Add Selector Docs

docs/basics/metadata.md

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ---
 title: Metadata
 hide_title: true
-slug: /metadata
+slug: /basics/metadata
 ---
 
 <img src="/img/title/metadata.svg" className="titlePic" />

docs/basics/selectors.md

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+---
+title: Selectors
+hide_title: true
+slug: /basics/selectors
+---
+
+# Selectors
+
+Selectors in ink! are a language agnostic way of identifying constructors and messages.
+They are four-byte hexadecimal strings which look something like: `0x633aa551`.
+
+You can find the selector of an ink! constructor or message in your
+[contract metadata](/basics/metadata) by looking for the `selector` field of the dispatchable
+you're interested in.
+
+Here is an example of how you can grab the message name and selector from your contract
+metadata using [`jq`](https://stedolan.github.io/jq/).
+
+```
+cat target/ink/flipper.json | jq '.spec.messages[0] | "\(.label): \(.selector)"'
+"flip: 0x633aa551"
+```
+
+## Selector Calculation
+
+If you do not have access to a contract's metadata, you can also calculate it yourself.
+
+The algorithm ink! uses is fairly straightforward:
+1. Get the _just_ name of the constructor or message
+2. Compute the `BLAKE2` hash of the name
+3. Take the first four bytes of the hash as the selector
+
+Let's walk through a short example of what this looks like in practice. Consider the
+following message:
+
+```rust
+#[ink(message)]
+fn frobinate(&mut self, fro: bool, bi: u32, nate: AccountId) -> bool {
+    unimplemented!()
+}
+```
+
+To calculate the selector we:
+1. Grab the name of the message, `frobinate`
+2. Compute `BLAKE2("frobinate") = 0x8e39d7f22ef4f9f1404fe5200768179a8b4f2b67799082d7b39f6a8ca82da8f1`
+3. Grab the first four bytes, `0x8e39d7f2`
+
+## Selector Calculation: ink! Traits
+
+These rules change a bit if you define any messages using the `[ink::trait_defintion]`
+[macro](/basics/trait-definitions). For our first step, instead of taking _just_ the
+message name, we now also add the _trait name_ to the selector calculation.
+
+```
+cat target/ink/trait-flipper.json | jq '.spec.messages[0] | "\(.label): \(.selector)"'
+"Flip::flip: 0xaa97cade"
+```
+
+Let's see what this would look like in practice. Consider the following trait:
+
+```rust
+#[ink::trait_definition]
+pub trait Frobinate {
+    fn frobinate(&mut self, fro: bool, bi: u32, nate: AccountId) -> bool;
+}
+
+-- snip --
+
+impl Frobinate for Contract {
+    #[ink(message)]
+    fn frobinate(&mut self, fro: bool, bi: u32, nate: AccountId) -> bool {
+        unimplemented!()
+    }
+}
+```
+
+To calculate the selector we:
+1. Grab the name of the trait **and** the name of the message, `Forbinate::frobinate`
+2. Compute `BLAKE2("Forbinate::frobinate") = 0x153eee2e7d585abbfed235e2c10c11dc4f3ab1ce0c2ca033fa065fd1be87d83f`
+3. Grab the first four bytes, `0x153eee2e`
+
+:::tip
+
+Don't worry if you're not able to calculate the `BLAKE2` hash of a string by hand. You
+can use [Shawn's Substrate Utilities](https://www.shawntabrizi.com/substrate-js-utilities/)
+to do it for you!
+
+:::

sidebars.js

@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ module.exports = {
       "basics/reading-values",
       "basics/mutating-values",
       "basics/events",
+      "basics/selectors",
       "basics/trait-definitions",
       "basics/cross-contract-calling",
       "basics/upgradeability",