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

# ABI Gen

This package allows you to generate TypeScript contract wrappers 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 an 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 example 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](http://truffleframework.com/) contract artifact (a JSON object with an 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 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 a 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, some usefull helpers and a contract name because it 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 file names. If you already have some files in that folder they will be overwritten.