[bitcoin-cli] improve error output #6387

jonasschnelli commented at 10:19 AM on July 7, 2015: contributor

[only affects bitcoin-cli]

At the moment, errors in bitcoin-cli are sent to stderr as compact json string. Example:

jonasschnelli$ ./src/bitcoin-cli -regtest sendtoaddress 276536543
error: {"code":-1,"message":"sendtoaddress \"bitcoinaddress\" amount ( \"comment\" \"comment-to\" 
subtractfeefromamount )\n\nSend an amount to a given address. The amount is a real and is rounded to the nearest 0.00000001\n\nArguments:\n1. \"bitcoinaddress\"  (string, required) The bitcoin address to 
send to.\n2. \"amount\"      (numeric, required) The amount in btc to send. eg 0.1\n3. \"comment\"     (string, optional) A comment used to store what the transaction is for. \n                             This is not part 
of the transaction, just kept in your wallet.\n4. \"comment-to\"  (string, optional) A comment to store the name of the person or organization \n                             to which you're sending the transaction. This is 
not part of the \n                             transaction, just kept in your wallet.\n5. subtractfeefromamount  (boolean, optional, default=false) The fee will be deducted from the amount being sent.\n                             
The recipient will receive less bitcoins than you enter in the amount field.\n\nResult:\n\"transactionid\"  (string) The transaction id.\n\nExamples:\n> bitcoin-cli sendtoaddress 
\"1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd\" 0.1\n> bitcoin-cli sendtoaddress \"1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd\" 0.1 \"donation\" \"seans outpost\"\n> bitcoin-cli 
sendtoaddress \"1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd\" 0.1 \"\" \"\" true\n> curl --user myusername --data-binary '{\"jsonrpc\": \"1.0\", \"id\":\"curltest\", \"method\": \"sendtoaddress\", \"params\": 
[\"1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd\", 0.1, \"donation\", \"seans outpost\"] }' -H 'content-type: text/plain;' http://127.0.0.1:8332/\n"}

This PR would format the error message and error code so that it's better readable. Example after this PR:

jonasschnelli$ ./src/bitcoin-cli --regtest sendtoaddress mvDv4Z
error code: -1
error message:
sendtoaddress "bitcoinaddress" amount ( "comment" "comment-to" subtractfeefromamount )

Send an amount to a given address. The amount is a real and is rounded to the nearest 0.00000001

Arguments:
1. "bitcoinaddress"  (string, required) The bitcoin address to send to.
2. "amount"      (numeric, required) The amount in btc to send. eg 0.1
3. "comment"     (string, optional) A comment used to store what the transaction is for. 
                             This is not part of the transaction, just kept in your wallet.
4. "comment-to"  (string, optional) A comment to store the name of the person or organization 
                             to which you're sending the transaction. This is not part of the 
                             transaction, just kept in your wallet.
5. subtractfeefromamount  (boolean, optional, default=false) The fee will be deducted from the amount being sent.
                             The recipient will receive less bitcoins than you enter in the amount field.

Result:
"transactionid"  (string) The transaction id.

Examples:
> bitcoin-cli sendtoaddress "1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd" 0.1
> bitcoin-cli sendtoaddress "1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd" 0.1 "donation" "seans outpost"
> bitcoin-cli sendtoaddress "1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd" 0.1 "" "" true
> curl --user myusername --data-binary '{"jsonrpc": "1.0", "id":"curltest", "method": "sendtoaddress", "params": ["1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd", 0.1, "donation", "seans outpost"] }' -H 'content-type: text/plain;' http://127.0.0.1:8332/

jonasschnelli force-pushed on Jul 7, 2015

laanwj added the label RPC on Jul 7, 2015

jgarzik commented at 2:42 PM on July 7, 2015: contributor

ACK

in src/bitcoin-cli.cpp:None in 9c7d0dd09c outdated

 189 | @@ -190,6 +190,15 @@ int CommandLineRPC(int argc, char *argv[])
 190 |                          throw CConnectionFailed("server in warmup");
 191 |                      strPrint = "error: " + error.write();

laanwj commented at 2:43 PM on July 7, 2015:

Maybe not print the whole object, when we print the nicely formatted error?

What has always held me back from doing this (sensible) thing is that scripts may be relying on bitcoin-cli's output for errors to be as it is.

jonasschnelli commented at 3:23 PM on July 7, 2015:

This line strPrint = "error: " + error.write(); get's overwritten at L198 when error.isObject() (currently always). Hmm... if someone relies on a/the output of a RPC client application like bitcoin-cli he should definitively rethink his API design and probably directly use the JSON RPC API.

laanwj commented at 3:32 PM on July 7, 2015:

Ok, fair enough. utACK.

jgarzik commented at 3:39 PM on July 7, 2015:

Agree / @jonasschnelli

jonasschnelli force-pushed on Jul 7, 2015

[bitcoin-cli] improve error output 65ce0215a4

jonasschnelli force-pushed on Jul 7, 2015

laanwj commented at 4:38 PM on July 7, 2015: member

Travis error was unrelated (see #6391)

laanwj merged this on Jul 8, 2015

laanwj closed this on Jul 8, 2015

laanwj referenced this in commit 11576a57d2 on Jul 8, 2015

zkbot referenced this in commit df07f9ad23 on Feb 15, 2017

zkbot referenced this in commit ec069ce96c on Mar 3, 2017

zkbot referenced this in commit 702eefc71a on Mar 3, 2017

zkbot referenced this in commit 99c4c6de0c on Mar 3, 2017

MarcoFalke locked this on Sep 8, 2021