How is Blue Label Labs different from its competitors?

First, we live and breathe cutting-edge/bleeding-edge technology, so your app will similarly be cutting-edge/bleeding edge with a long “shelf-life”. Second, with a perfect mix of local, domestic and international talent you are guaranteed to get the optimal mix of a high-quality product and a fair price. Third, you will be assigned a dedicated Program Manager (PM) after we’ve established a contract who will be your single point-person for all of your needs and questions. This PM will stay with you for the duration of your relationship with Blue Label Labs and is your conduit to all of the resources we have to offer, thus streamlining your communication and preventing you from having to repeat your message to multiple resources or play air traffic control. Our PMs are the best in the business and we’d be happy to introduce you to a projected PM (and project team) once we’ve got an estimate on the table to discuss. Fourth, the size of Blue Label Labs team (now 64 people strong) means you don’t have to worry about the “single point of failure” issue that exists at smaller shops of just one or two developers, nor the burden paying for the high overhead cost associated with larger shops. Fifth, we have a stronger focus on design than most other shops. We split our design team into two specific functions—Product/User Experience and User Interface. It’s a rare unicorn designer that is good at both thinking through flow and product decisions, as well as branding, colors, logos and overall User Interface. To that end, each project team has both a UX Designer and UI Designer staffed to ensure top notch design. Sixth, with over 7 years of operation and over 250 apps completed, we have both the experience and extensive re-usable code base to ensure your app is built as efficiently and as inexpensively as possible. Seventh, our QA and Testing methodology is rigorous and as important to us as the actual development—meaning your app will be as bug free as is possible. We have a dedicated QA Engineer staffed on every project. This engineer is not the original author of the code ensuring the highest quality results from the QA process. Please see the below sections for more details.

How does Blue Label Labs work with clients?

Blue Label Labs Labs begins most projects with a Discovery, Planning & Design Phase (Phase One). First, we determine the proper technologies and development schedule. Second, the Design teams inherit the User Stories that were drafted during the sales process. User Stories are simple one-liners that outline the activities your users will need to be able to accomplish within the app. These User Stories then get grouped together into meaningful features and feature sets. The Design teams work with the client to finalize the User Stories. Third, our design team sets out creating greyscale wireframes to illustrate how a user will move through the app (i.e., the user experience, UX). Fourth, we transition to full color illustrations/designs that have the final look and feel of the app (i.e., the user interface, UI). Fifth, the app designs are then uploaded into a prototyping platform called Invision that allows our team to create tappable and swipeable “hotspots” so that you can show the app on your phone or via a mocked-up phone in a web browser. At the same time, we draft a Functional Specification document that details the technical hows and whys of the project for the development team. Once that work is complete, we them move on to the Development Phase (Phase Two). The Agile development/engineering team works hand-in-hand with the Program Manager and follows the wireframes and the Functional Specifications to build the app. Our first development goal is the First Deliverable milestone—we call this D1; this is a highly functional build of the app that contains a subset of features agreed upon by Blue Label Labs and the client. We then begin an iterative process of finalizing the remaining features. At the same time, a QA Team builds a full test plan for the app. The QA Team continually performs functional and regression testing on the app, reporting issues to the Project Manager. Learn more about our process here.

How long does it take to complete the average app?

Typically, for our average 4 to 5-month project, the Phase One: Discovery & Planning and Design lasts for approximately 4 to 6 weeks, with Phase Two: Development and Testing Phase occupying the remaining 3 to 4 months. At the end of the Phase Two, the final app is prepared for Deployment. Deployment involves moving any web services and server side components to a production environment and submitting the app to the relevant app store(s).

How much does the average app cost?

If we were in full-swing on a new project, a client can estimate a cost of between $10,000 and $30,000 per two-week sprint ($20,000 to $60,000 per month) for the effort—typically billed bi-weekly. If Blue Label Labs is handling everything from Discovery, Planning & Design through to Deployment in an app store, total app costs average about $120,000 for one “platform”–iOS, Android, Web, etc. That said, it very much depends on the complexity of the design and development required for each individual app, we’ve completed full apps at costs of between $50,000 (a bare-bones, simple MVP/prototype) and $2,000,000 (a full featured, enterprise apps). We provide free, no commitment estimates to clients. After the app is submitted to an app store(s) or pushed live on the web, the Blue Label Labs team monitors the app store and customer reviews and deals with any issues, questions, delays or approvals that arise. We have a great track record with app submissions and make sure that the app submitted is highly likely to be approved without issue. Post approval, a maintenance agreement can be put into place to cover and small issues, minor app edits (e.g., color, image or text changes) and any bugs that might linger. At the end of the project, we will transfer all source code and project files to you and you will remain the sole owner of all IP in the app. After that time, we provide our services at an hourly rate of $120/hour for ad-hoc updates or at an hourly rate of $100/hour for a mutually agreed upon set number of hours in a 6-month retainer. The monthly maintenance cost for the average app is $2,000/month: in other words, a retainer of 20 hours per month at $100 per hour equals $2,000/month and guarantees expedited service vs. ad-hoc requests.

What is the difference between a Native App, a Hybrid App and an HTML5 App?

Native App: A Native App is an app written for a specific platform like iOS or Android—in other words, the app is written in the coding language used for development on that specific platform (Objective-C or Swift for iOS and Java for Android). When you build a Native App, you get access to all the hardware features exposed by the native code APIs and SDKs. For example, Apple iOS Push Notifications are one example of a feature that cannot be supported by an HTML5 App. The graphics and user interface of a Native App are far superior to any Hybrid or HTML5 app. You would choose this option, if you want to use the user interface components from Apple’s proprietary user interface libraries (i.e., the usability is better); you want full device hardware access—cameras, microphone, and geo-location; you want peak performance with no lag; you want users to be able to access the app off-line (i.e., without Internet access); you want access to push notifications and in-app purchase; and you want your app to de discoverable in the app store. On the downside, your code is less portable across operating systems and it is often the most expensive development option. It is our recommendation that if you plan to start a true, revenue generating, app-based business, this is the only viable option. Hybrid App: A Hybrid App is a form of web app that is deployed to a native platform like an iPhone or Android phone inside a native shell. This shell is usually little more than a web browser view (to display the HTML5 content) and some other hooks to allow your web app to potentially access some more hardware features that are not available inside a typical mobile web browser—e.g., push notification and in-app purchases. It improves code portability because if you want to port your app to another platform, you only need a native shell on that other platform to run it, the HTML5 content of the app is directly portable. These shells can be hand written, but can also be generated automatically by tools in the marketplace like React Native, PhoneGap, Cordova or Xamarin. These tools allow a developer to push the app out to multiple platforms (e.g., iOS, Android, Windows Mobile) quickly by generating the shell and packages required to do so automatically. This sounds powerful, and it is, but clearly creators of these third-party platforms have a lot of configurations and hardware to support, and thus, the solutions do not always work the same across all devices, and in practice, testing and hacking of special cases will be required by the developer to get proper functionality. You would choose this option if you want a balance between cost and usability; you want access to some (but not all) of the phone’s native APIs/SDKs and hardware; you want to be able to quickly deploy across multiple device types; and you’re not worried about high-end graphics. On the downside, because these third-party hybrid platforms (e.g., React Native, PhoneGap and Xamarin) need to support so many device types there are always implementation and usability issues to workout. In addition, you will only have access to the features of a new operating system 6+ months AFTER it is released by Apple, Google or Microsoft. In this way, your app will never be able to cutting-edge technology. While we are fully capable of building Hybrid Apps, it is our recommendation that this option is only viable for simple, lo-fi apps that are heavy on text and images, but don’t need much in the way of functionality or user interface. An HTML5 Web App: An HTML5 app is essentially a website with JavaScript code written to allow the app to perform dynamically, as opposed to a static website that you need to refresh to see the changes. It works interactively to make it feel like an app, but it is actually running in a web browser. It is essentially a website, which will support multiple viewports or screen sizes so that it works well on mobile. Because it is running in a browser, it is confined to what is possible within a mobile web browser. You would choose this option if you want to support multiple platforms with the same app/codebase; you want to deploy it on the web; you want the widest possible support across multiple device operating systems and manufacturers; and you want to be able to update your source files on your server and have them immediately deployed to all devices (i.e., removing the need for the app approval process). On the downside, your app is not discoverable in the app stores; it will never look and feel like a true mobile app; and you will have limited access to some of the software and hardware functionality of the phone (e.g., push notifications and cameras). It is our recommendation, that this option is only viable for view-only content where users are not expected to interact in any meaningful way.

Has Blue Label Labs ever transitioned an app the firm has built to a client’s internal development team? What is the typical process and how long does it usually take? Is there a fee for this?

Quite often Blue Label Labs transitions an app to a client’s in-house development team. As part of our regular transition for any client, we transfer all functional specs, wireframes, UI design resources, screen flow maps, passwords/certificates/credentials and source code to the client. We also have extensive experience working in tandem with a client’s existing engineering team. For example, Blue Label Labs will build the front-end experience of an app on top of a client’s existing backend web service and databases. These transitions are the quickest, averaging only a few days, since the Blue Label Labs team and the client team have already been working hand-in-hand for months. If we are handing over a complete project with no prior engagement with the client’s development team, then the transition can take a little longer depending on the support needed. This can range from a few days to a couple weeks. The transition is typically free of charge unless engineering resources are needed to facilitate the transition or the Program Manager is required to spend more than a week on the transition and training. We’ve even helped companies to interview potential new technical team members—e.g., developers and CTOs.

How does Blue Label Labs provide training to a client’s development team so that they could make app enhancements and how much would that training cost?

Along with all the project documentation and support outlined in the answer to the question above, we are happy to provide hands-on training to in-house developers/team members as part of the transition. There is typically no extra charge for this if only a few hours are required. If ongoing training is necessary, for example an in-house developer is not familiar with app development and requires a crash course, then we can offer our services at our hourly rate of $120/hour for training. We’ve even aided our partners in their hiring of their own technical/development team if/when the time is right.

How many designers and developers does Blue Label Labs have on staff? How many work on each client project? Where is the team located? Can the client talk directly to whomever will work on the app?

The Blue Label Labs team is comprised of 64 individuals across its UX Design/Product, UI Design, Development, Program Management, Quality Assurance, Sales, Marketing and Leadership teams. We have 6 Designers, 10 Program Managers, 35 Developers, 3 App Marketers—the remainder of the team is comprised of the Sales, Marketing, Operations & Leadership Teams. Depending on the size of the project, a team of at least 7 Blue Label Labs staffers will work on your project: 1 Program Manager, 1 UX Designer, 1 UI Designer, 1 Technical Architect, 1 Front-End Developer, 1 Back-End Developer, and 1 Quality Assurance Engineer—in addition to the technical and strategic oversight provided by Blue Label Labs leadership. The majority of our Design and Program Manager teams is based in New York City, Seattle and San Francisco areas. The Developers and Quality Assurance Testers are also based in the aforementioned cities, in addition to India-based team members. The Development, Design and QA Teams are managed directly by the Program Manager. The Program Manager is your primary point of contact and the liaison across all other Blue Label Labs team members associated with your project. That said, clients are welcome to speak directly with any individual team member as is needed.

Are projects priced based on “time-and-material” (i.e., hourly) estimate or a “fixed-price” quote?

Projects are priced on a “time-and-material” basis. With 7 years and 250+ apps of experience to our credit, we are able to produce very accurate estimates. We do our best to stay within budget or provide you ample warning if we think we may exceed our initial estimate so we can coordinate how to move forward together with you. Prior client references can vouch for the accuracy of our estimates and can be provided to you upon request.

Is Blue Label Labs able to guarantee that our app will be published in an app store?

Unfortunately, no application can be guaranteed for app store approval. However, Blue Label Labs has successfully built and deployed over 250 apps for the Google Play and Apple iTunes stores. We have a solid understanding and insight into what these stores will typically approve or disapprove of. We will warn you well in advance if any particular aspect of you project poses an approval risk. We have had a handful of instances where an app store has rejected an app for publication; not due to technical issues, but due to legal/business/terms of use issues; however, we successfully appealed ALL of these rejections and these very same apps are now in the app store for download today. We led these appeals on behalf of our clients at no extra charge. If your app is rejected due to technical reasons, we will make all necessary corrections needed to get approval at no extra charge. We are happy to connect you with some of our clients who did face some app store pushback to tell you about the rejection and our successful appeal.

What is Blue Label Labs’ policy regarding correcting defects and publishing an update in the app store?

We provide our services at a blended hourly rate of $120/hour for ad-hoc updates or at blended hourly rate of $100/hour at a mutually agreed upon set number of hours over a 6-month retainer. For example, a retainer of 20 hours a month for $2,000/month guarantees expedited service vs. ad-hoc requests. Ad-hoc requests are handled on a first come, first serve basis across all of our clients and development is based on our team’s earliest availability. The monthly retainer of hours functions much like an extension of the warranty period; issues are addressed within 24-48 hours and development will start as soon as the scope of the issue is defined. For those clients wanting a guaranteed 24 to 48-hour turnaround time on maintenance issues, a 6-month retainer is suggested.

What level of Quality Assurance is included and provided by you in your proposal?

A Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer is assigned to every project and builds a custom test plan for every project during the Discovery, Planning & Design Phase. During the Development & Testing Phase the QA Engineer continually tests the app using functional and regression testing. We test on a wide array of physical devices as needed for a given project. If we are building a backend web service and databases as part of the project, we will also have a set of automated unit tests that are run regularly to verify functionality.

What is Blue Label Labs’ quality assurance (QA) and testing methodology?

We believe that Blue Label Labs’ QA and testing methodology is part of our competitive differentiation. The fact that we dedicate resources to solely this function is something that sets us apart from other development shops for whom testing is simply an afterthought. At Blue Label Labs, QA is handled at all levels of development. There are generally 3 layers of QA/testing that happens for every project: 1.) Internal Development Team Testing Each Development Team has an internal QA Tester along with the Developer Lead who perform basic validation on bug fixes prior to builds being released to the broader Project Manager and QA team. Their validation is to ensure that items within JIRA, which we use alongside Trello, to coordinate team efforts and communicate with clients—are properly remedied according to their descriptions prior to “checking-in” or committing code. When items are resolved by the Development Team they are pulled into the “Testing Done by Dev Team” stack of Trello cards and/or within JIRA. When developing new projects, the Blue Label Labs Development Team will also be responsible for creating “unit tests” for our code so that we can quickly run a basic set of verifications. The dev team does the majority of their testing using iOS and Android app simulators. 2.) Dedicated QA Engineer Each project has a dedicated QA Engineer who sits independently from the Development Team who is responsible for: a.) Drafting a milestone based test plan which outlines a list of black box scenarios to verify and the expected results; b.) Performing smoke and full test pass runs against weekly and milestone builds; c.) Verifying and closing bugs that the Development Team has marked as complete; d.) Working with the Development Team to report issues and regressions; and d.) The QA Engineer takes items from the “Testing Done by Dev Team” Trello stack and verifies whether it is actually fixed. If it is, the Trello card is moved to the “Done (Verified)” pile, or sent back to the “Weekly Priorities” or “Product Backlog” stacks, as appropriate. The QA Engineer will generally perform their tests on 2-3 devices, depending on project requirements. 3.) Project Manager (PM) Testing The final QA gate is the PM who is responsible for quality of the entire product. They will also work with the QA Engineer to verify items have been fixed properly in addition to triaging new issues coming in from the client and the QA Engineer. The PM will appropriately schedule issues to be resolved based on their severity and importance. The PM’s testing is done on actual devices.

Can Blue Label Labs help me with Marketing and PR?

Absolutely. We aim to be your full-service app partner. Our Marketing & PR Offering is designed to help you launch your app and gain marketing exposure. Learn more about our Marketing & PR Offering here.

Tutorials

How To Create A Smart Contract: The Ultimate Guide (2022)

Smart contracts and their derivatives are essential components of the Web3 space – for businesses offering a product powered by Ethereum, knowing how to create a smart contract will be relevant in taking advantage of one of the most valuable features the blockchain has to offer.

As there are multiple blockchains out there, this guide on how to create smart contracts will focus on Ethereum.

While complex, you won’t need programming experience to grasp the concepts discussed here.

What Are Smart Contracts on the Ethereum Blockchain?
Top 6 Smart Contract Development Tools by Type
What to Do Before Creating a Smart Contract?
How to Create a Smart Contract with Remix IDE
How to Compile a Smart Contract with Remix IDE
How to Connect MetaMask to Remix IDE
How to Deploy to Goerli Testnet Using MetaMask and Remix
The 12 Benefits of Creating Smart Contracts

What are smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain?

Smart contracts refer to programs deployed to the Ethereum blockchain. In addition to providing a distributed ledger (like all blockchains), Ethereum also provides a general-purpose computation model built on top of its blockchain, which is where smart contracts come into play.

How Ethereum stores & executes smart contracts

Executing smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain is not free and requires users to spend Ether, the native currency of Ethereum, to deploy and run smart contracts. Ethereum code execution unit is called gas and is measured in gwei.

Note: in addition to the Ether cryptocurrency, Ethereum also features (smaller) gwei and wei denominations. One Ether corresponds to 10e9 gwei and 10e18 wei.

The Ethereum ecosystem features two kinds of networks: mainnet and testnet. The first is used for real transactions and the latter is a simulator for testing contracts in a real environment.

Like traditional web apps, smart contracts consist of data and functions.

Unlike traditional web programs living on a single server owned by an authority, smart contracts can live at specific addresses on a public blockchain, which is not owned by a central authority.

Ethereum Smart contracts can be used for all kinds of purposes, such as sending and storing funds in Ether. They’re functionally inert on the blockchain until external accounts or other smart contracts call their functions. Ethereum Smart contract code is executed in a runtime environment called the Ethereum Virtual Machine(EVM).

The EVM recognizes only bytecode, therefore you need to compile a smart contract before deploying it to the mainnet. Smart contracts’ code execution that changes the state of the Ethereum blockchain requires gas to be paid in gwei.

Smart contracts are generally isolated from the real world, but they can read real-world data through decentralized oracle networks(DON) and decentralized data sources. Smart contracts bridged with real-world data are called hybrid contracts.

How developers interface with Ethereum smart contracts

The main programming language used for developing Ethereum smart contracts is Solidity which shares many elements with other, more familiar object-oriented programming languages. Solidity uses Events to notify apps’ front-ends (which can be awaiting certain events) about state changes on the blockchain.

Smart contracts’ source code written in Solidity always starts with a declaration of the version of the Solidity compiler to be used which helps prevent issues with future compiler versions introducing changes that may hinder your code. License Identifiers are often added to smart Ethereum open-source projects as seen in the below smart contract sample.

Following the version, pragma is the contract statement with the name of your smart contract. It encapsulates a set of data and instructions of our DApp.

Here is a simple Solidity contract named WelcomeToWeb3 that greets callers:

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 
pragma solidity ^0.8;
 
contract WelcomeToWeb3 {
 
string message = "Welcome to Web3";
 
function contractGreeting() public view returns(string memory) {
return message;
}
}

Smart contracts are developed with a combination of software development tools. Having some information on each of them will help you better understand the smart contract creation process.

Top 6 smart contract development tools by type

Smart contracts development requires a coding setup which refers to all the pieces needed to come together so that you can write your code.

A coding setup for developing smart contracts includes the following: a crypto wallet, an IDE (Integrated Development Environment), a package manager, a library, a framework, and a blockchain simulator.

Although there are many IDEs on the market, we will be using Remix IDE for the following example as it’s beginner-friendly.

#1 – Integrated Development Environment(Remix IDE)

Remix is a browser-based IDE for developing Ethereum smart contracts.

When creating a smart contract using Remix, you don’t have to install the below-mentioned tools —such as frameworks, package managers, and libraries. All you may need is just an optional crypto wallet and one of the blockchain simulators mentioned in the below blockchain simulator section.

Remix’s interface is similar to other IDEs’ interfaces such as Visual Studio. It auto-generates buttons for each function in your code. Remix’s interface features four sections:

A. Main Panel: Lists some useful shortcuts and opens up an editor whenever a file is selected or created in the File Explorer. It also features a menu tab that corresponds to files selected in File Explorer when creating a contract.
B. Terminal: Allows you to run scripts and provides you with details about transactions.
C. Side Panel: Acts as a graphical placeholder, showing text fields and dropdown lists from the highlighted plugin in the Icon Bar. For example, if you click on the File Explorer icon in the top-left corner, the Side Panel will live update with workspaces in a drop-down list with folders and files.
D. Icons Bar: Located on the far left-hand side, it lists all the icons of the plugins you activated, the search icon, the Plugins Manager, and the Settings.

#2 – MetaMask Wallet

Source: MetaMask

MetaMask is a browser-based crypto wallet for enabling financial interactions with the Ethereum blockchain.

It helps users securely create and manage Ethereum accounts, switch between networks, and interact with websites’ front-end using a Web3 library. It also easily integrates with Remix IDE which allows you to deploy your smart contract from Remix.

#3 – NPM Package Manager

Source: npm

A package manager helps you add additional dependencies to your dev projects and keeps track of them.

One of the most popular package managers is Node Package Manager, known in the industry as just npm. When you use npm, all of your dependencies will be listed in a config file named package.json.

You can use npm to easily add frameworks and libraries to your web development project.

Follow the link to find Web3 frameworks and libraries you may add to your project using npm.

#4 – Frameworks(Truffles and Hardhat)

A framework in programming is a tool developed by a third party. It gives you a developer environment and solutions to common problems so as to help you accelerate your work.

The best frameworks for Ethereum smart contracts development are Truffles and Hardhat because they enable you to compile, test, and deploy smart contracts to the Ethereum blockchain.

Click here for more information on Hardhat and here to learn more about Truffles.

#5 – Libraries(Web3.js and Ether.js )

A library is a set of functions developed by a third party for solving specific problems. All programming languages have libraries for specific purposes.

The most well-known libraries in the Web3 space are written in scripting languages such as Python and JavaScript. You can add them to your app front-end using npm in order to simplify the interaction with a blockchain.

Ethereum ecosystem provides you with both Ether.js and Web3.js which hides the complexity of JSON-RPC language with a convenient and easily readable scripting language interface written in JavaScript.

#6 – Ethereum Blockchain Simulators

You are not required to add libraries and frameworks to your project when using Remix IDE, but you will need a blockchain simulator that enables you to produce realistic tests of your smart contract.

Here is a list of Ethereum blockchain simulators:

Testnets: blockchain live test networks for testing smart contracts.
Ganache: a local blockchain simulator installed on your computer.
JVM: Remix’s browser-based blockchain. It stands for JavaScript Virtual Machine.

In order to interact with the previously-mentioned blockchain simulators, we will need a currency. Fortunately, these simulators enable us to use fake ETHs called test ETHs.

What to do before creating a smart contract?

When creating a smart contract, the first thing you need to set up is your coding setup. Our coding setup is simple and includes only Remix IDE, MetaMask, and a testnet named Goerli.

Testnets are networks that let your contract behave as it would on the mainnet which consists of nodes that share the same copy of a ledger. Thus, any interaction with the whole testnet only requires test ETHs to query one of its nodes by indicating the following:

The address of the smart contract
The function you want to call
In some cases, the variables you want to pass to a contract’s function.

In practice, you can set up your own node to interact with the Ethereum blockchain or a testnet. But Instead of setting up our own node as a Web3 node provider and maintaining it, you can use a free third-party service like Infura that offers you a node-ready-out-of-the-box infrastructure.

The good news is that MetaMask uses Infura’s infrastructure as a Web3 provider on the backend and also gives you the possibility to choose your own Web3 provider.

As such, we will not need to sign up to their Infura’s website to get an API key in order to use one of their nodes.

How to install MetaMask

You can easily add MetaMask as an extension to your web browser.

MetaMask wallet’s downloading page automatically detects the browsing you are using and updates its install button with a link to your browser’s webstore.

Here’s how you install MetaMask:

Visit MetaMask’s download page.
Click on the “Install MetaMask…” button to go to your browser’s store.
Click on the right-hand side “add to Chrome” button (provided you’re using Google Chrome.)
Click on the “Add extension” button.
Next, click on the “Get Started” button.
Agree or reject the data collection and usage terms.
Create a new wallet or import an existing wallet. When you import an existing wallet, you will be required to enter the 12-word Secret Recovery Phrase.
Enter a password for your wallet. The password enables you to perform transactions and access MetaMask whereas the Secret Recovery Phrase allows you to get back your wallet when you install it to another device.
Accept the agreement terms to click on the create button.
Click on “Remind Me Later” in the next step and MetaMask will automatically create a new account for you named “Account 1”.

Note: make it easy for yourself by pinning MetaMask to your toolbar in your browser so you can quickly access it whenever needed.

How to display testnets in MetaMask

MetaMask allows you to use both the mainnet and testnets. It features the popular testnets and also allows you to set up and configure custom testnets used in your projects.

Here’s how to display the testnets in MetaMask:

Click on the “Networks” button at the top of the home page (it’s usually “Ethereum Mainnet” by default)
Click on the “Show/hide test networks” link to go to the Settings page.
Click the switch under “Show test networks” to turn on.
Click on the MetaMask’s icon to go back to the homepage then click on the “Networks” button again.
Select Goerli as a network.
Click on the highlighted Account to copy its address.

Note: If you don’t see your desired network in the list and you want to add it to MetaMask, just click on the networks button, add network, enter the required information and click save.

How to get Test ETHs

Ethereum replaced its Proof-Of-Work(POW) consensus mechanism with Proof-Of-Stake (POS). A consensus mechanism is used by blockchain systems to achieve agreement on data – we’re using Goerli testnet because it upgraded to Proof-Of-Stake.

Goerli as an Ethereum testnet provides you with Goerli Faucet which enables you to get fake ETHs or test ETHs called Goerli ETHs. You can get them for free but you need to sign up to Alchemy’s website.

Here’s how you get Goreli’s test ETHs:

Visit Goerli Faucet’s website.
Select Goerli as testnet.
Enter your MetaMask Account’s Address (you’ll need to register first but it’s quick and can be done for free)
Click on the “Send Me ETH” button.

How to create a smart contract with Remix IDE

Once you have completed the previous tasks, you will be able to create your smart contract.

To illustrate all the concepts discussed in this guide, we will create a simple smart contract that enables users to store one favorite number on the blockchain.

Here’s how you create a smart contract:

Visit Remix’s website.
Go to the Icon Bar located on the far left-hand side.
Click on the “File Explorer” icon.
Right-click on the contracts folder.
Click on “New File.”
Name your file favoritecontract.sol. An empty code editor will live-update the Main Panel and a tab with your new file’s name and you can now declare variables and functions.

Copy and paste the following code into your Remix’s code editor:

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity ^0.8.0;
 
/**
*@title A Contract for Associating One Favorite Number with Users’ Accounts.
*@author Said Habou Adi
*@notice You can use this contract to associate one favorite number to the caller's account.
*@dev This contract's main public function takes a uint and associates it with the caller's account.
*/
 
contract FavoriteNumber {
 
    mapping(address => uint) public accountFavNumber;
    mapping(address => uint) countingFavNumber;
 
    ///@param _number to be associated with caller's account
    function recordMyFavNumber(uint _number) public {
        require(countingFavNumber[msg.sender] == 0);
        accountFavNumber[msg.sender] = _number;
        countingFavNumber[msg.sender]++;
    }
 
    ///@return Caller's account’s favorite number
    function myFavoriteNumber() public view returns(uint) {
        return accountFavNumber[msg.sender];
    }
}

How to compile a smart contract with Remix IDE

Once a contract is written, it will need to be compiled before it can be deployed.

Here’s how you compile a smart contract to work with our ongoing example:

Go to the Icon Bar.
Click on the “Solidity compiler” icon and the Side-panel will update with the appropriate functions.
Confirm your contract’s name in the blue button then click to compile.

How to connect MetaMask to Remix IDE

Upon completing the previous tasks, you will need to connect to MetaMask from Remix in order to deploy your smart contract thanks to the power of MetaMask and Infura.

With MetaMask open, this is how you will connect to Remix:

Click on the MetaMask icon in the toolbar.
Click on the vertical dots (i.e., kebab menu).
Click on the “Connected sites” item.
Click on “Manually connect to the current site.”
Select the account with Goerli ETHs.
Click on Next.
Click on Connect.

Once connected, your MetaMask wallet’s homepage will show a very small green circle indicating that it’s connected to the current site(Remix IDE).

How to Deploy to Goerli Testnet using MetaMask and Remix

With Remix open, this is how you deploy a smart contract to a testnet using Remix IDE and MetaMask:

Click on the “Deploy & Run Transactions” icon located in the icon bar.
Click on the “Environment” drop-down menu
Select the “Injected” option as seen above.
Click on the “Deploy” button below which will create a popup with details about the deployment transactions.
Click on the “Confirm” button to automatically execute the deployment transactions.
Next, scroll down and click on the angle bracket under deployed contracts so it expands to show auto-generated buttons representing our contract functions as shown in the following screenshot:

You can now interact with the deployed contract by passing your favorite number to the recordMyFavNumber() function and clicking on its button to store your number on the blockchain.

To see your number, call the function named myFavoriteNumber(). You may enter your address or another address with a favorite number in the accountFavNumber() text field.

The 12 Benefits of Creating Smart Contracts

Though smart contracts face minor challenges like any technology, their benefits outweigh their disadvantages. Smart contracts offer both technical and financial benefits to developers, artists, and Web3 enthusiasts interested in privacy and transparency.

Smart contracts solve a major problem when stacked against Web2 apps as they’re not vulnerable to a single point of failure like centralized server apps. This ensures no restrictions or downtime.

Smart contracts take advantage of a public blockchain and offer the following technical benefits:

Fully operational Dapp (Decentralized Application). You can build an application that takes advantage of blockchain-based systems to store data in a decentralized manner.
Proof of ownership. You can create ERC-721 smart contracts to get ownership of digital assets.
Censorship-resistant technology. A central authority cannot temper with recorded data.
Instant traceability. You can monitor the whole activity of a specific Ethereum account.
Great transparency. Blockchains’ activities can be viewed on block explorers including smart contracts’ code.
Inherently user privacy mind. The identity behind Web3 activities is just a public address.

In addition to the previously mentioned benefits, smart contracts deliver even more financial benefits. It’s essentially “programmable money” that can reliably store and send funds, which reduces administrative work in finance while substantially reducing errors. The other financial benefits include:

Storing crypto assets. Smart contracts can store cryptocurrencies such as Ether.
Conditional, automated payments.: You can write code that triggers payment once specific conditions are met. For example, you can store Ether in your smart contract and send it to an account 3 years later.
24/7 financial operations. The blockchain is always running so users can withdraw money in smart contracts virtually whenever.
Storage for inflation-resistant currency. Despite the speculation around cryptocurrencies, they can be used as a more stable alternative to gold and traditional savings.
Tokenization. you can create your own ERC-20 tokens.
Low transaction fees. Most transaction fees are lower than those of traditional banking fees.

Conclusion

Smart contracts are next-generation applications that will impact several industries including the financial sector.

Having a solid knowledge of smart contract creation will solidify your knowledge of the Web3 space and help you launch your career in the growing realm of Web3.

If you want to learn more about smart contracts, you can check out our article that explains how using the wrong visibility modifiers can introduce security breaches in your code.

Bobby Gill

Co-Founder & Chief Architect at BlueLabel | + posts

Bobby Gill is the co-founder and Chief Architect of BlueLabel, an award winning digital product agency headquartered in New York. With over two decades of experience in software development, he is a seasoned full-stack engineer, software architect, and AI practitioner. Bobby currently leads the BlueLabel AI/ML practice, where he is leading a team of engineers operationalizing the transformational capabilities of generative AI within BlueLabel and for a number of enterprise clients.

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How To Create A Smart Contract: The Ultimate Guide (2022)

Table of contents:

What are smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain?

How Ethereum stores & executes smart contracts

How developers interface with Ethereum smart contracts

Top 6 smart contract development tools by type