Step 1 - write Solidity code

ERC-721 tokens need the following functions:

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function balanceOf(address _owner) external view returns (uint256);
function ownerOf(uint256 _tokenId) external view returns (address);
function safeTransferFrom(address _from, address _to, uint256 _tokenId, bytes data) external payable;
function safeTransferFrom(address _from, address _to, uint256 _tokenId) external payable;
function transferFrom(address _from, address _to, uint256 _tokenId) external payable;
function approve(address _approved, uint256 _tokenId) external payable;
function setApprovalForAll(address _operator, bool _approved) external;
function getApproved(uint256 _tokenId) external view returns (address);
function isApprovedForAll(address _owner, address _operator) external view returns (bool);

and events:

solidity
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event Transfer(address indexed _from, address indexed _to, uint256 indexed _tokenId);
event Approval(address indexed _owner, address indexed _approved, uint256 indexed _tokenId);
event ApprovalForAll(address indexed _owner, address indexed _operator, bool _approved);

To become proficient in writing the Solidity language, I will have a series that goes deeper into the features and syntax of the language. This article will focus more on how to create a simple ERC-20 token.

You can use OpenZeppelin Wizard to create ERC-721 tokens with many different features.

Fields to enter

• Name - Enter the ERC-721 token name you want.
• Symbol - enter symbol for ERC-721 token; Similar symbols are ETH, SOL, UNI, etc.

Optional fields

• Base URI - This is the data field used to combine with the ID token to form a URI token

Other fields

• Mintable - The admin account can print the token
• Auto Increment Ids - Mintable sub-option, automatically assigns id to token after printing
• Burnable - if you want to allow your token holders to "burn" the token
• Pausable - if you want to allow admin accounts the ability to stop features marked whenNotPause
• Permit - If you want to enable the ability for a token holder to allow a third party to transfer tokens from his wallet and pay gas fees for him.
• Votes - If you want to create a Voting feature for your token holders, this option makes it possible for your tokens to retain voting history and can give voting rights to others.
• Enumerable - assign an on-chain sequence number to the entire token or to the token owned by a wallet; increases gas fees to transfer tokens.
• URI Storage - Allows updating the URI of each ID token.

Control administrative rights

• Ownable - Administration rights are centralized to 1 wallet.
• Roles - Admin roles can be divided among multiple wallets, each admin role can also have multiple wallets.

Token upgrade feature

• Transparent - The upgraded feature uses a more complex proxy structure and costs more gas but makes the code simpler and can be used with beacons.
• UUPS - The upgraded feature uses a simple and gas-efficient proxy structure, but the code will require more changes.

More information

• Security Contact - Contact information for the security administrator for this token
• License - license to circulate your source code

Bước 2 - Compile code

After using the wizard to generate the ERC-20 token code, you can click the Open in Remix button in the right corner to switch to Remix IDE.

Select the compiler version similar to the code pragma solidity ^0.8.4 and click Compile contract-xxxxxx.sol

After compiling you will see the interface as below

Step 3 - Deploy on VM (local blockchain network)

Next, you will deploy your contract on a local blockchain network to test out the features. This article will use Remix VM on Remix IDE.

You keep the values as they are and click on the Deploy button.

After clicking Deploy, your Deployed Contracts section will display the functions in your smart contract as shown below. Here, you can interact with your ERC-20 tokens.

Step 4 - Deploy on testnet

After testing the smart contract on Remix VM, you can deploy your contract on the Goerli or Sepolia testnet. Remember, you must have ETH testnet from the faucet. This article will deploy on Goerli testnet. You select the Environment section as Injected Provider - Metamask and change the network on Metamask to Goerli test network

After clicking Deploy and signing the transaction on Metamask, your Deployed Contracts section will display the functions in your smart contract as shown below. Here, you can interact with your ERC-721 tokens.

You can also check your deployment transaction on Etherscan by clicking on view on etherscan.

Step 5 - Deploy on Mainnet

After testing the smart contract on the testnet, you can deploy your contract on the Mainnet. Remember, you must have ETH to deploy. You select the Environment section as Injected Provider - Metamask and change the network on Metamask to Ethereum Mainnet. Then click Deploy and sign the transaction on Metamask and you're done.

Unfortunately, at this stage, the author ran out of funds, so I apologize that I don't have any illustrations 🥲.

Conclusion

So after 5 steps, you can deploy a smart contract of ERC-721 tokens to Ethereum's Mainnet network. Hope you find this article useful for your BUIDL journey.