Description

Returns the result of executing the transaction using call. A call does not require any ether but cannot change any state. This is useful for calling getters on Contracts.

Starting from Geth 1.9.13, eth_call will check the balance of the sender (to make sure that the sender has enough gas to complete the request) before executing the call when one of the following conditions is true:

1. the gas_price parameter is populated, or
2. the contract function being called (i.e. in data modifies blockchain state)

In these two cases, even though the eth_call requests don't consume any gas, the from address must have enough gas to execute the call as if it were a write transaction because eth_call is being used to simulate the transaction.

❗️

Note

eth_call has a timeout restriction at the node level. Batching multiple eth_call together on-chain using pre-deployed smart contracts might result in unexpected timeouts that cause none of your calls to complete. Instead, consider serializing these calls, or using smaller batches if they fail with a node error code.

Parameters

transaction object parameters

Response

blocktag parameters

• pending - A sample next block built by the client on top of the latest, containing the set of transactions usually taken from the local mempool. Intuitively, you can think of these as blocks that have not been mined yet.
• latest - The most recent block in the canonical chain observed by the client. This block may be re-orged out of the canonical chain even under healthy/normal conditions.
• safe - The most recent crypto-economically secure block, cannot be re-orged outside of manual intervention driven by community coordination. Intuitively, this block is “unlikely” to be re-orged.
• finalized - The most recent crypto-economically secure block, that has been accepted by >2/3 of validators. Cannot be re-orged outside of manual intervention driven by community coordination. Intuitively, this block is very unlikely to be re-orged.
• earliest - The lowest numbered block the client has available. Intuitively, you can think of this as the first block created.

Example Request and Response

Prerequisite: You will need to install the Alchemy SDK before making requests with it.

The commands for installing it using npm or yarn are given below:

npm install alchemy-sdk@latest

yarn add alchemy-sdk@latest

Request

// Imports the Alchemy SDK
const { Alchemy, Network } = require("alchemy-sdk");

// Configures the Alchemy SDK
const config = {
    apiKey: "alchemy-replit", // Replace with your API key
    network: Network.ETH_MAINNET, // Replace with your network
};

// Creates an Alchemy object instance with the config to use for making requests
const alchemy = new Alchemy(config);

// Example of using the call method
const main = async () => {
   //Initialize a variable for the transaction object
    let tx = {
        to: "0x4976fb03C32e5B8cfe2b6cCB31c09Ba78EBaBa41",
        gas: "0x76c0",
        gasPrice: "0x9184e72a000",
        data: "0x3b3b57debf074faa138b72c65adbdcfb329847e4f2c04bde7f7dd7fcad5a52d2f395a558",
    }
    let response = await alchemy.core.call(tx)

    //Logging the response to the console
    console.log(response)
};

main();

Response

0x0000000000000000000000005555763613a12d8f3e73be831dff8598089d3dca

Code Sandbox

You can test out the call method using the code sandbox below:

Use Cases

The call method is used for making low-level calls to the EVM blockchains. It can be used for a variety of use cases, including:

• Reading data from smart contracts: Developers can use the call method to read data from a smart contract on the EVM blockchain.

• Querying blockchain data: Developers can use the call method to query blockchain data, such as account balances, transaction history, and block data.

Overall, the call method is a versatile SDK method that can be used for a wide range of tasks related to interacting with the EVM blockchain.