Interoperability with other Solana blockchain applications

As a developer building a Solana blockchain application, you are probably familiar with the Interface Definition Language (IDL) for your specific use case. However, communicating with another application requires more than just IDL. In this article, we will explore how to communicate with other applications and interact with their functions using the Solana SDK.

Why do I need more than just IDL?

While IDL provides a high-level abstraction of the application’s functionality, it does not cover low-level details such as interacting with contracts, emitting events, or calling smart contracts. To build robust application interoperability, you need to leverage the Solana API and libraries.

In this article, we will focus on two main topics:

  • Interoperability with other applications using contracts: We will discuss how to invoke functions from another application’s contract using the “call” function.
  • Interacting with the Solana Blockchain Using the SDK: We will discuss how to access the Solana blockchain, create accounts, and perform transactions.

Calling Functions from Another Application

Solana: How to interact with other on-chain solana program with its IDL?

To interact with another application, you need to:

  • Create a new account on the target contract chain: To create a new account, you can use the `create_account'' function provided in the target contract.
  • Call a function from another application contract usingcall'': Use thecall'' function to call a specified function in the other application contract.

Here is an example:

use solana_program::{account_info::AccountInfo, entry_point};
use solana_sdk::program::contract::ProgramId;
use std::sync::Arc;
// IDL for another program (e.g., data storage contract)
struct AnotherProgramContract {
// Other required fields...
}
impl solana_program::idl::OnIDL for AnotherProgramContract {
fn call(&self, account: &AccountInfo) -> Result {
let target_contract = Arc::new(self.clone());
let program_id = ProgramID::from_slice("another_program");
// Function call from another program contract
let result = target_contract
.contract()
.call(&[&program_id], &[account])?;
OK (result)
}
}
// Create a new account in the target contract chain
fn create_account(target_program_id: &ProgramId) -> Result {
// Create a new application context
let context = solana_sdk::program::context::new()?;
// To create a new account, call create_account.
let (result, _) = context.program.create_account(
&[
AccountInfo::new_id(&[]),
ProgramID::from_slice(target_program_id).clone(),
],
&[&target_program_id],
)?;
OK (result)
}

Interaction with Solana Blockchain

To access the Solana blockchain, create accounts, and perform transactions, you must:

  • Create a new account on Solana mainnet or devnet: Use the create_account'' function provided in the target application contract.
  • Perform transactions using the SDK: You can use thecreate_transaction'' function provided in the target application contract to perform transactions.

Here is an example:

“ rust

use solana_program::idl::idl;

use std::sync::Arc;

// IDL for a simple transaction contract

struct TransactionContract {

// Other required fields…

}

impl solana_program::idl::OnIDL for TransactionContract {

fn call(&self, account: &AccountInfo) -> Result {

let target_contract = Arc::new(self.clone());

let program_id = Program_ID::from_slice(“transaction”);

// Perform the operation

let (result, _) = target_contract

.contract()

.call(&[&program_id], &[account])?