Web3.js: Utils functions mention BigNumber instead of BN in error messages

[rhlsthrm]

Description

Error messages for utils functions toWei, fromWei, etc. throw the following error:

Please pass numbers as strings or BigNumber objects to avoid precision errors.

The source itself checks if they are BN, not BigNumber. Relevant source (others in this file as well): https://github.com/ethereum/web3.js/blob/1.0/packages/web3-utils/src/index.js#L193

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Import web3
2. Call web3.utils.toWei(5) (i.e. pass in a number or other non-allowed type).

Error Logs

Gists

Versions

• web3.js: 1.0.0 Beta 48

[nivida]

Yes, the documentation is wrong it's currently returning the BigNumber object but was always named BN. I will update the documentation and the related function documentation blocks.

[rhlsthrm]

It's also the thrown error messages (not sure if you are counting this in "documentation").

[interfect]

Since there is an isBigNumber in the source, with auto-conversion to BN e.g. here, why shouldn't toWei and fromWei accept BigNumber objects? Why force a manual conversion with toBN?

[nivida]

@rhlsthrm @interfect I can't really answer that because I do not the thoughts the former maintainer had. The whole BigNumber handling here in Web3.js will get improved asap.

[mqklin]

@nivida are you going to use bignumber.js or BN? I'm migrating to beta now, and now I have to convert all BN objects to BigNumber, because bignumber is more convenient.