Writing Aspireblock Plug-in Modules
aspireblock is a modular application that allows developers to turn on or off various bits of its out-of-the-box functionality, as well as extending it with new functionality, through its plug-in architecture.
This document introduces the built-in modules, as well as discussing how you can write your own custom modules for aspireblock that extend its functionality beyond what is possible out of the box.
Explore: Aspireblock Plug-ins
Aspireblock Plug-ins
Built-in Modules
aspireblock ships with the following built-in modules:
assets: Implements basic asset functionality, such as extended asset info parsing, basic asset-related APIs, and more.dex: Implements API methods, order book and market info parsing, and more for Aspire’s distributed exchange. (Requires that theassetsmodule be loaded for use.)transaction_stats: Handles the compliation of transaction statistics.aspirewallet: Implements AspireWallet-specific API calls, tasks, and more. (Requires that theassetsmodule be loaded for use.)
Any of these above modules may be enabled or disabled, allowing you to tune aspireblock to your exact needs out of the box.
Aspireblock Plug-ins
Custom Module Development
A aspireblock module is simply a python module that utilizes a special plug-in API, to provide runtime integration into the aspireblock base code.
For some examples of modules in use, check out the modules directory of the aspireblock repository. These built-in modules are written just like any custom module would be, and provide a good launching point to see what is possible.
Processors: Hooking into runtime functionality
Most of the API functionality follows a specific Python decorator type syntax, to integrate into things like blockchain message processing, block level processing, startup/initialization processing and more. The general syntax is:
from lib.processor import <processor_name> @<processor_name>.subscribe(enabled=<bool>, priority=<int>) def my_function(param1, param2): bla = do_foo()
Some other notes on processors:
- If not specified, the defaults are
enabled=true, priority=0. - When a processor is triggered methods are run in order of priority from highest to lowest.
- Please note that any priority less than
0or greater than1000is reserved for internalaspireblockfunctionality, and custom plugins should only utilize priority settings under this number.
MessageProcessor
MessageProcessor runs once for each message as obtained from the aspired message feed, for all activity that has been confirmed on the blockchain (i.e. at least 1 gAsp confirmation). msg will pass the message in the same format as the get_messages aspired api method, msg_data corresponds to json.loads(msg['bindings']).
@MessageProcessor.subscribe(enabled=True, priority=90) def custom_received_asp_alert(msg, msg_data): if msg['category'] != 'sends': return if message['status'] != 'valid': return if not msg_data['destination'] in MY_ADDRESS_LIST: return if not msg_data['asset'] == 'ASP': return print('Received %s ASP at My Address %s from %s' %( (float(msg_data['quantity'])/10**8), msg_data['destination'], msg_data['source'])) return
Note that with MessageProcessor handlers, you can return 'ABORT_THIS_MESSAGE_PROCESSING' to prevent the running of further MessageProcessors (i.e. of lesser priority than the current one) for the message being currently processed.
MempoolMessageProcessor
MempoolMessageProcessor works similar to MessageProcessor, however, for messages out the mempool (i.e. that are not confirmed and included on the blockchain yet). The format of the data supplied to the processor is slightly different though, and looks like this:
@MempoolMessageProcessor.subscribe(enabled=True, priority=90) def custom_received_asp_alert(msg, msg_data): assert msg['_message_index'] == 'mempool' assert msg['tx_hash'] assert msg['command'] assert msg['category'] assert msg_data #the actual message data assert msg['timestamp'] assert msg['viewed_in_block'] #prevent running of further MempoolMessageProcessor's of lesser priority for the message being processed return 'ABORT_THIS_MESSAGE_PROCESSING'
BlockProcessor
BlockProcessor run once per new block, after all MessageProcessorfunctions have completed.
@BlockProcessor.subscribe(priority=0) def alertBlock(): print('Finished processing messages for this block')
StartUpProcessor
StartUpProcessor runs once on aspireblock startup.
@StartUpProcessor.subscribe() def my_db_config(): config.my_db = pymongo.Connection()['my_db']
CaughtUpProcessor
CaughtUpProcessor runs once when aspireblock catches up to the latest aspired block.
@CaughtUpProcessor.subscribe() def caughtUpAlert(): print('aspireblock is now caught up to Aspired!')
Other integration points
config.state
A number of internal state variables that a module may need to access are stored in config.state.
For example, if you want to run a process for every new block (but not when aspireblock is catching up):
@BlockProcessor.subscribe() def my_custom_block_event(): if not (config.state['cpd_latest_block_index'] - config.state['my_latest_block']['block_index']) == 1: return #Do stuff here
Enhancing the API
To add an API method for aspireblock to provide:
from lib.processor import API #(note that the dispatcher add_method does not take arguments) @API.add_method def my_foo_api_method(): return 'bar'
Upon doing the above, my_foo_api_method is now a valid API method, and callable from any client that that utilizes your aspireblock JSON RPC API.
start_task
To start a task that runs in a seperate lightweight thread (either immediately, or with a delay), use start_task:
from lib.processor import start_task def run_my_task(): print("Foo bar!!") #start again in 5 minutes start_task(run_my_task, delay=5*60) #start task the first time with no delay start_task(run_my_task)
Aspireblock Plug-ins
Module configuration file
After creating your module, you will need to tell aspireblock about it, so that it can load it on startup. To do this, you should edit (or create) a file called modules.conf (or modules.testnet.conf for testnet), which should be located in the aspireblock config-dir(~asp/.config/aspireblock on a federated node).
To load your custom module, specify the module’s path under [LoadModule] relative to the aspireblock base-dir. i.e.:
[LoadModule] 'lib/vendor' = True
The above configuration would look for a vendor.py, or vendor folder (with required __init__.py file present), and load the plugin code from there. Note that you should not include any .py suffix on the filename.
To change the default behavior for aspireblock modules/events, change the corresponding processor config. For instance:
To disable a processor:
#(must be bool) [BlockProcessor] generate_wallet_stats = False
To change a processor’s priority:
#(must be int) [MessageProcessor] parse_issuance = 5
To change priority and enable:
#(tuple, order does not matter) [MessageProcessor] parse_issuance = 5, True parse_issuance = True, 5
Here’s an extensive aspireblock modules.conf example config file:
[MessageProcessor] #Tweak core messaging processing # (don't use these unless you know what you're doing) handle_exceptional = True handle_invalid = True parse_insert = True handle_reorg = True parse_issuance = 10, True parse_balance_change = True parse_trade_book = True parse_broadcast = True [StartUpProcessor] #Enable/disable core functionality (all enabled by # default, don't use these unless you know what you're doing) start_cpd_blockfeed = True check_blockchain_service = True expire_stale_orders = True start_api = True [LoadModule] #Load custom modules lib/modules/reparse_timer = True
Please note that function names must be exact.
Aspireblock Plug-ins
Command-line functions
Aspireblock also provides the ability to load/unload/disable/etc modules via the command line. (Although, please note that we recommend manually editing the appropriate modules config file(s), at least for starters.)
To enable a custom module, run the following command:
aspireblock enmod 'lib/vendor'
To disable a loaded module:
aspireblock dismod 'lib/vendor'
To list loaded modules and processors:
aspireblock listmod