The hashchain library is a collection of module which contain specific functionality to certify data.
records contains all the functions to hash records and build a hashchain in your database
ethereum contains all the functions to deploy a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain and interact with it.
See the Modules section for more details about these modules.
This Python package is available on PyPi package manager. We recommend installing it in a virtual environment.
Open a terminal and run the following command : pip install hashchain
Import the package in you script with import hashchain
Even if this package provides all the tools to interact with the Ethereum blockchain, you will still need a few elements:
A wallet
There are many options to create an Ethereum wallet. My favorite is to use Metamask , which is a browser extension and allows you to use your wallet to login to dApps directly via your browser. For testing purposes, you can create a wallet on the Ropsten test network, which works with fake money.
Some Ether
Every transaction on the Ethereum blockchain uses a certain amount of Ether, called gas. The price of the gas depends on the volume of transactions on the network and the amount needed for a transaction depends on the resources needed to execute it. You can buy Ether from $ on an exchange like Coinbase . For testing purposes, enter your Ropsten wallet address on the Ropsten Faucet to get free Ether.
An access to the Ethereum network
One option would be to run en Ethereum node but it’s not easy and needs a certain amount of resources.
Using a connection provider like Infura is the easiest and cheapest way to get instant access to the blockchain. You just need to register on their platform and get your Ethereum endpoint.
To use the hashchain package, you will need your wallet private and public key and the provider_url, which is your Ethereum endpoint
Voilà! You’re now ready to use the hashchain package.