Learning-Bitcoin-from-the-Command-Line/15_3_Testing_with_Regtest.md

15.3: Testing with Regtest

NOTE: This is a draft in progress, so that I can get some feedback from early reviewers. It is not yet ready for learning.

This document explains how to test a Regtest (Regression Test).

Verifying balance

After mining blocks and getting the rewards, you can verify the balance on your wallet:

$ bitcoin-cli -regtest getbalance

Testing the Regtest

Now you should be able to use this balance for any type of interaction with the private Blockchain, such as sending Bitcoin transactions according to Chapter 4 in this guide. The only difference is that you need to use the flag -regtest when running the bitcoin-cli in order for the request to be sent to the Regtest Bitcoin daemon.

It is important to note that for your transactions to complete, you will have to generate/mine new blocks so that the transactions can be included into them.

For example, to create a transaction and include into a block, you should use the sendtoaddress command:

$ bitcoin-cli -regtest sendtoaddress [address] 15.1
e834a4ac6ef754164c8e3f0be4f34531b74b768199ffb244ab9f6cb1bbc7465a

The output is the transaction hash included in the blockchain. You can verify the details using the gettransaction:

$ bitcoin-cli -regtest gettransaction e834a4ac6ef754164c8e3f0be4f34531b74b768199ffb244ab9f6cb1bbc7465a
{
  "amount": 0.00000000,
  "fee": -0.00178800,
  "confirmations": 0,
  "trusted": false,
  "txid": "e834a4ac6ef754164c8e3f0be4f34531b74b768199ffb244ab9f6cb1bbc7465a",
  "walletconflicts": [
  ],
  "time": 1513204730,
  "timereceived": 1513204730,
  "bip125-replaceable": "unknown",
  "details": [
    {
      "account": "",
      "address": "mjtN3C97kuWMgeBbxdB7hG1bjz24Grx2vA",
      "category": "send",
      "amount": -15.10000000,
      "label": "",
      "vout": 1,
      "fee": -0.00178800,
      "abandoned": false
    },
    {
      "account": "",
      "address": "mjtN3C97kuWMgeBbxdB7hG1bjz24Grx2vA",
      "category": "receive",
      "amount": 15.10000000,
      "label": "",
      "vout": 1
    }
  ],
  "hex": "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"
}

After creating a transaction, it has to be confirmed and recorded in the Blockchain, the transaction has to be included in a block. Most of the applications require 6 block confirmations to consider the transaction as irreversible. If that is your case, you can mine additional 6 blocks into your Regtest chain:

$ bitcoin-cli -regtest generate 6
[
  "33549b2aa249f0a814db4a2ba102194881c14a2ac041c23dcc463b9e4e128e9f",
  "2cc5c2012e2cacf118f9db4cdd79582735257f0ec564418867d6821edb55715e",
  "128aaa99e7149a520080d90fa989c62caeda11b7d06ed1965e3fa7c76fa1d407",
  "6037cc562d97eb3984cca50d8c37c7c19bae8d79b8232b92bec6dcc9708104d3",
  "2cb276f5ed251bf629dd52fd108163703473f57c24eac94e169514ce04899581",
  "57193ba8fd2761abf4a5ebcb4ed1a9ec2e873d67485a7cb41e75e13c65928bf3"
]