Methods

Everything we have learned so far converges on this point... methods. The methods are the instruction/endpoints of our smart contract, the client and other smart contracts will be calling or extending these methods.

tip

You can define any number of methods required for your use case.

tip

If you are new to the CIDL, we recommend you start learning from understanding what the CIDL

Definition

methods is an array of objects where each object is a method

methods:
  - name: create_article
    summary: Creates an NFT with the corresponding article type as metadata, where the metadata will be compress
    solana:
      compress:
        - type: Article
          mode: append
    signers:
      - name: fee_payer
        type: sol:account
        attributes: [ sol:writable ]
      - input: delegate
    uses:
      - csl_spl_token.initialize_mint2
      - csl_spl_assoc_token.create
      - csl_spl_token.mint_to
      - csl_spl_token.set_authority
    inputs:
      - name: warehouse
        type: sol:account<Warehouse, seeds.UniquePerUser(owner=owner)>
      - name: mint
        type: sol:account<csl_spl_token.Mint>
        attributes: [ sol:init ]
        description: The Non-Fungible Token of this Article
      - name: delegate
        type: sol:account
        attributes: [ sol:owner=11111111111111111111111111111111 ]
      - name: name
        type: string
      - name: description
        type: string
      - name: thumbnail
        type: string

tip

Check the Inventory guide to learn how to implement methods like the above

Keyword	Type	Optionality	Description
methods	Array<MethodBody>	Required

Method Body

Keyword	Type	Optionality	Description
name	string	Required	The name of the method, it must follow the targeted programming naming convention
summary	string	Recommended	Documentation summary of the method. Supports markdown
solana	Solana	Optional
signers	Array<SignerBody>	Optional
inputs	Array<InputBody>	Optional
uses	Array<string>	Optional	List of reference methods in the form of ref.method_name, where ref is the value set in the imports

Solana Method Extension

Keyword	Type	Optionality	Description
default-payer	boolean	Optional	By default, it is set to true. Set to false with an empty signer list to remove all signers from the method
compress	Array<CompressBody>	Optional	List of types to be compress.

Compress Body

Keyword	Type	Optionality	Description
type	Type | ref.Type	Required	Can reference imported CIDLs in the form of ref.type_name, where ref is the value set in the imports
mode	append | insert_or_append | replace_leaf | verify_leaf	Required	How should this type be compress. Each mode corresponds to a method of the state compression program

Signer Body

Keyword	Type	Optionality	Description
name	string	Mutually exclusive	The name for the signing account.
type	Type | ref.Type	Mutually exclusive	Can reference imported CIDLs in the form of ref.type_name, where ref is the value set in the imports
input	string	Mutually exclusive	Reference to an input's name. It will set the input as a signer
attributes	Array<string>	Optional	Attributes to modify/extend the type. Only applicable when type is defined

info

name/type are mutually exclusive with input. This means that name/type needs to be set or input, both cannot be defined at the same time.

Defined signers or inputs marked as signers will generate the following security check.

methods:
  - name: method_with_custom_signer
    signers:
      - name: fee_payer
        type: sol:account
        attributes: [ sol:writable ]
      - input: delegate
    inputs:
      - name: delegate
        type: sol:account
        attributes: [ sol:owner=11111111111111111111111111111111 ]

Solana Native

pub fn process_method_with_custom_signer(/* ... */) -> ProgramResult {
  // ...
    
  if fee_payer_info.is_signer != true {
    return Err(CounterError::InvalidSignerPermission.into());
  }

  if delegate_info.is_signer != true {
    return Err(CounterError::InvalidSignerPermission.into());
  }
    
  // ...
}

Solana Anchor

#[derive(Accounts)]
pub struct MethodWithCustomSigner<'info> {
  #[account(
    mut,
  )]
  pub fee_payer: Signer<'info>,

  #[account(
    owner=Pubkey::from_str("11111111111111111111111111111111").unwrap(),
  )]
  pub delegate: Signer<'info>,
}

Input Body

Keyword	Type	Optionality	Description
name	string	Required	The name of the parameter, it must follow the targeted programming naming convention
type	native | extended | Type | ref.Type	Required	The data type of this parameter<br /><br />Can reference imported CIDLs in the form of ref.type_name, where ref is the value set in the imports
description	string	Recommended	Documentation of the input. Supports markdown
attributes	Array<string>	Optional	Attributes to modify/extend the type

info

We can specify any native, extended, or custom data type to the input type.

Web-based documentation

The methods object can be visualized in the CIDL web-based doc. The documentation is automatically generated from our vscode-codigo extension.

[//] # (This CIDL web-based doc can be generated by typing the command:)

[//] # (```shell)

[//] # (codigo solana generate ./counter.cidl --doc)

[//] # (```)

Next steps

Congratulations! 🎉👏 at this point, you should have a basic understanding of the CIDL, how to work with native, extended, and custom-defined types, and import other CIDL and implement methods. The next step on your journey is to start implementing use cases. You can follow our guides to start implementing use cases step by step or check our examples here

• Lender guide
• Inventory guide
• State compression guide
• Solana NFT guide

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