I am really new to development with Web3 and was wondering if there was a way to get more information about a token from a token address found in a smart contract (i.e. I have a token address but have no idea what kind of token it is until I look up the transaction hash on etherscan). Is this information that I could pull directly from the blockchain/Web3 module or would I need to use external APIs to gather this information?
You can get the token details directly using web3py
Here's a simple example of getting the name of Token (Strong in this case)
import json
from web3 import Web3
# Fill in your infura API key here
infura_url = "https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/YOUR_INFURA_API_KEY_GOES_HERE"
web3 = Web3(Web3.HTTPProvider(infura_url))
# Get it from Etherscan and change true => True and false => False
abi = [{"inputs":[{"internalType":"address[]","name":"addresses","type":"address[]"},{"internalType":"uint256[]","name":"balances","type":"uint256[]"}],"stateMutability":"nonpayable","type":"constructor"},{"anonymous":False,"inputs":[{"indexed":True,"internalType":"address","name":"owner","type":"address"},{"indexed":True,"internalType":"address","name":"spender","type":"address"},{"indexed":False,"internalType":"uint256","name":"value","type":"uint256"}],"name":"Approval","type":"event"},{"anonymous":False,"inputs":[{"indexed":True,"internalType":"address","name":"from","type":"address"},{"indexed":True,"internalType":"address","name":"to","type":"address"},{"indexed":False,"internalType":"uint256","name":"value","type":"uint256"}],"name":"Transfer","type":"event"},{"inputs":[{"internalType":"address","name":"owner","type":"address"},{"internalType":"address","name":"spender","type":"address"}],"name":"allowance","outputs":[{"internalType":"uint256","name":"","type":"uint256"}],"stateMutability":"view","type":"function"},{"inputs":[{"internalType":"address","name":"spender","type":"address"},{"internalType":"uint256","name":"amount","type":"uint256"}],"name":"approve","outputs":[{"internalType":"bool","name":"","type":"bool"}],"stateMutability":"nonpayable","type":"function"},{"inputs":[{"internalType":"address","name":"account","type":"address"}],"name":"balanceOf","outputs":[{"internalType":"uint256","name":"","type":"uint256"}],"stateMutability":"view","type":"function"},{"inputs":[],"name":"decimals","outputs":[{"internalType":"uint8","name":"","type":"uint8"}],"stateMutability":"view","type":"function"},{"inputs":[{"internalType":"address","name":"spender","type":"address"},{"internalType":"uint256","name":"subtractedValue","type":"uint256"}],"name":"decreaseAllowance","outputs":[{"internalType":"bool","name":"","type":"bool"}],"stateMutability":"nonpayable","type":"function"},{"inputs":[{"internalType":"address","name":"spender","type":"address"},{"internalType":"uint256","name":"addedValue","type":"uint256"}],"name":"increaseAllowance","outputs":[{"internalType":"bool","name":"","type":"bool"}],"stateMutability":"nonpayable","type":"function"},{"inputs":[],"name":"name","outputs":[{"internalType":"string","name":"","type":"string"}],"stateMutability":"view","type":"function"},{"inputs":[],"name":"symbol","outputs":[{"internalType":"string","name":"","type":"string"}],"stateMutability":"view","type":"function"},{"inputs":[],"name":"totalSupply","outputs":[{"internalType":"uint256","name":"","type":"uint256"}],"stateMutability":"view","type":"function"},{"inputs":[{"internalType":"address","name":"recipient","type":"address"},{"internalType":"uint256","name":"amount","type":"uint256"}],"name":"transfer","outputs":[{"internalType":"bool","name":"","type":"bool"}],"stateMutability":"nonpayable","type":"function"},{"inputs":[{"internalType":"address","name":"sender","type":"address"},{"internalType":"address","name":"recipient","type":"address"},{"internalType":"uint256","name":"amount","type":"uint256"}],"name":"transferFrom","outputs":[{"internalType":"bool","name":"","type":"bool"}],"stateMutability":"nonpayable","type":"function"}]
address = '0x990f341946A3fdB507aE7e52d17851B87168017c'
contract = web3.eth.contract(address=address, abi=abi)
# Let's print Name of Token
print(contract.functions.name().call())