": "function"
        },
        {
            "constant": false,
            "inputs": [
                {
                    "name": "val",
                    "type": "uint256"
                }
            ],
            "name": "setValue",
            "outputs": [],
            "payable": false,
            "stateMutability": "nonpayable",
            "type": "function"
        },
        {
            "inputs": [],
            "payable": false,
            "stateMutability": "nonpayable",
            "type": "constructor"
        },
        {
            "constant": true,
            "inputs": [],
            "name": "value",
            "outputs": [
                {
                    "name": "",
                    "type": "uint256"
                }
            ],
            "payable": false,
            "stateMutability": "view",
            "type": "function"
        }
    ];

var SimpleStorageContract = new web3.eth.Contract(simpleStorageAbi);
var simpleStorageInstance = new web3.eth.Contract(simpleStorageAbi, "(address)");

When I open the console from the browser the contract I type:

simpleStorageInstance

and I would expect the contract functions:

{…}
> getValue
> setValue
> value

instead I get this

Contract {_requestManager: RequestManager, givenProvider: null, providers: {…}, setProvider: ƒ, …}
BatchRequest: ƒ ()
clearSubscriptions: ƒ (keepIsSyncing)
currentProvider: (...)
defaultAccount: (...)
defaultBlock: (...)
defaultChain: (...)
defaultCommon: (...)
defaultHardfork: (...)
events: {allEvents: ƒ}
extend: ƒ ex(extension)
givenProvider: null
handleRevert: (...)
methods: {getValue: ƒ, 0x20965255: ƒ, getValue(): ƒ, setValue: ƒ, 0x} etc

I tried accessing the functions in this way

simpleStorageInstance.methods.setValue(5);

but I get nothing in return (no transaction returned).

{arguments: Array(1), call: ƒ, send: ƒ, encodeABI: ƒ, estimateGas: ƒ, …}

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Made it work, a piece of code was missing after the methods call.

Here the complete call function from the browser console:

simpleStorageInstance.methods.setValue(5).send({from: '(address)', gas: 3000000});

This sends the transaction that can be seen in ganache.