fix: canister call uses remote candid file

CHANGELOG.adoc

@@ -33,6 +33,10 @@ Calls made to retrieve the help output for `canister update-settings` was missin
 `WARN` and `ERROR` messages are now clearly labelled as such, and the labels are colored accordingly.
 This is now included when running `dfx canister update-settings -h`.
 
+=== fix: canister call uses candid file if canister type cannot be determined
+
+The candid file specified in the field `canisters.<canister name>.candid` of dfx.json, or if that not exists `canisters.<canister name>.remote.candid`, is now used when running `dfx canister call`, even when dfx fails to determine the canister type.
+
 === fix: btc/canister http adapter socket not found by replica after restart
 
 After running `dfx start --enable-bitcoin` twice in a row (stopping dfx in between), the second

e2e/assets/remote/call/mock/dfx.json

@@ -3,10 +3,15 @@
   "canisters": {
     "basic": {
       "main": "basic.mo",
-      "dependencies": [ "remote" ]
+      "dependencies": [
+        "remote"
+      ]
     },
     "remote": {
-      "main": "remote.mo"
+      "main": "remote.mo",
+      "remote": {
+        "candid": "remote.did"
+      }
     }
   },
   "defaults": {
@@ -19,4 +24,4 @@
       "bind": "127.0.0.1:8000"
     }
   }
-}
+}

e2e/tests-dfx/remote.bash

@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ teardown() {
 }
 
 @test "canister call and sign" {
-    skip
     install_asset remote/call/actual
     dfx_start
     setup_actuallylocal_network
@@ -36,8 +35,6 @@ teardown() {
     setup_local_network
     # shellcheck disable=SC2094
     cat <<<"$(jq .canisters.remote.remote.id.actuallylocal=\""$REMOTE_CANISTER_ID"\" dfx.json)" >dfx.json
-    # shellcheck disable=SC2094
-    cat <<<"$(jq '.canisters.remote.remote.candid="remote.did"' dfx.json)" >dfx.json
 
     # set up: remote method is update, local is query
     # call remote method as update to make a change
@@ -68,6 +65,12 @@ teardown() {
     assert_command dfx canister --network actuallylocal call --update remote make_struct '("A update by name", "B update by name")'
     assert_eq '(record { a = "A update by name"; b = "B update by name" })'
 
+    # This also should work when no canister type can be determined / if no info but the bare minimum of remote id and remote candid is given:
+    # shellcheck disable=SC2094
+    cat <<<"$(jq 'del(.canisters.remote.main)' dfx.json)" >dfx.json
+    assert_command dfx canister --network actuallylocal call --query  remote make_struct '("A query by name", "B query by name")'
+    assert_eq '(record { a = "A query by name"; b = "B query by name" })'
+
     # We can't check this for sign, because dfx canister send outputs something like this:
     #   To see the content of response, copy-paste the encoded string into cbor.me.
     #   Response: d9d9f7a2667374617475736[snip]2696e636970616c
@@ -93,7 +96,6 @@ teardown() {
 }
 
 @test "canister create <canister> fails for a remote canister" {
-    skip
     install_asset remote/actual
     dfx_start
     setup_actuallylocal_network

src/dfx/src/commands/remote/generate_binding.rs

@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ pub fn exec(env: &dyn Environment, opts: GenerateBindingOpts) -> DfxResult {
                     info!(
                         log,
                         "Candid file {} for canister {} does not exist. Skipping.",
-                        candid,
+                        candid.to_string_lossy(),
                         canister.get_name()
                     );
                     continue;
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ pub fn exec(env: &dyn Environment, opts: GenerateBindingOpts) -> DfxResult {
                         log,
                         "Generated {} using {} for canister {}.",
                         main,
-                        candid,
+                        candid.to_string_lossy(),
                         canister.get_name()
                     )
                 }

src/dfx/src/config/dfinity.rs

@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ const EMPTY_CONFIG_DEFAULTS_REPLICA: ConfigDefaultsReplica = ConfigDefaultsRepli
 
 #[derive(Clone, Debug, Default, Serialize, Deserialize)]
 pub struct ConfigCanistersCanisterRemote {
-    pub candid: Option<String>,
+    pub candid: Option<PathBuf>,
 
     // network -> canister ID
     pub id: BTreeMap<String, Principal>,

src/dfx/src/lib/canister_info.rs

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ use crate::lib::provider::get_network_context;
 use crate::util;
 
 use anyhow::{anyhow, bail, Context};
+use core::panic;
 use fn_error_context::context;
 use ic_types::principal::Principal as CanisterId;
 use ic_types::Principal;
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ pub struct CanisterInfo {
 
     declarations_config: CanisterDeclarationsConfig,
     remote_id: Option<Principal>, // id on the currently selected network
-    remote_candid: Option<String>, // always exists if the field is configured
+    remote_candid: Option<PathBuf>, // always exists if the field is configured
 
     workspace_root: PathBuf,
     build_root: PathBuf,
@@ -115,18 +116,14 @@ impl CanisterInfo {
         let canister_info = CanisterInfo {
             name: name.to_string(),
             canister_type,
-
             declarations_config,
             remote_id,
             remote_candid,
-
             workspace_root: workspace_root.to_path_buf(),
             build_root,
             output_root,
             canister_root,
-
             canister_id,
-
             packtool: build_defaults.get_packtool(),
             args: build_defaults.get_args(),
             extras,
@@ -153,13 +150,16 @@ impl CanisterInfo {
     pub fn get_declarations_config(&self) -> &CanisterDeclarationsConfig {
         &self.declarations_config
     }
+    pub fn is_remote(&self) -> bool {
+        self.remote_id.is_some()
+    }
     pub fn get_remote_id(&self) -> Option<Principal> {
         self.remote_id
     }
-    pub fn get_remote_candid(&self) -> Option<String> {
+    pub fn get_remote_candid(&self) -> Option<PathBuf> {
         self.remote_candid.as_ref().cloned()
     }
-    pub fn get_remote_candid_if_remote(&self) -> Option<String> {
+    pub fn get_remote_candid_if_remote(&self) -> Option<PathBuf> {
         if self.remote_id.is_some() {
             self.get_remote_candid()
         } else {
@@ -282,7 +282,9 @@ impl CanisterInfo {
         } else if let Ok(info) = self.as_info::<RustCanisterInfo>() {
             Some(info.get_output_idl_path().to_path_buf())
         } else {
-            None
+            self.get_extra_optional("candid")
+                .unwrap_or(None)
+                .or_else(|| self.remote_candid.clone())
         }
     }
 

src/dfx/src/lib/canister_info/custom.rs

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ impl CanisterInfoFactory for CustomCanisterInfo {
         let workspace_root = info.get_workspace_root();
         let output_wasm_path = workspace_root.join(info.get_extra::<PathBuf>("wasm")?);
         let candid = if let Some(remote_candid) = info.get_remote_candid_if_remote() {
-            PathBuf::from(remote_candid)
+            remote_candid
         } else {
             info.get_extra::<PathBuf>("candid")?
         };

src/dfx/src/lib/canister_info/rust.rs

@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ impl CanisterInfoFactory for RustCanisterInfo {
         let output_wasm_path =
             target_directory.join(format!("wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/{package}.wasm"));
         let candid = if let Some(remote_candid) = info.get_remote_candid_if_remote() {
-            PathBuf::from(remote_candid)
+            remote_candid
         } else {
             info.get_extra::<PathBuf>("candid")?
         };