Better error messages for invalid addresses

This commit addresses #20809.

We add an additional 'error' property in the result of 'validateaddress' in case the address is not valid that gives a short description of why the address in invalid. We also change the error message returned by 'getaddressinfo' in case the address is invalid.

1 files changed, 10 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/src/rpc/misc.cpp b/src/rpc/misc.cpp
index b3102a236d..215e48ca26 100644
--- a/src/rpc/misc.cpp
+++ b/src/rpc/misc.cpp
@@ -39,13 +39,14 @@ static RPCHelpMan validateaddress()
                 RPCResult{
                     RPCResult::Type::OBJ, "", "",
                     {
-                        {RPCResult::Type::BOOL, "isvalid", "If the address is valid or not. If not, this is the only property returned."},
+                        {RPCResult::Type::BOOL, "isvalid", "If the address is valid or not"},
                         {RPCResult::Type::STR, "address", "The bitcoin address validated"},
                         {RPCResult::Type::STR_HEX, "scriptPubKey", "The hex-encoded scriptPubKey generated by the address"},
                         {RPCResult::Type::BOOL, "isscript", "If the key is a script"},
                         {RPCResult::Type::BOOL, "iswitness", "If the address is a witness address"},
                         {RPCResult::Type::NUM, "witness_version", /* optional */ true, "The version number of the witness program"},
                         {RPCResult::Type::STR_HEX, "witness_program", /* optional */ true, "The hex value of the witness program"},
+                        {RPCResult::Type::STR, "error", /* optional */ true, "Error message, if any"},
                     }
                 },
                 RPCExamples{
@@ -54,13 +55,14 @@ static RPCHelpMan validateaddress()
                 },
         [&](const RPCHelpMan& self, const JSONRPCRequest& request) -> UniValue
 {
-    CTxDestination dest = DecodeDestination(request.params[0].get_str());
-    bool isValid = IsValidDestination(dest);
+    std::string error_msg;
+    CTxDestination dest = DecodeDestination(request.params[0].get_str(), error_msg);
+    const bool isValid = IsValidDestination(dest);
+    CHECK_NONFATAL(isValid == error_msg.empty());
 
     UniValue ret(UniValue::VOBJ);
     ret.pushKV("isvalid", isValid);
-    if (isValid)
-    {
+    if (isValid) {
         std::string currentAddress = EncodeDestination(dest);
         ret.pushKV("address", currentAddress);
 
@@ -69,7 +71,10 @@ static RPCHelpMan validateaddress()
 
         UniValue detail = DescribeAddress(dest);
         ret.pushKVs(detail);
+    } else {
+        ret.pushKV("error", error_msg);
     }
+
     return ret;
 },
     };