Interface EthSigner

A Signer represents an account on the Ethereum Blockchain, and is most often backed by a private key represented by a mnemonic or residing on a Hardware Wallet.

The API remains abstract though, so that it can deal with more advanced exotic Signing entities, such as Smart Contract Wallets or Virtual Wallets (where the private key may not be known).

interface EthSigner {
    provider: null | Provider;
    connect(provider: null | Provider): EthSigner;
    getAddress(): Promise<string>;
    getNonce(blockTag?: BlockTag): Promise<number>;
    populateCall(tx: TransactionRequest): Promise<TransactionLike<string>>;
    populateTransaction(tx: TransactionRequest): Promise<TransactionLike<string>>;
    estimateGas(tx: TransactionRequest): Promise<bigint>;
    call(tx: TransactionRequest): Promise<string>;
    resolveName(name: string): Promise<null | string>;
    signTransaction(tx: TransactionRequest): Promise<string>;
    sendTransaction(tx: TransactionRequest): Promise<TransactionResponse>;
    signMessage(message: string | Uint8Array): Promise<string>;
    signTypedData(domain: TypedDataDomain, types: Record<string, TypedDataField[]>, value: Record<string, any>): Promise<string>;
}

Hierarchy

  • Addressable
  • ContractRunner
  • NameResolver
    • EthSigner

Properties

provider

provider: null | Provider

The [[Provider]] attached to this Signer (if any).

Methods

connect

  • connect(provider): EthSigner

  • Returns a new instance of this Signer connected to //provider// or detached from any Provider if null.

    Parameters

    • provider: null | Provider

    Returns EthSigner

getAddress

  • getAddress(): Promise<string>

  • Get the address of the Signer.

    Returns Promise<string>

getNonce

  • getNonce(blockTag?): Promise<number>

  • Gets the next nonce required for this Signer to send a transaction.

    Parameters

    • OptionalblockTag: BlockTag

      The blocktag to base the transaction count on, keep in mind many nodes do not honour this value and silently ignore it [default: "latest"]

    Returns Promise<number>

populateCall

  • populateCall(tx): Promise<TransactionLike<string>>

  • Prepares a TransactionRequest for calling:

    • resolves to and from addresses
    • if from is specified , check that it matches this Signer

    Parameters

    • tx: TransactionRequest

      The call to prepare

    Returns Promise<TransactionLike<string>>

populateTransaction

  • populateTransaction(tx): Promise<TransactionLike<string>>

  • Prepares a TransactionRequest for sending to the network by populating any missing properties:

    • resolves to and from addresses
    • if from is specified , check that it matches this Signer
    • populates nonce via signer.getNonce("pending")
    • populates gasLimit via signer.estimateGas(tx)
    • populates chainId via signer.provider.getNetwork()
    • populates type and relevant fee data for that type (gasPrice for legacy transactions, maxFeePerGas for EIP-1559, etc)

    Parameters

    • tx: TransactionRequest

      The call to prepare

    Returns Promise<TransactionLike<string>>

    Note

    Some Signer implementations may skip populating properties that are populated downstream; for example JsonRpcSigner defers to the node to populate the nonce and fee data.

estimateGas

  • estimateGas(tx): Promise<bigint>

  • Estimates the required gas required to execute //tx// on the Blockchain. This will be the expected amount a transaction will require as its gasLimit to successfully run all the necessary computations and store the needed state that the transaction intends.

    Keep in mind that this is best efforts, since the state of the Blockchain is in flux, which could affect transaction gas requirements.

    Parameters

    • tx: TransactionRequest

    Returns Promise<bigint>

    Throws

    UNPREDICTABLE_GAS_LIMIT A transaction that is believed by the node to likely fail will throw an error during gas estimation. This could indicate that it will actually fail or that the circumstances are simply too complex for the node to take into account. In these cases, a manually determined gasLimit will need to be made.

call

  • call(tx): Promise<string>

  • Evaluates the //tx// by running it against the current Blockchain state. This cannot change state and has no cost in ether, as it is effectively simulating execution.

    This can be used to have the Blockchain perform computations based on its state (e.g. running a Contract's getters) or to simulate the effect of a transaction before actually performing an operation.

    Parameters

    • tx: TransactionRequest

    Returns Promise<string>

resolveName

  • resolveName(name): Promise<null | string>

  • Resolves an ENS Name to an address.

    Parameters

    • name: string

    Returns Promise<null | string>

signTransaction

  • signTransaction(tx): Promise<string>

  • Signs %%tx%%, returning the fully signed transaction. This does not populate any additional properties within the transaction.

    Parameters

    • tx: TransactionRequest

    Returns Promise<string>

sendTransaction

  • sendTransaction(tx): Promise<TransactionResponse>

  • Sends %%tx%% to the Network. The signer.populateTransaction(tx) is called first to ensure all necessary properties for the transaction to be valid have been popualted first.

    Parameters

    • tx: TransactionRequest

    Returns Promise<TransactionResponse>

signMessage

  • signMessage(message): Promise<string>

  • Signs an [[link-eip-191]] prefixed personal message.

    If the %%message%% is a string, it is signed as UTF-8 encoded bytes. It is not interpretted as a [[BytesLike]]; so the string "0x1234" is signed as six characters, not two bytes.

    To sign that example as two bytes, the Uint8Array should be used (i.e. new Uint8Array([ 0x12, 0x34 ])).

    Parameters

    • message: string | Uint8Array

    Returns Promise<string>

signTypedData

  • signTypedData(domain, types, value): Promise<string>

  • Signs the [[link-eip-712]] typed data.

    Parameters

    • domain: TypedDataDomain
    • types: Record<string, TypedDataField[]>
    • value: Record<string, any>

    Returns Promise<string>

Settings

Member Visibility

On This Page

Properties
Methods
""