#Development Setup

The following information will provide all the details necessary to set up an instance of ARKScan for a development environment. Developers should ideally possess the requisite knowledge regarding the configuration and handling of databases as well as experience working in both PHP and Laravel environments. Further to this, a working knowledge of PHP 8, Composer, and Valet should make the setup process significantly easier.

#Requirements

In order to successfully carry out a development installation of ARKScan, you will need to download and install the following before proceeding further:

• Composer
• jq
• PHP 8
• Valet
• Yarn

#Setup

The following instructions will guide you through the setup and configuration process using Valet . Other methods of installation will follow a similar approach, but some steps may not necessarily coincide with the instructions detailed here.

#Acquire Files

Clone the Repository - To begin, enter the following command to clone the ARKScan repository and wait for it to copy all the necessary files onto your system.

1git clone ssh://github.com/ArkEcosystem/explorer.git

Install Dependencies - cd into your ARKScan folder and run the relevant commands to install the necessary Composer and Yarn dependencies. Bear in mind that this process may take several minutes to complete depending on your location and/or internet connection.

1cd explorer
2composer install --ignore-platform-reqs
3yarn

#Prepare the Application

Generate the Environment - Run the following command to create a copy of the default environment variables for ARKScan. This will generate a .env file containing some of the necessary data you will require for your development instance. Naturally you will need to configure some parameters in accordance with your unique setup, but we will cover this in Adjust Environment Variables.

1cp .env.example .env

Create a Database - As mentioned earlier, ARKScan requires two databases, one of which is a local database for forging statistics. By default, the .env file is configured to use SQlite via the DB_CONNECTION=sqlite setting. As such, the default database name it will look for is database.sqlite, so create the necessary file by running touch database/database.sqlite.

#Adjust Environment Variables

Configure the Environment - You will then need to edit the parameters in your .env so that it uses both of your databases. With regards to your local database, if you created a database.sqlite file, there is no need to make any further adjustments since the default value is DB_CONNECTION=sqlite. However, if you set up a database using PostgreSQL, you will need to alter the parameters accordingly:

1DB_CONNECTION=pgsql
2DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
3DB_PORT=5432
4DB_DATABASE=<your-database-name>
5DB_USERNAME=<your-username>
6DB_PASSWORD=<your-password>

The next step involves setting the parameters for your core database. You will need to fill in the necessary details for either a local connection or a PostgreSQL database. Regardless of which applies to your installation, you will use the exact same environment variables but enter in any values that apply to your particular database.

1ARKSCAN_NETWORK=development
2ARKSCAN_DB_HOST=127.0.0.1 for local, or an ip address for remote
3ARKSCAN_DB_PORT=5432
4ARKSCAN_DB_DATABASE=<your-database-name>
5ARKSCAN_DB_USERNAME=<your-username>
6ARKSCAN_DB_PASSWORD=<your-password>

In addition to the above, ensure that the CACHE_DRIVER= is set to redis (the current default is file).

#Generate Placeholder Data (Only for Local Testing)

This section is only relevant if you wish to access local testing data. In other words, if your .env configuration points to a core node, ignore this section and complete your setup accordingly.

Generate Placeholder Data - (Remember to only execute these commands if required).

1php artisan migrate --path=tests/migrations --database=explorer
2composer play

#Further Information Regarding Environment Variables

ARKScan makes use of telescope, debugbar and response cache, each of which possesses its own .env variables to adjust during development. As such, you can enable or disable these according to your needs by modifying the following parameters:

1TELESCOPE_ENABLED=false
2DEBUGBAR_ENABLED=false
3RESPONSE_CACHE_ENABLED=false

In addition to the above, several custom variables apply to ARKScan. Naturally you may configure these according to your unique requirements. The following list outlines some of the more important aspects in greater detail.

Custom Variables:

DARK_MODE_ENABLED=true

The default value for Dark Mode is set to true since ARKScan comes with a custom Dark Mode UI. However, if you wish to disable it, you can do so here.

ARKSCAN_URI_PREFIX=ark

When making use of the QR code that generates on Wallet Detail pages, a URI will prefix it. As such, you may define which URI to use in order to make it compatible with other applications. The default value here is set to ark as this works with the ARK-branded wallet.

ARKSCAN_NETWORK=development

The default for ARKScan is set to a development network. You may change this to a production environment by replacing development with production for instance. You might want to use custom environment variables, but only development and production exist by default. Should you require a custom network, you can inspect the available network variables in the configuration file. You may then set these in your .env file, or you can adjust or extend the options therein.

ARKSCAN_MARKET_DATA_PROVIDER_SERVICE=coingecko

ARKScan makes use of coingecko to obtain its data. Should you wish to use a different market data provider, you may implement your own class and configure your .env file to use that instead. Bear in mind that that you will need to add your market data provider implementation in the code. You can view examples in the app/Services/MarketDataProviders folder along with the corresponding interface it must implement.

#Complete the Setup

Generate an Application Key - Run the following command to set the APP_KEY value in your .env file.

1php artisan key:generate

Set up Your Local Database - Run the following command to set up your local database to store delegate forging statistics.

1php artisan migrate:fresh

Start Horizon and Cache All Required Data - Having set up your databases, run the first of the following commands to start Horizon. Then run the second command to cache all the required data for ARKScan.

1php artisan horizon
2php artisan explorer:cache-development-data

Create Symlink and Enable Hot Reloading - Run the first of the following commands to create a symlink to your public folder. When this completes, execute the second command so that any changes you make to the UI will reflect during the development process.

1php artisan storage:link
2yarn watch

Create Symbolic Link - Finally, run this command to link Valet so that your instance of ARKScan will appear in your browser.

1valet link explorer

#Delegate Performance

An additional database stores missed blocks in order to derive performance metrics for delegates. These values represent the average performance levels based on data from the past 30 days. To generate them for the first time you run ARKScan, execute the command php artisan explorer:forging-stats:build --days=30.

#Vote Report

You can create a vote report text file by executing the explorer:generate-vote-report command. By default, this process runs every 5 minutes.

#Meilisearch