decodedTransaction.publicKey.toString() returns [object Object]

[kujtimprenku]

Prerequisites

• I'm using the latest version of near-api-js.
• I have tried to start with a fresh project and reproduce the defect with minimal code changes.
• I have read the console error messages carefully (if applicable).

Description

Unable get convert the public key to string from a decoded transaction.

Reproducible demo

https://github.com/kujtimprenku/naj-publickey

Steps to reproduce

  ...
  const encoded = tx.encode();
  const decoded = transactions.Transaction.decode(encoded)

  console.log({ originalTX: tx })
  console.log({ publicKey: decoded.publicKey.toString() }) // '[object Object]'

Live demo: https://kujtimprenku.github.io/naj-publickey/

Expected behavior

The publicKey.toString() should return the string value for the public key: ed25519:xxxxxxxxxxx.

Actual behavior

It returns '[object Object]'

Your environment

• NEAR JavaScript API version used: v4.0.3 and v5
• Frontend framework (if applicable): any
• Relevant dependencies (if applicable): n/a

Self-service

• I'd be willing to fix this bug myself.

[kujtimprenku]

Also, the enum key is missing in the action(s) for decoded transactions.

[kujtimprenku]

Some information is being lost on tx.encode() and tx.decode() on publicKey (keyType and other info) and actions (enum value).

[andy-haynes]

Thank you for the bug report, @kujtimprenku ! Really appreciate the example code and call out on the missing enum key.

Unfortunately I think this has always been the behavior here. borsh appears to only initialize structs as object literals, so the deserialized object is just a POJO without any methods from the target class. Do you know if this was working in previous versions?

In any case, this is only a limitation of borsh - this could be fixed in the decodeTransaction method to ensure the publicKey (and any other fields similarly affected), e.g.

// providers/src/schema.ts
export function decodeTransaction(bytes: Uint8Array) {
    const decoded = new Transaction(deserialize(SCHEMA.Transaction, bytes));
    const { publicKey: { ed25519Key, secp256k1Key } } = decoded;
    decoded.publicKey = new PublicKey({
        keyType: ed25519Key ? KeyType.ED25519 : KeyType.SECP256K1,
        data: ed25519Key ? ed25519Key.data || secp256k1Key.data,
    });
    return decoded;
}

[kujtimprenku]

Thank you for the bug report, @kujtimprenku ! Really appreciate the example code and call out on the missing enum key.

Unfortunately I think this has always been the behavior here. borsh appears to only initialize structs as object literals, so the deserialized object is just a POJO without any methods from the target class. Do you know if this was working in previous versions?

In any case, this is only a limitation of borsh - this could be fixed in the decodeTransaction method to ensure the publicKey (and any other fields similarly affected), e.g.

// providers/src/schema.ts
export function decodeTransaction(bytes: Uint8Array) {
    const decoded = new Transaction(deserialize(SCHEMA.Transaction, bytes));
    const { publicKey: { ed25519Key, secp256k1Key } } = decoded;
    decoded.publicKey = new PublicKey({
        keyType: ed25519Key ? KeyType.ED25519 : KeyType.SECP256K1,
        data: ed25519Key ? ed25519Key.data || secp256k1Key.data,
    });
    return decoded;
}

Actually in versions before moving to borsh 1.0.0 this info was available after decoding the transaction:.

I pushed a new branch in the example code above to demo it:
https://github.com/kujtimprenku/naj-publickey/tree/naj-2.1.4

I also deployed this branch to gh-pages of the example:
https://kujtimprenku.github.io/naj-publickey/

In the past this code used to work properly now because of the missing enum it's broken

[kujtimprenku]

But as you mentioned maybe the decodeTransaction must be updated to handle these cases when some info is lost.

[andy-haynes]

Thanks for the clarification, I did check previous behavior but I only went back as far as version 3 lol

That makes sense about [email protected], IIRC that was the change that fixed compatibility between NAJ versions. The fix I proposed is a kludge, but since the usage is confined to the one module it feels like an acceptable tradeoff.

[kujtimprenku]

I agree, the proposed fix would work just fine without digging through borsh-js.
Thanks for taking the time to look into this issue.