How to attach an address to tangle programmatically?

Question

Say I have a script to generate addresses automatically, how can I attach it to the tangle using the library?

From the Javascript library I see that these are the parameters:

*   @param {string} trunkTransaction
*   @param {string} branchTransaction
*   @param {integer} minWeightMagnitude
*   @param {array} trytes

If I just want to simulate the official wallet to attach a new address, how can I prepare those parameters?

Answer 1

Attaching an address is just sending a 0 value tx to this address.

You can use the sendTransfer method of the JavaScript library. It handles the tip-selection (branch- and trunkTransaction) and conversion to trytes for you.

import { composeAPI } from '@iota/core'

const iota = composeAPI({
    provider: 'http://localhost:14265' // replace with your IRI node.
})

// Must be truly random & 81-trytes long.
const seed = ' your seed here '

// Array of transfers which defines transfer recipients and value transferred in IOTAs.
const transfers = [{
    address: ' recipient address here ',
    value: 0, // 0Ki
    tag: '', // optional tag of `0-27` trytes
    message: '' // optional message in trytes
}]

// Depth or how far to go for tip selection entry point.
const depth = 3 

// Difficulty of Proof-of-Work required to attach transaction to tangle.
// Minimum value on mainnet is `14`, `7` on spamnet and `9` on devnet and other testnets.
const minWeightMagnitude = 14

// Prepare a bundle and signs it.
iota.prepareTransfers(seed, transfers)
    .then(trytes => {
        // Persist trytes locally before sending to network.
        // This allows for reattachments and prevents key reuse if trytes can't
        // be recovered by querying the network after broadcasting.

        // Does tip selection, attaches to tangle by doing PoW and broadcasts.
        return iota.sendTrytes(trytes, depth, minWeightMagnitude)
    })
    .then(bundle => {
        console.log(`Published transaction with tail hash: ${bundle[0].hash}`)
        console.log(`Bundle: ${bundle}`)
    })
    .catch(err => {
        // handle errors here
    })

From the docs