Run a sample CorDapp

Get started with Corda by running a sample CorDapp. Learn how to download, deploy, launch, interact with, and test a CorDapp before you try modifying a Java or Kotlin template, building your own, or using a community CorDapp.

The local Corda network in the sample includes one notary and two nodes, each representing a party in the network. A Corda node is an individual instance of Corda representing one party in a network. For more information on nodes, see the node documentation.

The sample CorDapp allows nodes to reach loan agreements with each other, as long as they obey the following contract rules:

The loan agreement’s value is strictly positive.
A node is not trying to issue a loan agreement to itself.

You will deploy and run the sample CorDapp on the following test nodes:

Notary, which runs a notary service
PartyA
PartyB

Before you start

Learn what a CorDapp is.
Set up your development environment.

Step 1: Download the sample CorDapp

CorDapps can be written in any language targeting the JVM. However, source files for the sample CorDapps are provided in both Kotlin and Java. Since both sets of source files are functionally identical, the instructions in this topic will refer to the Java version.

Choose a directory to store the sample CorDapp.
Open the command line from that directory.
Run the following command to clone the sample repository:

java
kotlin

git clone https://github.com/corda/samples-java

git clone https://github.com/corda/samples-kotlin

The sample project folders will appear in your chosen directory.

The samples-java and samples-kotlin repositories each contain a number of sample CorDapps. For details of all the sample CorDapps and their features and usage, see the README file in the samples-java or samples-kotlin folder. The sample CorDapp that you are going to run and deploy is the Basic CorDapp in the Basic\cordapp-example sub-folder.

You can see the project structure in Appendix A.

Step 2: Open the sample CorDapp in IntelliJ IDEA

Open IntelliJ.
Choose Open from the top menu.
Navigate to the Basic\cordapp-example sub-folder and click OK.

The project containing the sample CorDapp opens.

Step 3: Deploy the CorDapp locally

Open the command line from the cordapp-example directory.
Run the deployNodes Gradle task:
- Unix/macOS: ./gradlew deployNodes
- Windows: gradlew.bat deployNodes
This builds three nodes with the CorDapp installed on them.
When the build finishes, go to the build/nodes folder.
You will see the following output:
- A folder for each generated node
- A runnodes shell script for running all the nodes simultaneously on macOS
- A runnodes.bat batch file for running all the nodes simultaneously on Windows
See Appendix B for the node structure.

deployNodes is a utility task that can be used in a development environment to create a new set of nodes for testing a CorDapp. In a production environment, you would create a single node as described in Creating nodes locally instead, and build your CorDapp JARs as described in Building and installing a CorDapp.

Step 4: Launch the sample CorDapp

To start the nodes and the sample CorDapp:

Run the command that corresponds to your operating system:

Unix/macOS: ./build/nodes/runnodes
Windows: .\build\nodes\runnodes.bat

Start a Spring Boot server for Party A. Run the command:

Unix/macOS: ./gradlew runPartyAServer
Windows: gradlew.bat runPartyAServer

Look for the Started Server in X seconds message — don’t rely on the % indicator.

Repeat the command to start the server for Party B:

Unix/macOS: ./gradlew runPartyBServer
Windows: gradlew.bat runPartyBServer

On Unix/macOS, do not click/change focus until all seven additional terminal windows have opened, or some nodes may fail to start. You can run build/nodes/runnodes --headless to prevent each server from opening in a new terminal window. To interact with the nodes, you will need to use ssh, see Node shell.

The runnodes script creates a node tab/window for each node. It usually takes about 60 seconds for all the nodes to start. Each node displays “Welcome to the Corda interactive shell” along with a prompt. Whilst the runnodes script terminates, the two commands to start Party A and B do not and should be run in separate terminal windows.

Optional: If not all the nodes start successfully the first time, close the terminals and run the script again.

   ______               __
  / ____/     _________/ /___ _
 / /     __  / ___/ __  / __ `/         I won $3M on the lottery so I donated a quarter
/ /___  /_/ / /  / /_/ / /_/ /          of it to charity. Now I have $2,999,999.75.
\____/     /_/   \__,_/\__,_/

--- Corda Community Edition 4.11 (fa98aa7) -------------------------------------------------------------


Logs can be found in                    : /Users/cordauser/src/samples-kotlin/Basic/cordapp-example/build/nodes/PartyA/logs
⚠️   ATTENTION: This node is running in development mode! 👩‍💻   This is not safe for production deployment.
Advertised P2P messaging addresses      : localhost:10005
RPC connection address                  : localhost:10006
RPC admin connection address            : localhost:10046
Loaded 2 CorDapp(s)                     : Contract CorDapp: Example-Cordapp Contracts version 1 by vendor Corda Open Source with licence Apache License, Version 2.0, Workflow CorDapp: Example-Cordapp Flows version 1 by vendor Corda Open Source with licence Apache License, Version 2.0
Node for "PartyA" started up and registered in 8.07 sec


Welcome to the Corda interactive shell.
You can see the available commands by typing 'help'.

Tue Jan 24 16:30:32 GMT 2023>>> Running P2PMessaging loop

Step 5: Interact with the sample CorDapp

You can interact with the sample CorDapp:

Via HTTP
Via the interactive shell (terminal only)
Via the h2 web console

Via HTTP

The Spring Boot servers run locally on the following ports:

PartyA: localhost:50005
PartyB: localhost:50006

These ports are defined in clients/build.gradle.

Each Spring Boot server exposes the following endpoints:

/me
/peers
/ious
/create-iou with parameters iouValue and partyName which is CN name of a node

There is also a web front-end served from the home web page (for example, localhost:50005).

The content is only available for demonstration purposes and does not implement anti-XSS, anti-XSRF or other security techniques. Do not use this code in production.

Create an IOU via the endpoint

You can create an IOU by sending a POST request to the /create-iou endpoint directly, or by using the the web form served from the home directory.

To create an IOU between PartyA and PartyB, run the following command:

curl -i -X POST 'http://localhost:50005/create-iou?iouValue=12&partyName=O=PartyB,L=New%20York,C=US' -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded'

Note that both PartyA’s port number (50005) and PartyB are referenced in the POST request path. This command instructs PartyA to agree an IOU with PartyB. Once the process is complete, both nodes will have a signed, notarised copy of the IOU.

Via the interactive shell (command line only)

Nodes started via the command line will display an interactive shell:

Welcome to the Corda interactive shell.
Useful commands include 'help' to see what is available, and 'bye' to shut down the node.

Mon May 10 16:36:29 BST 2021>>>

Type flow list in the shell to see a list of the flows that your node can run. In our case, this will return the following list:

net.corda.samples.example.flows.ExampleFlow$Initiator
net.corda.core.flows.ContractUpgradeFlow$Authorise
net.corda.core.flows.ContractUpgradeFlow$Deauthorise
net.corda.core.flows.ContractUpgradeFlow$Initiate

Create an IOU via the interactive shell

You can create a new IOU using the ExampleFlow$Initiator flow. For example, from the interactive shell of Party A, you can agree an IOU of 50 with Party B by running flow start ExampleFlow$Initiator iouValue: 50, otherParty: "O=PartyB,L=New York,C=US".

This will print out the following progress steps:

✅   Generating transaction based on new IOU.
✅   Verifying contract constraints.
✅   Signing transaction with our private key.
✅   Gathering the counterparty's signature.
    ✅   Collecting signatures from counterparties.
    ✅   Verifying collected signatures.
✅   Obtaining notary signature and recording transaction.
    ✅   Requesting signature by notary service
            Requesting signature by Notary service
            Validating response from Notary service
    ✅   Broadcasting transaction to participants
✅   Done

Check the output

You can also issue RPC operations to the node via the interactive shell. Type run to see the full list of available operations.

You can see the newly-created IOU by running run vaultQuery contractStateType: net.corda.samples.example.states.IOUState.

Via the h2 web console

You can connect directly to your node’s database to see its stored states, transactions, and attachments. Follow the instructions in Node database.

Step 6: Test the CorDapp

Corda provides several frameworks for writing unit and integration tests for CorDapps. To access test flows in IntelliJ, select an option from the ‘Run Configurations’ dropdown next to the hammer icon. For a general guide, see Running tests in IntelliJ.

Integration tests

First, run an integration test to calibrate your environment.

Go to:
- Kotlin: workflows > src > integrationTest > kotlin > net.corda.samples.example > DriverBasedTest
- Java: workflows > src > integrationTest > java > net.corda.samples.example > DriverBasedTest
Select the green arrow next to the test code. This will open the Run Terminal.

Contract tests

You can run the CorDapp’s contract tests by running the Run Contract Tests - Java run configuration.

Go to:
- Kotlin: contracts > src > test > kotlin > net.corda.samples.example.contracts > ContractTests
- Java: contracts > src > test > java > net.corda.samples.example.contracts > ContractTests
Select the arrow next to the test code. Choose the arrow at the top to run all the tests at once, or select the arrow next to a particular section to test it individually.

Flow tests

You can run the CorDapp’s flow tests by running the Run Flow Tests - Java run configuration.

Go to:
- Kotlin: workflows > src > test > kotlin > net.corda.samples.example > FlowTests.kt
- Java: workflows > src > test> java > net.corda.samples.example > FlowTests
Select the arrow next to the test code. Choose the arrow at the top to run all the tests at once, or select the arrow next to a particular section to test it individually.

Debug a test

If your test fails, run a Gradle test instead of a unit test.

Open the Gradle tab on the right-hand side of your IntelliJ window.
Open Build Tool Settings (wrench icon) and select Gradle Settings.
Set Gradle as the default in your Build and Run settings and click Apply.
Go to Run Configurations (next to the hammer icon) and select Edit Configurations.
Delete the unit test driver and click Apply.
Return to your test code. You will see the Gradle icon (an elephant).
Select the Gradle icon to run your test.

Appendix A: Projects’ structure

The cordapp-example Java folder is structured as follows:

.

├── clients
│   ├── build.gradle
│   └── src
│       └── main
│           ├── java
│           │   └── net
│           │       └── corda
│           │             └── samples
│           │                   └── example
│           │                         ├── webserver
│           │                         │      ├── Controller.java
│           │                         │      ├── NodeRPCConnection.java
│           │                         │      └── Starter.java
│           │                         │
│           │                         └── Client.java
│           │                     
│           └── resources
│                    └── static
│                           ├── index.html
│                           └── app.js
│                       
├── config
│     ├── dev
│     │     └── log4j2.xml
│     └── test
│            └── log4j2.xml
│  
│  
├── contracts
│   ├── build.gradle
│   └── src
│       ├── main
│       │    └── java
│       │        └── net
│       │              └── corda
│       │                     └── samples
│       │                          └── example
│       │                                ├── contract
│       │                                │     └── IOUContract.java
│       │                                ├── schema
│       │                                │     ├── IOUSchema.java
│       │                                │     └── IOUSchemaV1.java
│       │                                └── states
│       │                                      └── IOUState.java
│       └── test
│            └── java
│                 └── net
│                      └── corda
│                            └── samples
│                                  └── example
│                                        └── contracts
│                                              ├── ContractTests.java
│                                              └── StateTests.java
├── gradle
│   └── wrapper
│       ├── gradle-wrapper.jar
│       └── gradle-wrapper.properties
│ 
├── lib
│   ├── README.txt
│   └── quasar.jar
│ 
├── workflows
│   ├── build.gradle
│   └── src
│        ├── integrationTest
│        │   └── java
│        │        └── net
│        │             └── corda
│        │                  └── samples
│        │                         └── example
│        │                                └── DriverBasedTests.java
│        ├── main
│        │   ├── java
│        │   │    └── net
│        │   │        └── corda
│        │   │              └── samples
│        │   │                     └── example
│        │   │                           └── flows
│        │   │                                 └── ExampleFlow.java
│        │   └── resources
│        │            └── migration
│        │                     ├── iou.changelog-master.xml
│        │                     └── iou.changelog-v1.xml
│        │
│        └── test
│            └── java
│                └── net
│                     └── corda
│                           └── samples
│                                 └── example
│                                        └── FlowTests.java
│
├── LICENCE
├── README.md
├── TRADEMARK
├── build.gradle
├── gradle.properties
├── gradlew
├── gradlew.bat
├── repositories.gradle
└── settings.gradle

The cordapp-example Kotlin folder is structured as follows:

.

├── clients
│   ├── build.gradle
│   └── src
│       └── main
│           ├── kotlin
│           │   └── net
│           │       └── corda
│           │             └── samples
│           │                   └── example
│           │                         ├── webserver
│           │                         │      ├── Controller.kt
│           │                         │      ├── NodeRPCConnection.kt
│           │                         │      └── Server.kt
│           │                         │
│           │                         └── Client.kt
│           │                     
│           └── resources
│                    └── static
│                           ├── index.html
│                           └── app.js
├── config
│   ├── dev
│   │   └── log4j2.xml
│   └──test
│        └── log4j2.xml
│  
│
├── contracts
│   ├── build.gradle
│   └── src
│       ├── main
│       │    └── kotlin
│       │        └── net
│       │            └── corda
│       │                 └── samples
│       │                       └── example
│       │                             ├── contract
│       │                             │     └── IOUContract.kt
│       │                             ├── schema
│       │                             │     └── IOUSchema.kt
│       │                             └── states
│       │                                   └── IOUState.kt                                                    
│       └── test
│            └── kotlin
│                 └── net
│                      └── corda
│                            └── samples
│                                  └── example
│                                        └── contracts
│                                              ├── ContractTests.kt
│                                              └── StateTests.kt
│           
├── gradle
│   └── wrapper
│       ├── gradle-wrapper.jar
│       └── gradle-wrapper.properties
│ 
│
├──  workflows
│    ├── build.gradle
│    └── src
│        ├── integrationTest
│        │   └── kotlin
│        │       └── net
│        │            └── corda
│        │                 └── samples
│        │                         └── example
│        │                                └── DriverBasedTests.kt
│        ├── main
│        │   ├── kotlin
│        │   │    └── net
│        │   │        └── corda
│        │   │              └── samples
│        │   │                     └── example
│        │   │                           └── flows
│        │   │                                 └── ExampleFlow.kt
│        │   └── resources
│        │            └── migration
│        │                     ├── iou.changelog-master.xml
│        │                     └── iou.changelog-v1.xml
│        │
│        └── test
│            └── kotlin
│                └── net
│                     └── corda
│                           └── samples
│                                 └── example
│                                        └── FlowTests.kt
├── LICENCE
├── README.md
├── TRADEMARK
├── build.gradle
├── constans.properties
├── gradle.properties
├── gradlew
├── gradlew.bat
├── repositories.gradle
└── settings.gradle

The key files and directories are as follows:

The root directory contains some gradle files, a README, a LICENSE, and a TRADEMARK statement.
clients contains the source code for Spring Boot integration.
config contains the Log4j 2 configuration.
contracts and workflows contain the source code for the sample CorDapp. CorDapps can be developed in either Java or Kotlin.
gradle contains the Gradle Wrapper, which allows the use of Gradle without installing it yourself and worrying about which version is required.
lib contains the Quasar jar, which rewrites your CorDapp’s flows to be checkpointable.

Appendix B: Node structure

Each node in the nodes folder is structured as follows:

. nodeName
├── additional-node-infos  //
├── certificates
├── corda.jar              // The Corda node runtime
├── cordapps               // The node's CorDapps
│   ├── config
│   ├── corda-example-contracts-0.1.jar
│   └── corda-example-workflows-0.1.jar
├── drivers
├── logs
├── network-parameters
├── node.conf              // The node's configuration file
├── nodeInfo-<HASH>        // The hash will be different each time you generate a node
├── persistence.mv.db      // The node's database
└── persistence.trace.db   // The node's database