Call contract method manually using input/data hex

[teneko]

Hi, my question relates to #1188.

What I want is to call a contract method when I only know the hexadecimal method address and their typed parameters.

I examined FunctionFragment, but this needs a human readable function from a ABI file. I have found signer.populateTransaction, but I do not get the idea how to fill easily the data field. Is it even allowed to [signer.]populateTransaction and pass the result to [provider.]call ? :)

Is there any utility function to create data by known method address and known parameters?

Kind regards,
Teroneko

[teneko]

If anyone is searching for a solution, here it is one way to achieve it.

const account = accounts.activeAccount; // implemented by myself
const address = environmentVariables.ANY_ADDRESS;

    const contract = new ethers.Contract(address, [
        "function unknown_jd72hzsj(uint256 _param1) payable" // name doesn't matter as it gets converted to 8 hexadecimal digit representation
    ]); // maybe you need to add signer as third argument here, not sure

    const tx = await contract.populateTransaction.unknown_jd72hzsj("8372427");
    tx.data = "0xjd72hzsj" + tx.data.slice(10); //  (8 hexadecimal digit).length == 10

    const result = await account.provider.call(tx);
    console.log(result);