Past cryptocurrency tokens, the blockchain additionally permits analysts to get a clearer image of virtually any GameFi venture, NFT, market, or DeFi protocol, due to Footprint.
At Footprint, we’ve created a strategy that compiles and meaningfully aggregates the uncooked blockchain information. And this is applicable to programming integrations.
1 . Methods to work with the blockchain information
Let’s first discuss programming integration strategies. There are just a few alternative ways to work with blockchain information, and your chosen strategy will rely in your particular wants and targets. Here’s a fast overview:
1.1 Blockchain explorers
A blockchain explorer is a web site or software that lets you view the info saved on a blockchain. This is usually a fast and straightforward option to entry details about particular transactions, blocks, and different information on the blockchain.
Blockchain explorers is usually a useful gizmo for accessing and viewing information saved on a blockchain, however they do have some limitations for software program integrations. Listed here are just a few examples of issues that blockchain explorers could lack:
- Primarily targeted on uncooked information. Blockchain explorers usually show uncooked information from the blockchain. That requires implementing the abstractions over the uncooked information, which will be tedious, particularly for initiatives targeted on supply slightly than on the technical particulars of sure blockchains.
- Customization choices: Blockchain explorers are usually designed to be user-friendly and straightforward to make use of, which implies they might not supply many customization choices. This could make it tough to tailor the explorer to your particular wants or preferences.
- Superior search performance: Blockchain explorers typically have fundamental search performance however could not help extra superior search options corresponding to Boolean operators or common expressions. This could make it tough to seek for particular info on the blockchain.
- Interactivity: Many blockchain explorers are basically read-only instruments.
Whereas blockchain explorers is usually a useful option to entry and think about blockchain uncooked information, they do have some limitations that you need to be conscious of earlier than deciding to implement your resolution infrastructure based mostly on them.
1.2 Personal indexing resolution
Establishing your individual indexer to work with blockchain information can have a number of benefits and potential disadvantages. Listed here are just a few examples of every:
Benefits:
- Customization: Whenever you arrange your indexer, you have got full management over how the info is listed and accessed. This could permit you to tailor the indexer to your particular wants and preferences.
- Independence: By establishing your indexer, you aren’t counting on a third-party service to keep up and replace the index. This could present higher management and adaptability in your work with blockchain information.
- Improved safety: Whenever you arrange your individual indexer, you’ll be able to implement your individual safety measures to guard the info and stop unauthorized entry.
Disadvantages:
- Complexity: Establishing your indexer is usually a advanced and time-consuming course of, particularly if you’re new to working with blockchain know-how. You will want to know the underlying know-how and be prepared to take a position the effort and time required to get the indexer up and operating.
- Upkeep: After you have arrange your indexer, you can be accountable for sustaining and updating it. This could require ongoing technical experience and assets, which is usually a drawback in case you should not have the mandatory data or help.
- Price: Establishing your individual indexer will be costly, as you could buy the {hardware} and software program required to run the indexer and pay for any related prices, corresponding to electrical energy and bandwidth.
Total, establishing your individual indexer to work with blockchain information can present higher management and customization, however it may also be a posh and costly course of. It’s necessary to think about the benefits and drawbacks rigorously earlier than deciding if that is the best strategy.
1.3 Database as a service
Utilizing a third-party indexer to work with blockchain information can have a number of benefits and potential disadvantages. Listed here are just a few examples of every:
Benefits:
- Ease of use: Third-party indexers are usually designed to be straightforward to make use of, which implies you can begin working with the blockchain information rapidly and with out having to study a number of technical particulars or operating your customized indexing resolution (doesn’t matter whether or not it’s self-developed or a ready-made SDK)
- Superior search performance: Many third-party indexers supply superior search performance, corresponding to Boolean operators and common expressions, making looking for particular info on the blockchain simpler. These can have many precise implementations, however the listed information is commonly added to a relational database, which means full SQL help.
- Scalability: Third-party indexers are sometimes designed to deal with giant volumes of information, which implies they could be a good choice if you’ll want to search or entry information from a big blockchain.
- Reliability: Third-party indexers are usually run by skilled organizations with the assets and experience to make sure the index is all the time up-to-date and correct. Options will not be all the time decentralized, as they’re targeted on processing large quantities of information, however the overwhelming majority are open supply, which will increase consumer confidence within the service.
Disadvantages:
- Dependency: Utilizing a third-party indexer, you depend on that service to keep up and replace the index. If the indexer experiences technical points or goes offline, it’s possible you’ll not have the ability to entry the blockchain information.
- Restricted customization: Third-party indexers are usually designed to be straightforward to make use of, which implies they might not supply many customization choices. This could make it tough to tailor the indexer to your particular wants or preferences.
- Price: Some third-party indexers could cost a price for his or her providers, which is usually a drawback in case you work on a decent price range.
In abstract, utilizing a third-party indexer to work with blockchain information is usually a handy and efficient choice, however restricted and typically lack customization.
1.4 Abstract
The purpose of Footprint is primarily to decrease the bar for coming into analytics and dealing with web3 information. This strategy is a stability between ease of use and adaptability. That’s the reason one in all our providers is DaaS (Database because the service sort). Earlier than we take a better take a look at the benefits of our service, we can even take a look at one other implementation choice for the indexer, particularly a self-written resolution or SDK.
Within the subsequent chapters, we are going to discover the core function that read-only blockchain APIs ought to have. We are going to take a look at the issue from completely different angles and think about various options. A few of the most necessary options of blockchain APIs embody the next:
- Ease of use and adaptability
- Scalability
- Compatibility
Ease of use and adaptability are two necessary options of blockchain APIs. A blockchain API that’s straightforward to make use of will make it simpler for builders to start out constructing blockchain-based purposes, permitting them to rapidly prototype and check their concepts with out spending a number of time studying how one can use the API.
Flexibility, alternatively, refers back to the capability of a blockchain API to help a variety of use circumstances and purposes. A versatile blockchain API will enable builders to entry completely different components of the blockchain and construct purposes that work together with various kinds of sensible contracts and different blockchain-based belongings. This may be particularly necessary for builders trying to construct purposes that can be utilized in varied industries and contexts.
Total, having a blockchain API that’s each straightforward to make use of and versatile could make it simpler for builders to construct progressive and helpful purposes that may reap the benefits of blockchain know-how’s distinctive options and capabilities.
1.5 Footprint Analytics
Ease of use and adaptability is ensured by our information group, which impacts all facets of interactions with the Footprint ecosystem. Footprint has an API constructed on high of this information mannequin that enables customers to construct full-fledged information pipelines for information evaluation and machine studying purposes. We name it a Knowledge API. We’re concurrently supporting two varieties of API and two sub-types inside one in all them to cowl many of the circumstances: Relaxation API and SQL API.
REST API permits us to rapidly combine an utility since every endpoint is a pre-built, hard-coded script that we’ve got recognized as one of the vital fashionable. All endpoints include easy-to-use instruments for filtering, sorting, and pagination.
Due to the SQL API’s extra adaptable interface, you’ll be able to acquire this for extra particular circumstances. One good thing about utilizing the identical SQL queries in each the online utility and the API is that it may simplify growth and upkeep. By utilizing the identical queries in each interfaces, builders can keep away from the necessity to write and preserve separate units of queries for the online utility and the API. This could save effort and time and cut back the chance of errors or inconsistencies between the 2 interfaces.
Moreover, utilizing the identical SQL queries in each the online utility and the API could make it simpler for builders to create a seamless consumer expertise. By utilizing the identical queries, builders can be sure that the info accessed and manipulated by the online utility and the API is constant, permitting customers to change between the 2 interfaces with out encountering any inconsistencies or disruptions.
1.6 Different platforms
Many different analytics options enable the consumer to research completely different networks based on varied ranges of necessities. Nevertheless, for essentially the most half, various options are likely to go to extremes, implementing both a really versatile product that requires data of question languages and even programming languages or a quite simple interface with ready scripts and, accordingly, low flexibility.
Options like Moralis and Quicknode solely have a REST API interface. Despite the fact that there are a lot of endpoints, it nonetheless limits the developer within the flexibility of the info returned.
Dune has not too long ago launched its API. This asynchronous resolution implies the preliminary existence of a question on the platform beneath a sure id (dune.com/question/{{question id}}), by which it’s doable to execute queries within the type of SQL. The important thing limitation of this resolution is the necessity to pre-modify the SQL on the platform in order that the up to date question is subsequently executed.
Chainbase releases SQL API in the identical method as Footprint. Nonetheless, in contrast to Footprint, Chainbase doesn’t have such subtle ETL, so SQL queries can solely be executed for uncooked transactions.
2. Scalability
Blockchain APIs ought to have the ability to deal with giant volumes of information and transactions, permitting builders to construct purposes that can be utilized by many customers concurrently.
2.1 Footprint Analytics
2.1.1 Fashionable open information stack
The Footprint staff has made a number of architectural upgrades since its launch in August 2021, due to its sturdy capability to discover and iterate on know-how. In lower than a 12 months and a half, the staff has been in a position to implement these modifications efficiently. It is a testomony to the staff’s ability and experience in know-how and information science.
By way of experimentation, Footprint iteratively made three international architectural updates, finally arriving at an structure that meets the necessities of the platform’s varied use circumstances. Extra info on the evolution of the implementation will be discovered within the subsequent article:
2.1.2 Sync and async executions
Inside Footprint, there are two modes for executing queries to the SQL API – synchronous and asynchronous. API calls to the synchronous endpoint indicate the SQL question will probably be executed by the Footprint servers as quickly as an HTTP request is acquired from the applying, thereby sustaining the connection. This is smart when utilizing light-weight requests, as on this case, the applying doesn’t have to attend lengthy for execution. The main points will be discovered on the next web page:
https://docs.footprint.community/reference/post_native
For heavy requests, it is strongly recommended to make use of an asynchronous request. In contrast to a synchronous one, the consumer utility doesn’t have to keep up a reference to the server throughout execution. As an alternative, it may get the request-id instantly, based on which, after a while, individually get the execution outcomes. As a part of the asynchronous API, two-step ought to be lined to fetch the info – the next endpoint will probably be used to ship an “order” for SQL execution:
https://docs.footprint.community/reference/post_native-async
The second step is to ship a request to obtain outcomes by the identifier obtained when accessing the earlier endpoint. The endpoint for this second step is described on the next web page:
https://docs.footprint.community/reference/get_native-execution-id-results
2.2 Different options
DuneV2 modifications the entire database structure. Dune is now transitioning away from a PostgreSQL database to an Occasion of [[Apache Spark]] hosted on [[Databricks]]. Solely asynchronous API.
3. Compatibility
Blockchain APIs ought to be suitable with a variety of programming languages and growth environments in order that builders can use the instruments and frameworks they’re most conversant in.
REST is simpler to combine since every programming language has many libraries that present comfy work with any such API. Nevertheless, in the long run, each SQL APIs and REST work over HTTP, so the event expertise is sort of equivalent concerning sending a request by default.
4. Abstract
As we’ve got analyzed, most often, it’s sufficient for an utility to make use of ready-made DaaS options given that they’ll return abstractions (not simply uncooked information) and save a number of money and time, as they finally enable groups to focus not on infrastructure however on the worth of the product. Going by varied options within the DaaS market,
Footprint appears to be essentially the most optimum to combine, because it has essentially the most versatile mannequin for producing requests whereas being each straightforward to make use of and in addition having the trendy open-source information stack beneath the hood, which ensures uninterrupted and, most significantly, quick execution of essentially the most advanced requests.
