Navigator Console¶
The Navigator Console is a terminal-based front-end for inspecting and modifying a DAML Ledger. It’s useful for DAML developers, app developers, or business analysts who want to debug or analyse a ledger by exploring it manually.
You can use the Console to:
- inspect available templates
- query active contracts
- exercise commands
- list blocks and transactions
If you prefer to use a graphical user interface for these tasks, use the Navigator instead.
On this page:
Try out the Navigator Console on the Quickstart¶
With the sandbox running the quickstart application
To start the shell, run
daml navigator console localhost 6865
This connects Navigator Console to the sandbox, which is still running.
You should see a prompt like this:
_ __ _ __ / |/ /__ __ __(_)__ ____ _/ /____ ____ / / _ `/ |/ / / _ `/ _ `/ __/ _ \/ __/ /_/|_/\_,_/|___/_/\_, /\_,_/\__/\___/_/ /___/ Version 1.1.0 Welcome to the console. Type 'help' to see a list of commands.
Since you are connected to the sandbox, you can be any party you like. Switch to Bob by running:
party Bob
The prompt should change to
Bob>
.Issue a BobsCoin to yourself. Start by writing the following, then hit Tab to auto-complete and get the full name of the Iou.Iou template:
create Iou.Iou <TAB>
This full name includes a hash of the DAML package, so don’t copy it from the command below - it’s better to get it from the auto-complete feature.
You can then create the contract by running:
create Iou.Iou@317057d06d4bc4bb91bf3cfe3292bf3c2467c5e004290e0ba20b993eb1e40931 with {issuer="Bob", owner="Bob", currency="BobsCoin", amount="1.0", observers=[]}
You should see the following output:
CommandId: 1b8af77a91ad1102 Status: Success TransactionId: 10
You can see details of that contract using the TransactionId. First, run:
transaction 10
to get details of the transaction that created the contract:
Offset: 11 Effective at: 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z Command ID: 1b8af77a91ad1102 Events: - [#10:0] Created #10:0 as Iou
Then, run:
contract #10:0
to see the contract for the new BobsCoin:
Id: #10:0 TemplateId: Iou.Iou@317057d06d4bc4bb91bf3cfe3292bf3c2467c5e004290e0ba20b993eb1e40931 Argument: observers: issuer: Bob amount: 1.0 currency: BobsCoin owner: Bob Created: EventId: #10:0 TransactionId: 10 WorkflowId: 1ba8521c395096e3 Archived: Contract is active
You can transfer the coin to Alice by running:
exercise #10:0 Iou_Transfer with {newOwner="Alice"}
There are lots of other things you can do with the Navigator Console.
One of its most powerful features is that you can query its local databases using SQL, with the
sql
command.For example, you could see all of the Iou contracts by running
sql select * from contract where template_id like 'Iou.Iou@%'
. For more examples, take a look at the Navigator Console database documentation.For a full list of commands, run
help
. You can also look at the Navigator Console documentation page.For help on a particular command, run
help <name of command>
.When you are done exploring the shell, run
quit
to exit.
Installing and starting Navigator Console¶
Navigator Console is installed as part of the DAML SDK. See Installing the SDK for instructions on how to install the DAML SDK.
If you want to use Navigator Console independent of the SDK, see the Advanced usage section.
To run Navigator Console:
Open a terminal window and navigate to your DAML SDK project folder.
If the Sandbox isn’t already running, run it with the command
daml start
.The sandbox prints out the port on which it is running - by default, port
6865
.Run
daml navigator console localhost 6865
. Replace6865
by the port reported by the sandbox, if necessary.
When Navigator Console starts, it displays a welcome message:
_ __ _ __
/ |/ /__ __ __(_)__ ____ _/ /____ ____
/ / _ `/ |/ / / _ `/ _ `/ __/ _ \/ __/
/_/|_/\_,_/|___/_/\_, /\_,_/\__/\___/_/
/___/
Version X.Y.Z
Welcome to the console. Type 'help' to see a list of commands.
Getting help¶
To see all available Navigator Console commands and how to use them, use the help
command:
>help
Available commands:
choice Print choice details
command Print command details
commands List submitted commands
contract Print contract details
create Create a contract
diff_contracts Print diff of two contracts
event Print event details
exercise Exercises a choice
help Print help
graphql Execute a GraphQL query
graphql_examples Print some example GraphQL queries
graphql_schema Print the GraphQL schema
info Print debug information
package Print DAML-LF package details
packages List all DAML-LF packages
parties List all parties available in Navigator
party Set the current party
quit Quit the application
set_time Set the (static) ledger effective time
templates List all templates
template Print template details
time Print the ledger effective time
transaction Print transaction details
version Print application version
sql_schema Return the database schema
sql Execute a SQL query
To see the help for the given command, run help <command>
:
>help create
Usage: create <template> with <argument>
Create a contract
Parameters:
<template> Template ID
<argument> Contract argument
Using commands¶
This section describes how to use some common commands.
Note
Navigator Console has several features to help with typing commands:
- Press the Tab key one or more times to use auto-complete and see a list of suggested text to complete the command.
- Press the Up or Down key to scroll through the history of recently used commands.
- Press Ctrl+R to search in the history of recently used commands.
Displaying status information¶
To see useful information about the status of both Navigator Console and the ledger, use the info
command:
>info
_ __ _ __
/ |/ /__ __ __(_)__ ____ _/ /____ ____
/ / _ `/ |/ / / _ `/ _ `/ __/ _ \/ __/
/_/|_/\_,_/|___/_/\_, /\_,_/\__/\___/_/
/___/
Version 1.0.14 commit a3e1d1c30d84261fa9b6db95c69036da14bc9e7e
General info:
Ledger host: localhost
Ledger port: 6865
Secure connection: false
Application ID: Navigator-c06fae89-d8ed-4656-b085-388e24569ecf #5b21103194967935
Ledger info:
Connection status: Connected
Ledger ID: sandbox-051e2468-c679-43df-b99f-9c72dcd8ffa0
Ledger time: 1970-01-01T00:16:40Z
Ledger time type: static
Akka system:
OPERATOR: Actor running
BANK2: Actor running
BANK1: Actor running
Local data:
BANK1:
Packages: 1
Contracts: 0
Active contracts: 0
Last transaction: ???
BANK2:
Packages: 1
Contracts: 0
Active contracts: 0
Last transaction: ???
OPERATOR:
Packages: 1
Contracts: 1001
Active contracts: 1001
Last transaction: scenario-transaction-2002
Choosing a party¶
Privacy is an important aspect of a DAML Ledger: parties can only access the contracts on the ledger that they are authorized to. This means that, before you can interact with the ledger, you must assume the role of a particular party.
The currently active party is displayed left of the prompt sign (>
).
To assume the role of a different party, use the party
command:
BANK1>party BANK2
BANK2>
Note
The list of available parties is configured when the Sandbox starts. (See the DAML Assistant (daml) or Advanced usage for more instructions.)
Advancing time¶
You can advance the time of the DAML Sandbox. This can be useful when testing, for example, when entering a trade on one date and settling it on a later date.
(For obvious reasons, this feature does not exist on all DAML Ledgers.)
To display the current ledger time, use the time
command:
>time
1970-01-01T00:16:40Z
To advance the time to the time you specify, use the set_time
command:
>set_time 1970-01-02T00:16:40Z
New ledger effective time: 1970-01-02T00:16:40Z
Inspecting templates¶
To see what templates are available on the ledger you are connected to, use the templates
command:
>templates
╔════════════════════════╤════════╤═══════╗
║Name │Package │Choices║
╠════════════════════════╪════════╪═══════╣
║Main.RightOfUseAgreement│07ca8611│0 ║
║Main.RightOfUseOffer │07ca8611│1 ║
╚════════════════════════╧════════╧═══════╝
To get detailed information about a particular template, use the template
command:
>template Offer<Tab>
>template Main.RightOfUseOffer@07ca8611d05ec14ea4b973192ef6caa5d53323bba50720a8d7142c2a246cfb73
Name: Main.RightOfUseOffer
Parameter:
landlord: Party
tenant: Party
address: Text
expirationDate: Time
Choices:
- Accept
Note
Remember to use the Tab key. In the above example, typing “Offer” followed by the Tab key auto-completes the fully qualified name of the “RightOfUseOffer” template.
To get detailed information about a choice defined by a template, use the choice
command:
>choice Main.RightOfUseOffer Accept
Name: Accept
Consuming: true
Parameter: Unit
Inspecting contracts, transactions, and events¶
The ledger is a record of transactions between authorized participants on the distributed network. Transactions consist of events that create or archive contracts, or exercise choices on them.
To get detailed information about a ledger object, use the singular form of the command (transaction
, event
, contract
):
>transaction 2003
Offset: 1004
Effective at: 1970-01-01T00:16:40Z
Command ID: 732f6ac4a63c9802
Events:
- [#2003:0] Created #2003:0 as RightOfUseOffer
>event #2003:0
Id: #2003:0
ParentId: ???
TransactionId: 2003
WorkflowId: e13067beec13cf4c
Witnesses:
- Scrooge_McDuck
Type: Created
Contract: #2003:0
Template: Main.RightOfUseOffer
Argument:
landlord: Scrooge_McDuck
tenant: Bentina_Beakley
address: McDuck Manor, Duckburg
expirationDate: 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z
>contract #2003:0
Id: #2003:0
TemplateId: Main.RightOfUseOffer
Argument:
landlord: Scrooge_McDuck
tenant: Bentina_Beakley
address: McDuck Manor, Duckburg
expirationDate: 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z
Created:
EventId: #2003:0
TransactionId: 2003
WorkflowId: e13067beec13cf4c
Archived: Contract is active
Exercise events:
Querying data¶
To query contracts, transactions, events, or commands in any way you’d like, you can query the Navigator Console’s local database(s) directly.
Because of the strong DAML privacy model, each party will see a different subset of the ledger data. For this reason, each party has its own local database.
To execute a SQL query against the local database for the currently active party, use the sql
command:
>sql select id, template_id, archive_transaction_id from contract
╔═══════╤════════════════════╤══════════════════════╗
║id │template_id │archive_transaction_id║
╠═══════╪════════════════════╪══════════════════════╣
║#2003:0│Main.RightOfUseOffer│null ║
║#2004:0│Main.RightOfUseOffer│null ║
╚═══════╧════════════════════╧══════════════════════╝
See the Navigator Local Database documentation for details on the database schema and how to write SQL queries.
Note
The local database contains a copy of the ledger data, created using the Ledger API. If you modify the local database, you might break Navigator Console, but it will not affect the data on the ledger in any way.
Creating contracts¶
Contracts in a ledger can be created directly from a template, or when you exercise a choice. You can do both of these things using Navigator Console.
To create a contract of a given template, use the create
command.
The contract argument is written in JSON format (DAML primitives are strings, DAML records are objects, DAML lists are arrays):
>create Main.RightOfUseOffer@07ca8611d05ec14ea4b973192ef6caa5d53323bba50720a8d7142c2a246cfb73 with {"landlord": "BANK1", "tenant": "BANK2", "address": "Example Street", "expirationDate": "2018-01-01T00:00:00Z"}
CommandId: 1e4c1610eadba6b
Status: Success
TransactionId: 2005
Note
Again, you can use the Tab key to auto-complete the template name.
The Console waits briefly for the completion of the create command and prints basic information about its status.
To get detailed information about your create command, use the command
command:
>command 1e4c1610eadba6b
Command:
Id: 1e4c1610eadba6b
WorkflowId: a31ea1ca20cd5971
PlatformTime: 1970-01-02T00:16:40Z
Command: Create contract
Template: Main.RightOfUseOffer
Argument:
landlord: Scrooge_McDuck
tenant: Bentina_Beakley
address: McDuck Manor, Duckburg
expirationDate: 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z
Status:
Status: Success
TransactionId: 2005
Exercising choices¶
To exercise a choice on a contract with the given ID, use the exercise
command:
>exercise #2005:0 Accept
CommandID: 8dbbcbc917c7beee
Status: Success
TransactionId: 2006
>exercise #2005:0 Accept with {tenant="BANK2"}
CommandID: 8dbbcbc917c7beee
Status: Success
TransactionId: 2006
Using Navigator outside the SDK¶
This section explains how to work with the Navigator if you have a project created outside of the normal SDK workflow and want to use the Navigator to inspect the ledger and interact with it.
Note
If you are using the Navigator as part of the DAML SDK, you do not need to read this section.
The Navigator is released as a “fat” Java .jar file that bundles all required dependencies. This JAR is part of the SDK release and can be found using the SDK Assistant’s path
command:
da path navigator
To launch the Navigator JAR and print usage instructions:
da run navigator
Provide arguments at the end of a command, following a double dash. For example:
da run navigator -- console \
--config-file my-config.conf \
--port 8000 \
localhost 6865
The Navigator needs a configuration file specifying each user and the party they act as. It has a .conf
ending by convention. The file has this format:
users {
<USERNAME> {
party = <PARTYNAME>
}
..
}
In many cases, a simple one-to-one correspondence between users and their respective parties is sufficient to configure the Navigator. Example:
users {
BANK1 { party = "BANK1" }
BANK2 { party = "BANK2" }
OPERATOR { party = "OPERATOR" }
}
Using Navigator with DAML Ledgers¶
By default, Navigator is configured to use an unencrypted connection to the ledger.
To run Navigator against a secured DAML Ledger, configure TLS certificates using the --pem
, --crt
, and --cacrt
command line parameters.
Details of these parameters are explained in the command line help:
daml navigator --help