Towards smart contract distributed directory based on the uniform description language

Abstract

A Smart Contract (SC) is a piece of code executed on the blockchain to automatically trigger transactions upon the occurrence of predefined events. Due to the intrinsic features regarding traceability and data immutability, many companies started using blockchain Smart Contracts to perform collaborative processes. Despite their promising features, there is a lack of Smart Contacts management platforms that enable blockchain participants to describe and publish their smart contacts or “search and match” already deployed ones. In this paper, a new Distributed Smart Directory (DSD) where providers can publish their SCs description is proposed. The SCs descriptions include metadata covering functional, and non-functional properties of the SC. Hence, users can find SCs according to their non-functional preferences, needs, and constraints. The proposed DSD is an extension of the ebXML directory. It was fully implemented on-chain. The SCs descriptions are generated based on the Uniform Description language for SC (UDL-SC). The proposed solution is implemented on the Ethereum blockchain. It was then tested and evaluated.