Polkadot UI
Polkadot already comes with an open-source, publicly accessible interface that makes it easy for anyone to connect with the Krumme Lanke testnet. The main repo by @jacogr can be found here.
If you are already running your own node, simply point your Chrome/Chromium browser to: https://polkadot.js.org/apps/
If you do not want to set up your own node, just navigate to https://poc-2.polkadot.io/ to create your first Polkadot account.
The UI project is hosted on Github at https://github.com/polkadot-js/apps
To create a new account, navigate to the accounts tab and click the Create account button at the top of the page. Choose a name for your account, encrypt it with a strong password, then click Save.
To start playing with your new Polkadot account, head over to our Riot channel and ask for some testnet DOTs.
Navigate to the Extrinsics tab and then select your account with DOTs. Then, enter the address you want to send DOTs to in the recipient: AccountId field, enter the amount in value: Balance, click Submit Transaction, then enter your password and click Sign and Submit.
Then you will notice the balance of the recipient automatically increase after a few blocks.
The Polkadot block explorer lists the validated blocks as they are sealed. Each block listed includes its:
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block/height number
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hash
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parentHash (hash of previous block)
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extrinsics root (merkle root of the ordered mapping of extrinsics, from the index to each extrinsic in the block)
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state root (merkle root of all the storage)
From here you'll be able to stake your entire account's balance to become a validator, and you can also nominate specific validators.
Note: when staking or nominating, currently you cannot transfer DOTs from these accounts. It is recommended to create extra accounts specifically for staking, validating, and nominating.
Extrinsics are the bits of information added to the blockchain, i.e., the things 'extrinsic' from the system. These include transactions, staking, proposing, voting, and many other consensus-level actions.
Start by selecting the account you wish to act with, then choose one of the following extrinsics from the extrinsics section.
From here you can transfer, stake and unstake tokens.
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transfer(recipient,value) - Transfer by entering the recipient's address in the 'recipient field', then entering the number of DOTs you would like to send.
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stake() - Stake the entirety of your selected account's balance to become a Validator. However, becoming a Validator requires more than just staking. To get more information on becoming a Validator, read the requirements and tutorial here.
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unstake() - Unstake the entirety of your selected account's balance to withdraw your bid to be a Validator.
As of PoC-1, other options are limited or simply not yet available for testing. This readme will be updated as these functions are made available.
The Storage tab allows you to query the Polkadot PoC-1 blockchain for statistics and information.
Some useful queries include:
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consensus.authorityCount(): the number of current validators -
session.validators(): the current validators by address, useful for verifying your status as a validator -
staking.intentions(): accounts with the desire to stake and become validators -
consensus.code(): the Wasm code of the current runtime, useful for monitoring changes in the state transition function -
system.accountIndexOf(who): the number of extrinsics a given account has submitted -
staking.freeBalanceOfWho(): the balance of a given account
This page lists your current Polkadot accounts. You can view, edit or create an account. When creating accounts, it's always good practice to back up the private key under the create from the following seed ... field.
You can save addresses here for later use. To add a new address to your address book, click the Add address tab at the top
Polkadot UI comes with a vanity address generator in the browser. To create a vanity address, enter a string and start hashing. The longer the string, the longer it will take to compute. Note that some characters are not allowed due to the hashing algorithm used in Polkadot.
For hackers interested in submitting Raw RPC calls, you can do so from here. These calls will be updated as Polkadot evolves.
Here you can hash data, verify signed messages, and sign messages from your accounts.