New, simple online wallet: www.instawallet.org - no signup required

[jav]

Here's the class I wrote to interact with the API. Anyone can feel free to use/modify this. http://pastebin.com/ceaBBnGX

edit... I take that back, it wasn't the problem. Here is what I get from netcat:

Connection from 127.0.0.1 port 8080 [tcp/http-alt] accepted
POST /api/v1/w/tDd7m55Pf87SMQIsAeak3g/payment HTTP/1.1
amount: 50000000
address: 1AFLxpKwd549Vq6oeC3cHiCJ6WZwRF4yL4
User-Agent: Java/1.6.0_26
Host: 127.0.0.1:8080
Accept: text/html, image/gif, image/jpeg, *; q=.2, */*; q=.2
Connection: keep-alive

I think I see what's going on. In your code you use setRequestProperty which - as far as I can tell - is used to set an extra HTTP header. But for a HTTP POST call you need to send the arguments in the body of the request. It should look something like this:

POST /api/v1/w/2D3Yv-eNQQ3tbcb3oll_GQ/payment HTTP/1.0
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 53
Host: 127.0.0.1:8080
User-Agent: Python-urllib/1.17

amount=123&address=1AFLxpKwd549Vq6oeC3cHiCJ6WZwRF4yL4

Here is some example code, which puts together a POST call: http://www.exampledepot.com/egs/java.net/Post.html . That example code also uses URLEncoder.encode() to encode the arguments, although since this will always only be Bitcoin addresses and numbers I guess it isn't really necessary.

[BitterTea]

Here's the class I wrote to interact with the API. Anyone can feel free to use/modify this. http://pastebin.com/ceaBBnGX

edit... I take that back, it wasn't the problem. Here is what I get from netcat:

Connection from 127.0.0.1 port 8080 [tcp/http-alt] accepted
POST /api/v1/w/tDd7m55Pf87SMQIsAeak3g/payment HTTP/1.1
amount: 50000000
address: 1AFLxpKwd549Vq6oeC3cHiCJ6WZwRF4yL4
User-Agent: Java/1.6.0_26
Host: 127.0.0.1:8080
Accept: text/html, image/gif, image/jpeg, *; q=.2, */*; q=.2
Connection: keep-alive

I think I see what's going on. In your code you use setRequestProperty which - as far as I can tell - is used to set an extra HTTP header. But for a HTTP POST call you need to send the arguments in the body of the request. It should look something like this:

POST /api/v1/w/2D3Yv-eNQQ3tbcb3oll_GQ/payment HTTP/1.0
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 53
Host: 127.0.0.1:8080
User-Agent: Python-urllib/1.17

amount=123&address=1AFLxpKwd549Vq6oeC3cHiCJ6WZwRF4yL4

Here is some example code, which puts together a POST call: http://www.exampledepot.com/egs/java.net/Post.html . That example code also uses URLEncoder.encode() to encode the arguments, although since this will always only be Bitcoin addresses and numbers I guess it isn't really necessary.

D'oh, thanks. When I get it working I'll update the pastebin... If you want to use that code for whatever reason, feel free.

[jav]

Instawallet just moved to a new server! Response times should be much better now. :-)

[Red Emerald]

I've setup a bookmark on my iPhone to use your site as a quick-and-easy wallet until a native app comes out.

Any chance of implementing a mobile-friendly theme?  jQuery Mobile is stable now and makes it really easy to make a pretty site for lots of smartphones.

[jav]

I've setup a bookmark on my iPhone to use your site as a quick-and-easy wallet until a native app comes out.

Any chance of implementing a mobile-friendly theme?  jQuery Mobile is stable now and makes it really easy to make a pretty site for lots of smartphones.

I actually played around with jQuery Mobile a little bit. I might do a mobile version of the website using it at some point. Although it won't be possible to integrate the camera with a web solution, which is pretty unfortunate.

So another option would be PhoneGap + jQuery Mobile to roll native applications for multiple platforms. That is also something I'm considering, but I don't have specific plans at the moment. And then there is the question, whether an app like this can make it into the iPhone app store. Has anyone more details on this? Are there actually Bitcoin apps which have been rejected or is there just a general assumption that Bitcoin wallets might get rejected? If so, on what basis?

So yes, there is a chance I'll come up with a mobile solution. It's not at the top of my TODO list at the moment, though.

[Stephen Gornick]

There is a question posted asking if InstaWallet is experiencing any problems:
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=66984.0

Is something wrong with the site? I'm missing money. And I keep getting a bad gateway message.

I'm suspecting the user cannot post here yet due to n00b status, so I'm posting this on that person's behalf.

[jav]

There is a question posted asking if InstaWallet is experiencing any problems:
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=66984.0

Thanks for pointing that out. I will reply to that person in that thread.

Instawallet is indeed under high load these days. It should not result in any lost coins though.

[Alphonso Bedoya]

Very glad to hear that response will be quicker, thank you. I continue to be impressed with the utility and simplicity of instawallet. I use them all the time to give gifts of bitcoins to people that have never heard of bitcoins, and instawallet makes this amazingly easy. I even sent a donation the other day after realizing there WAS no business model, just a great tool. Thanks again.

[jav]

I continue to be impressed with the utility and simplicity of instawallet.

Thanks for the kind words! It makes it much harder to announce the following, but I'm afraid I have to stick to it:

I have decided to shut down Instawallet for the time being. More details at www.instawallet.org . It was a great experience creating and running Instawallet, but at the moment I don't have the time and resources to continue to support the site. Thanks everyone for your support throughout the history of the project!

[phatsphere]

I have decided to shut down Instawallet for the time being.

are there plans to open source the code?

[MaxSan]

Yeh jav that would be pretty awsome. Id happily host a similar service just incase people require

[red123]

Same thing is happening to me, I think I lost my coins just now. I had 40 in this wallet:12HXNGsG6gRk5Jz59HW1zQMnnV9Yf8hfgc and moved them to another wallet. When I hit 'Send coins' I never got a confirmation it just timed out and said "504 error" or something to that effect.

When I as able to access my wallet again about 5 minutes later my coins were gone have have yet to show up in my other wallet which is usually instant, at least confirmation the initiation, showing the progression of the blocks.

I'll keep checking but I have a feeling they are not going to show up.

[Stephen Gornick]

FYI - I don't see any posts in this thread by davout, the acquirer of InstaWallet, so I'm not sure he'll see your inquiry.

Additionally, the site still shows the previous operator's e-mail address.  So I posted an inquiry as to how to request support here:
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=67602.msg854213#msg854213

[red123]

I see...well I got them but man something crazy is going on over there. My account all of a sudden showed 80 coins, exactly DOUBLE what I had in there. Is that crazy or what? I wasn't sure what to do. Then the site shut down again. 40, the original amount came back and I sent it out. I still timed out and there was still no confirmation however it seemed to work.

I never knew bitcoins could be manipulated like this, is it just instawallet? I am jst wondering what exactly causes all this. I LOVE instawallet its the best invention ever but not sure what is going on.

[FreeMoney]

I see...well I got them but man something crazy is going on over there. My account all of a sudden showed 80 coins, exactly DOUBLE what I had in there. Is that crazy or what? I wasn't sure what to do. Then the site shut down again. 40, the original amount came back and I sent it out. I still timed out and there was still no confirmation however it seemed to work.

I never knew bitcoins could be manipulated like this, is it just instawallet? I am jst wondering what exactly causes all this. I LOVE instawallet its the best invention ever but not sure what is going on.

Bitcoins aren't being manipulated. You can write whatever you want on a site you control. They are, certainly accidentally, displaying the wrong thing.

I'm irritated because installet is a great idea, but it does require trust and it's being destroyed. How can I show people the simplicity of sending coin on a site that is down or slow 75% of the time?

I knew davout was lazy on bitcoin-central, but I assumed acquiring this meant he was active again. :-(

[moocow1452]

Dammit, I really liked Instawallet and if it goes down, can't throw around URLs for payments anymore...

[jav]

I see...well I got them but man something crazy is going on over there. My account all of a sudden showed 80 coins, exactly DOUBLE what I had in there. Is that crazy or what? I wasn't sure what to do. Then the site shut down again. 40, the original amount came back and I sent it out. I still timed out and there was still no confirmation however it seemed to work.

Hey there. Sorry to hear that you had troubles with Instawallet, but it looks like it is resolved now. About the 80 coins showing up: This is a bug somewhere in the AJAX balance updater and only affects the display. The server side is correct and if you refresh the page you will always see the correct balance. I have yet to track down the bug, it might have something to do with having multiple tabs open of the site or something like that. I guess it's up to the Bitcoin Central team now to dig through my code base and track this down - poor guys! ;-)

i just wish they keep the exact same settings as Jav had.

The site still runs on the same exact configuration as before. It just has continued to grow and the current server can't really keep up - sorry about all the inconveniences. Davout & co. are still in the progress of bringing everything up on a new server. From what I understand it will be a much beefier machine, so that should help.

For what it's worth though, even under high load and frequent timeouts the site will never lose your money no matter what you do. Withdraws are always atomic. Either the transaction went out and you see the amount deducted, or both of it doesn't happen. Regardless of when an error/timeout occurs. Still, I know it can be scary to see an error message after a big transaction. So sorry again about that, and hopefully the work that Davout & co. are doing at the moment will improve the situation in the near future.

Additionally, the site still shows the previous operator's e-mail address.  So I posted an inquiry as to how to request support here:

At the moment I'm still mostly handling all the support requests until the server transfer is complete.

[FreeMoney]

At the moment I'm still mostly handling all the support requests until the server transfer is complete.

Thanks for helping them Jav and not just letting it die.

[Boussac]

I knew davout was lazy on bitcoin-central, but I assumed acquiring this meant he was active again. :-(

"lazy" ? That's probably an auto-correction typo, right 
You meant "busy" !
Yes we are all busy as hell trying to deliver as fast as we can.
Server migration is not something you do in a snap when it comes to a service like instawallet, requiring security and performance.

Thanks to davout for this extra effort and thanks to all of you guys for your patience.

[davout]

I knew davout was lazy on bitcoin-central, but I assumed acquiring this meant he was active again. :-(

I resent this comment.

You obviously don't have the slightest clue about the time it takes to :
 - review IW's codebase
 - review every single patch that is applied to bitcoind in order to provide for IW's functionality
 - properly install, configure, armor, firewall, monitor, optimize, replicate and document a brand new military-grade server
 - read, review and fully understand the extended documentation jav provided me

While at the same time :
 - maintain and improve Paytunia, its Android and iOS apps,
 - maintain Bitcoin-Central.net, support its customers, most of them beginning with Bitcoin, for free, as always

And lots of other stuff.

For the record Instawallet is currently running on and AMD Athlon server with 1GB RAM, 100MB/s connection, and 2x160GB hard-drive.
It will be running on a Xeon 8-core with 24GB RAM, 300GB SSD hard-drive and a 1GB connection, heavy optimizations, a host of security measures, and a rock-solid replication and failover scheme.

A really quick glimpse on how seriously I'm taking this server issue :


So let me just tell you that :
 - I'm working on it, fucking hard,
 - You'll be delighted with the result,
 - I won't take this kind of shit, whoever it comes from

And I even forgot to mention all the heavy testing required before migrating a server that serves hundreds of users with minimal downtime...

I really want to take good care of Instawallet because it deserves to be loved, so I will ask you kindly to please bear with us