In this repo, a prototype to issue and verify academic certificates is presented. This project was tailored to the requirements of the University of Zurich (UZH), which is why the name UZHBC (Blockchain) was chosen. The documented proceeding of this project was reviewed by the BIS Conference in Berlin and approved for presentation at the BSCT workshop.
The client of UZHBC is a web application implemented with React. The root file App.js, which contains the different React components, is located in the \src folder. The respective components footer, index, navbar, introduction, issuance and verification are located in \src\components. Issuance.js implements the issuance process and verification.js implements the verification process. The connection to the blockchain is implemented in the web3.js file, and is located in the \src\utils directory. Changes to the code can be recompiled by opening a console in the root folder and run webpack --w, which creates a bundle.js that can be found in \public\build. All versions of the smart contract are located in the \contracts directory. However, these do not run on the client, but on the Rinkeby blockchain. All representation specific implementations can be found in the \public\assets.
To install the the system, follow the listed steps:
- Clone this repo.
- The system is connected with the rinkeby testnet. Thus, geth needs to be installed.
- Open the console an run
geth --rinkeby --fast --rpc --rpccorsdomain "*" --rpcapi "admin,eth,web3,personal,net" console. - Next, open another console and run
geth attach http://localhost:8545to connect the system with the geth node. - In case another Ethereum Network or Account wants to be used, adjust
src/utils/web3.js
Once geth is synchronized, cd into the repo and run
nodemon
Open a browser on http://localhost:3000/.
In the issuing section, PDF files can be handled as an input, that generates a unique hash for each file.
The SHA3-256 was used. An online checksum calculator based on the same algorithm can be found here.
To send the hashes to the smart contract, the account needs to be unlocked with a password (123456789).
The deployed smart contract on the Rinkeby Testnet can be found at the address 0x19bB2416CF37779068CC1fE70af412Bf01945686.