Client Events

Overview

The events package provides a client interface to subscribe to chain event messages. It abstracts the underlying connection mechanisms and offers a clear and easy-to-use way to get events from the chain. Highlights:

• Offers subscription to chain event messages matching a given query.

• Uses the Gorilla WebSockets package for underlying connection operations.

• Provides a modular structure with interfaces allowing for mock implementations and testing.

• Offers considerations for potential improvements and replacements, such as integration with the cometbft RPC client.

• Offers a generic client to decode on chain event bytes into the desired event type

Architecture Diagrams

The following section contains numerous diagrams that detail the architecture of the different aspects of the events package.

Components

The following legend describes how to read the following component diagrams.

• A uses B via B#MethodName()

• A returns C from A#MethodName()

• B uses D via network IO

(Component diagrams and legends retained as-is in original docs.)

Events Query Client

(EventsQueryClient component diagram retained as-is in original docs.)

Events Replay Client

(EventsReplayClient component diagram retained as-is in original docs.)

Subscriptions

(TODO_DOCUMENT(@bryanchriswhite): Add Legend)

(Event subscription diagrams and flow retained as-is in original docs.)

Installation

go get

go get github.com/pokt-network/poktroll/pkg/client/events

Features

• Websocket Connection: Uses the Gorilla WebSockets for implementing the connection interface.

• Events Subscription: Subscribe to chain event messages using a simple query mechanism.

• Dialer Interface: Offers a Dialer interface for constructing connections, which can be easily mocked for tests.

• Observable Pattern: Integrates the observable pattern, making it easier to react to chain events.

• Generic Replay Client: Offers a generic typed replay client to listen for specifc events on chain, and handles reconnection and subscription on error, if the EventsQueryClient returns an error or is unexpectedly closed.

Usage (EventsQueryClient)

Basic Example

basic.go

ctx := context.Background()

// Creating a new EventsQueryClient with the default, websocket dialer:
cometWebsocketURL := "ws://example.com"
evtClient := events.NewEventsQueryClient(cometWebsocketURL)

// Subscribing to a specific event, e.g. newly committed blocks:
// (see: https://docs.cosmos.network/v0.47/core/events#subscribing-to-events)
observable := evtClient.EventsBytes(ctx, "tm.event='NewBlock'")

// Subscribe and receive from the observer channel, typically in some other scope.
observer := observable.Subscribe(ctx)

// Observer channel closes when the context is canceled, observer is
// unsubscribed, or after the subscription returns an error.
for eitherEvent := range observer.Ch() {
    // (see either.Either: https://github.com/pokt-network/poktroll/blob/main/pkg/either/either.go#L3)
    eventBz, err := eitherEvent.ValueOrError()

    // ...
}

Advanced Usage - Query Client

advanced.go

// Given some custom dialer & connection implementation, e.g.:
var (
    tcpDialer events.Dialer = exampletcp.NewTcpDialerImpl()
    grcpDialer events.Dialer = examplegrpc.NewGrpcDialerImpl()
)

// Both TCP and gRPC use the TCP scheme as gRPC uses TCP for its transport layer.
cometUrl = "tcp://example.com"

// Creating new EventsQueryClients with a custom tcpDialer:
// See: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/pokt-network/poktroll/pkg/client/events/#WithDialer
tcpDialerOpt := events.WithDialer(tcpDialer)
// See: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/pokt-network/poktroll/pkg/client/events/#NewEventsQueryClient
tcpEvtClient := events.NewEventsQueryClient(cometUrl, tcpDialerOpt)

// Alternatively, with a custom gRPC dialer:
// See: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/pokt-network/poktroll/pkg/client/events/#WithDialer
gcpDialerOpt := events.WithDialer(grcpDialer)
// See: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/pokt-network/poktroll/pkg/client/events/#NewEventsQueryClient
grpcEvtClient := events.NewEventsQueryClient(cometUrl, grpcDialerOpt)

// ... rest follows the same as the basic example.

Configuration

• WithDialer: Configure the client to use a custom dialer for connections.

Usage (EventsReplayClient)

Basic Usage

replay_example.go

const (
  // Define a query string to provide to the EventsQueryClient
  // See: https://docs.cosmos.network/v0.47/learn/advanced/events#subscribing-to-events
  // And: https://docs.cosmos.network/v0.47/learn/advanced/events#default-events
  eventQueryString = "message.action='messageActionName'"
  // Define the websocket URL the EventsQueryClient will subscribe to
  cometWebsocketURL = "ws://example.com:26657/websocket"
  // the amount of events we want before they are emitted
  replayObsBufferSize = 1
)

// Define an interface to represent an arbitrary onchain event
type EventType interface {
  GetName() string // Illustrative only; arbitrary interfaces are supported.
}

// Define the event type that implements the interface
type eventType struct {
  Name string `json:"name"`
}

func (e *eventType) GetName() string { return e.Name }

// Define a decoder function that can take the raw event bytes
// received from the EventsQueryClient and convert them into
// the desired type for the EventsReplayClient
// See: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/pokt-network/poktroll/pkg/client/events/#NewEventsFn
func eventTypeFactory(ctx context.Context) events.NewEventsFn[EventType] {
  return function(eventBz []byte) EventType {
    eventMsg := new(eventType)
    logger := polylog.Ctx(ctx)

    if err := json.Unmarshal(eventBz, eventMsg); err != nil {
      return nil, err
    }

    // Confirm the event is correct by checking its fields
    if eventMsg.Name == "" {
      return nil, events.ErrEventsUnmarshalEvent.
        Wrapf("with eventType data: %s", string(eventBz))
    }

    return eventMsg, nil
  }
}

// Create the events query client and a depinject config to supply
// it into the EventsReplayClient
// See: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/pokt-network/poktroll/pkg/client/events/#NewEventsQueryClient
evtClient := events.NewEventsQueryClient(cometWebsocketURL)
depConfig := depinject.Supply(evtClient)

// Create a context (this should be cancellable to close the EventsReplayClient)
ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())

// Create a new instance of the EventsReplayClient
// See: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/pokt-network/poktroll/pkg/client/events/#NewEventsReplayClient
client, err := events.NewEventsReplayClient[
  EventType,
  observable.ReplayObservable[EventType],
](
  ctx,
  depConfig,
  cometWebsocketURL,
  eventQueryString,
  eventTypeFactory(ctx),
  replayObsBufferSize,
)
if err != nil {
  return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to create EventsReplayClient %w", err)
}

// Retrieve the latest emitted event
lastEventType := client.LastNEvents(ctx, 1)[0]

// Get the latest replay observable
latestEventsObs := client.EventsSequence(ctx)
// Get the latest events from the sequence
lastEventType = latestEventsObs.Last(ctx, 1)[0]

// Cancel the context which will call client.Close and close all
// subscriptions and the EventsQueryClient
cancel()

- Replay Client

The EventsReplayClient can be lightly wrapped to define a custom client for a respective type. Examples of these include the client.BlockClient and client.DelegationClient interfaces which under-the-hood are wrappers for the EventsReplayClient.

TODO(@bryanchriswhite): Update links for BlockClient and DelegationClient when they are added to the documentation.

See: BlockClient and DelegationClient for more detailed examples on how to wrap and use the EventsReplayClient in a more advanced setting.

Best Practices

• Connection Handling: Ensure to close the EventsQueryClient when done to free up resources and avoid potential leaks.

• Error Handling: Always check both the synchronous error returned by EventsBytes as well as asynchronous errors sent over the observable.

FAQ

Why use `events` over directly using Gorilla WebSockets?

events abstracts many of the underlying details and provides a streamlined interface for subscribing to chain events. It also integrates the observable pattern and provides mockable interfaces for better testing.

How can I use a different connection mechanism other than WebSockets?

You can implement the Dialer and Connection interfaces and use the WithDialer configuration to provide your custom dialer.

Why use the `EventsReplayClient` over directly maintaining an `EventsQueryClient`?

The EventsReplayClient will automatically attempt to reconnect to the underlying EventsQueryClient in the event that it closes and publish the most recent observable.ReplayObservable that can be used to retrieve events. This means that the consumer does not need to maintain their own connection to the EventsQueryClient and can always call the EventsSequence and LastNEvents methods to retrieve the latest observable and slice of decoded events from an active EventsQueryClient.