Cannot destructure property `interface` of 'undefined' or 'null' - deployment

Question

When I do npm run test I get back this error :
Cannot destructure property interface of 'undefined' or 'null'
I've been trying to fix this error for a cupple of days with no result. I've seen in some other posts that it's usually related with compile.js file... I think its all ok so i cannot find the issue.
I'll paste all my code (nottice I'm triyng to work with the very last version of solidity, in order to learn new functionalities... maybe there's my error...)
THANKYOU!!!
My compile.js:
const path = require('path');
const fs = require('fs');
const solc = require('solc');
const lotteryPath = path.resolve(__dirname, 'contracts', 'Lottery.sol');
const source = fs.readFileSync(lotteryPath, 'utf8');
module.exports = solc.compile(source, 1).contracts[':Lottery'];
.sol:
pragma solidity ^0.5.1;
contract Lottery {
address public manager;
address payable [] public players;
constructor() public payable {
manager = msg.sender;
}
function enter() public payable {
require(msg.value > .01 ether);
players.push(msg.sender);
}
function random() private view returns (uint){
return uint(keccak256(abi.encode(block.difficulty, now, players)));
}
function getPlayers() public view returns (address payable[] memory){
return players;
}
function pickWinner() public payable restricted{
uint index = random() % players.length;
address(players[index]).transfer(address(this).balance);
players = new address payable[](0);
}
modifier restricted(){
require(msg.sender==manager);
_;
}
}
TEST:
const assert = require ('assert');
const ganache = require ('ganache-cli');
const Web3 = require ('web3');
const provider = ganache.provider();
const web3 = new Web3(provider);
const { interface, bytecode } = require ('../compile');
let lottery;
let accounts;
beforeEach(async () => {
accounts = await web3.eth.getAccounts();
lottery = await new web3.eth.Contract(JSON.parse(interface))
.deploy({ data: bytecode })
.send({ from: accounts[0], gas: '1000000' });
});
describe('Lottery Contract', () =>{
it('deploys a contract', () =>{
assert.ok(lottery.options.address);
});
});

Answer 1

Heres how I fixed it:
I had the similar error when running 'npm run test'. What seemed to work for me is uninstalling your current version of solc
and running npm install --save solc#0.4.25

Answer 2

make the following amends in your contract and the test will run just fine.
pragma solidity ^0.4.17; //make change here
contract Lottery{
address public manager;
address[] public players;
function Lottery()public{
manager = msg.sender;
} // use this instead of using constructor
function enter() public payable{
require(msg.value>.1 ether);
players.push(msg.sender);
}
function random() private view returns(uint){
return uint(keccak256(block.difficulty, now, players));
} // make change here
function pickWinner()public{
require(msg.sender==manager);
uint index = random() % players.length;
players[index].transfer(address(this).balance);
players = new address[](0);
}
function getPlayers()public view returns(address[]){
return players;
}
}
you might have made this contract amends to make it compilable in remix but V#0.4.17 does not support this.

Answer 3

the same issue occur when i am trying to running a test
you can try two things:
1:try lower version of solidity. maybe V0.4.17 help you
npm uninstall solc //to uninstall existing solc version
npm i --save solc#0.4.17 //to re-install solc with lower version
2: try console.log() statement in compile.js file to check that contract is compiling or not
console.log(solc.compile(source, 1));
if the output is undefined than maybe there is some issue with your contract.

Answer 4

I had the exact same issue. The problem comes with the solidity compiler you are using. In my particular case I was trying 0.5.4 and for some reason I experienced the same error.
"The contract compilation is different in solc 0.5.0 and above"
one possible solution is using a lower solc version: like 0.4.25 (in my case this works fine).
The problem surges when the compilation takes place, the operation returns null, so there isn't any output and that's why you get an error telling you about the null variable.

Answer 5

use this in Lottery.sol :
pragma solidity >=0.4.21 <0.7.0;
contract Lottery {
address public manager;
address[] public players;
constructor() public {
manager = msg.sender;
}
function enter() public payable {
require(msg.value > 0.01 ether);
players.push(msg.sender);
}
function random() private view returns (uint) {
return uint(keccak256(abi.encodePacked(block.difficulty,now,players)));
}
function pickWinner() public restricted {
uint index = random() % players.length;
address(players[index]).transfer(address(this).balance);
players = new address[](0);
}
modifier restricted() {
require(msg.sender == manager);
_;
}
function getPlayers()public view returns(address[]){
return players;
}
}

Answer 6

For anyone having this issue still, make sure to console.log(solc.compile(source, 1))
Issue for me was that I named a contract something different then what I was passing as an input to .contracts[] array.
Make sure name you're passing to .contracts[] equals the name of a contract class, you can get it by consol logging the solc.compile(source, 1).

Answer 7

The problem is not in the js file it's in the .sol file
Make sure that you are using solidity and solc version 0.4.17
Make sure that you are not using any functions of the new solidity version in your old version like constructor
It can be a basic syntax error in your compile.js file or .sol file

Answer 8

Try changing the constructor function to
function Lottery() public(){ }