path: root/packages/abi-gen/README.md

# Typed contracts

This package allows you to generate contract wrappers in any language from ABI files.
It's heavily inspired by [Geth abigen](https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/wiki/Native-DApps:-Go-bindings-to-Ethereum-contracts) but takes a different approach.
You can write your custom handlebars templates which will allow you to seamlessly integrate the generated code into your existing codebase with existing conventions.

For the example of the generated [wrapper files](https://github.com/0xProject/0x.js/tree/development/packages/0x.js/src/contract_wrappers/generated) check out 0x.js.
[Here](https://github.com/0xProject/0x.js/tree/development/packages/abi-gen-templates) are the templates used to generate those files.

## Instalation
`yarn add -g abi-gen`
## Usage
```
abi-gen
Options:
  --help       Show help                                               [boolean]
  --version    Show version number                                     [boolean]
  --abiGlob    Glob pattern to search for ABI JSON files     [string] [required]
  --templates  Folder where to search for templates          [string] [required]
  --output     Folder where to put the output files          [string] [required]
```
## ABI files
You're required to pass a [glob](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glob_(programming) template where your abi files are located.
TL;DR - here is the exmaple from 0x.js.

`--abiGlob 'src/artifacts/@(Exchange|Token|TokenTransferProxy|EtherToken|TokenRegistry).json`

We could've just used `--abiGlob 'src/artifacts/*.json` but we wanted to exclude some of the abi files.

The abi file should be either a truffle contract artifact (a JSON object with the abi key) or a JSON abi array.
## How to write custom templates?
The best way to get started is to copy [0x.js templates](https://github.com/0xProject/0x.js/tree/development/packages/abi-gen-templates) and start playing with them adjusting them for your needs.
We use [handlebars](handlebarsjs.com) template engine under the hood.
You need to have a master template called `contract.mustache`. it will be used to generate each contract wrapper. Although - you don't need and probably shouldn't write all your logic in a single template file. You can write [partial templates](http://handlebarsjs.com/partials.html) and as long as they are within partials folder - they will be registered and available.
## Which data/context do I get in my templates?
For now you don't get much on top of methods abi and a contract name cause if was enough for our use-case, but if you need something else - create a PR.
[Type definition](https://github.com/0xProject/0x.js/tree/development/packages/abi-gen/src/types.ts) of what we pass to a render method.
## Output files
Output files will be generated within an output folder with names converted to camel case and taken from abi files names. If you already have some files in that folder they will be overwritten.