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ExperimentalInternetComputer

Low-level interface to the Internet Computer.

WARNING: This low-level API is experimental and likely to change or even disappear.

Value call​

let call : (canister : Principal, name : Text, data : Blob) -> async (reply : Blob)

Calls canister's update or query function, name, with the binary contents of data as IC argument. Returns the response to the call, an IC reply or reject, as a Motoko future:

  • The message data of an IC reply determines the binary contents of reply.
  • The error code and textual message data of an IC reject determines the future's Error value.

Note: call is an asynchronous function and can only be applied in an asynchronous context.

Example:

import IC "mo:base/ExperimentalInternetComputer";
import Principal "mo:base/Principal";

let ledger = Principal.fromText("ryjl3-tyaaa-aaaaa-aaaba-cai");
let method = "decimals";
let input = ();
type OutputType = { decimals : Nat32 };

let rawReply = await IC.call(ledger, method, to_candid(input)); // serialized Candid
let output : ?OutputType = from_candid(rawReply); // { decimals = 8 }

Learn more about Candid serialization

Function countInstructions​

func countInstructions(comp : () -> ()) : Nat64

Given computation, comp, counts the number of actual and (for IC system calls) notional WebAssembly instructions performed during the execution of comp().

More precisely, returns the difference between the state of the IC instruction counter (performance counter 0) before and after executing comp() (see Performance Counter).

NB: countInstructions(comp) will not account for any deferred garbage collection costs incurred by comp().

Example:

import IC "mo:base/ExperimentalInternetComputer";

let count = IC.countInstructions(func() {
  // ...
});