TS Client returns number[] instead of stated Uint8Array

[gidonkatten]

Subject of the issue

When return type of ABI method is UInt8Array, when global/local state values areUInt8Array and when box storage values areUInt8Array, the actual return value is always a number[] instead.

Your environment

AlgoKit: 2.6.2

Steps to reproduce

Any of:

• Create contract with ABI method which returns bytes
• Create contract with global/local state which is bytes
• Create contract with box storage where value is bytes

Expected behaviour

TS Client should return UInt8Array like it states

Actual behaviour

TS Client returns number[]

[joe-p]

The underlying issue is that the algosdk decodes ABI arrays by iterating over each value and decoding one-by-one. This means byte[] decodes each byte individually, and since there is no Uint8 type, you get an array of numbers. I think ideally we'd return Uint8Array but since that would be a breaking change (to either SDK or utils, wherever we "fix" it) I think at least for now we will have to just fix the type.

@gidonkatten if you or anyone else reading this has a strong opinion let us know. I'll talk with the team and come back with a fix in the coming days.

[gidonkatten]

@joe-p I don't think that's the appropriate solution because Uint8Array is the correct type since each number is an integer and has max value 255. It would be strange to see a number[] type and I would think the bytes are being interpreted as a uint64 or something like that

[joe-p]

Yeah after talking with the team we are going to fix it so that the value is actually a Uint8Array. Will work on a fix tomorrow 👍