How to create dApp on Solana?

Solana, a public and open source blockchain network, was founded by Anatoly Yakovenko in 2017. It was introduced to facilitate more scalability with fewer transaction costs and, thus, promote blockchain adoption in growing businesses. It is one of the fastest blockchain protocols, with a transaction speed of 4,330 TPS. The native token of Solana, SOL, is used for all transactions within the network. Solana utilizes a new consensus mechanism known as proof-of-history (PoH) to verify transactions and validate blocks. Its unique infrastructure makes it an ideal choice for Solana dApp development.

Benefits of building on Solana

One of the significant advantages of Solana dApp development is that it does not require any prior rust knowledge or smart contracts. Solana, being one of the most user-friendly blockchains, can be programmed easily, and no previous blockchain experience is required before developing on Solana. It offers numerous ready-made tools for new users unfamiliar with the Solana dApp development process. Other benefits of building on Solana include:

• Speed – One of the fastest existing blockchains, Solana can process up to 4,330 transactions per second.
• Cost per transaction – Solana offers the cheapest services to its users in terms of its gas fees, equivalent to approximately $0.00025.
• No mempool issue – Whenever a transaction gets processed, it waits in a waiting area to be accepted by the blockchain. This is known as mempool. Solana has no mempool issue, as it directly adds the transactions to the blockchain.
• Easily programmable – Solana is a user-convenient platform with ready-made tools and a smooth, smart contract deployment process. It can rapidly host several dApps on its platform.

How to create dApp on Solana?

• Install the prerequisites

Before moving to the process of Solana dApp development, it is essential to install the dependencies first, which are

• Rust – It is one of the main programming languages for Solana developments, especially smart contracts.
• Yarn – Yarn is an improved version of npm.
• Anchor – It is a framework provided by Solana that assists developers in the quick building of Solana applications and programs.
• Solana
• Node.js
• Setup project

In this step, you have to set up the Solana project from scratch. On the mainnet, Solana is configured to function by default, which means every transaction has a unique SOL coin as a gas fee. So you do not have to work on it when building Solana dApps. Thus, in this step, you have to configure the Solana cli utility to use devnet and init a project with anchor framework. You will also be required to generate a wallet. You can leverage the devnet or testnet to construct your program and observe its performance before deploying them to the mainnet. Once deployed to the mainnet, they will be available to everyone.

• Rust program coding

In the Rust program coding step, you must develop a working Solana program based on your specification and understand rust variables and syntax. Anchor will give you different attributes for smooth dApp development on Solana.

• Update Anchor on Solana

To update Anchor on Solana, you have to go to programs, then to mysolanaapp, then to src and finally to Lib.rs.

• Create React app

At the base of the Anchor project, develop a new application and overwrite the existing application directory.

• Install the wallet adapter

In this step, you must enter specific codes to install the Solana wallet adapter to handle the Solana wallet. After that, you have to generate a new file, idl.json. in the src directory, copy the IDL JSON built in the main project folder.

• Switch the wallet network

Before communicating with a program on the localhost network, exchange the wallet to a proper network. For this, open your wallet, go to the change network within the settings option and click on the localhost. Now, airdrop some tokens to this wallet. Copy the address shown at the top of the wallet interface to the clipboard.

• Deploy

Once all the above steps are completed, deploy the dApp to the mainnet.

Conclusion

As a blockchain platform specifically designed to host scalable decentralized applications, Solana is a highly sought-after blockchain network. Faster transaction speed with cheaper gas fees and no hassle of mempool is the most attractive features of the network. Developers and businesses leverage these benefits of Solana to build a newer application on the platform and drive their business growth. If your business demands Solana dApp development, always go for a software development company with vast blockchain and Solana development expertise.