Ethereum: What is the difference between chainstate and blocks folder?

Ethereum: Understanding ChainState vs. Blocks Folder

In the Ethereum ecosystem, both chainstate and blocksfolder are key components for storing and retrieving blockchain data. However, they serve different purposes, so it is important to understand their differences before diving into reading and displaying data on a web front-end.

ChainState

The chainstate folder is the central repository of Ethereum state, which contains various information such as:

• Block height

• Block number

• Block timestamp

• Number of transactions

• Gas ​​price

• Number of unconfirmed transactions

The chainstate folder stores this data in a hierarchical structure, with each file representing a block or section of the blockchain. The files are organized into directories such as state_root, state_tree, and tx_count.

Blocks Folder

The blocksfolder folder is responsible for storing individual blocks of the blockchain. Each block contains various data such as:

• Block hash

• Previous block hash (parent hash)

• Number of transactions

• Number of unconfirmed transactions

• Gas ​​price

• Timestamp

The blocksfolder folder stores each block in a separate file, with each file representing a single block.

Key Differences

While both folders store the same types of data, there are key differences:

• The chainstate folder is the central repository of Ethereum state, while the blocksfolder folder stores individual blocks.

• The files in the chainstate folder are hierarchical, with each directory containing subdirectories and files, while the blocksfolder folder has separate files for each block.

Reading and displaying data

To read and display data on a web front-end, such as blockchain explorer sites, you need to access both the chainstate and blocksfolder folders. Here is an example of how you can do this using Solidity (Ethereum’s programming language) and Web3.js:

import * as Web3 from "web3";
const web3 = new Web3(new Web3.providers.HttpProvider('
// Get chainstate
const chainState = web3.eth.chainState;
// Get all blocks
async function getBlocks() {
const txList = await web3.eth.getTransactionList();
for (let i = 0; i < txList.length; i++) {
const block = txList[i].block;
// Read block data from chainstate
console.log(block.timestamp);
}
}
// Get a specific block by its hash
async function getBlockByHash() {
const blockHash = '0x1234567890abcdef';
const blockData = await web3.eth.getBlock(blockHash, true);
// Read block data from blocksfolder
console.log(blockData.hash);
}

Displaying data in a web interface

To display data in a web interface, such as blockchain explorer sites, you need to use the ethers Web3.js library to interact with the Ethereum network and retrieve specific data. Then you can use HTML5 canvas or other technologies to visualize the data.

Here is an example of how you can display a block timestamp using HTML5 canvas:

This code takes the current timestamp of the block and uses it to draw a circle on an HTML5 canvas element. You can customize the appearance of the circle by modifying `ctx.