How to authenticate and send contract method using web3.js 1.0

Question

I am confused about how I should be executing a contract\'s method using the web3 1.0 library.

This code works (so long as I manually unlock the account first):

Answer 1

A way to be able to call your contract methods without having to sign the transaction explicitly is this (web3js 1.0.0):

const privateKey = 'e0f3440344e4814d0dea8a65c1b9c488bab4295571c72fb879f5c29c8c861937';
const account = web3.eth.accounts.privateKeyToAccount('0x' + privateKey);
web3.eth.accounts.wallet.add(account);
web3.eth.defaultAccount = account.address;

// ...
contract = new web3.eth.Contract(JSON_INTERFACE, address);
contract.methods.myMethod(myParam1, myParam2)
        .send({
            from: this.web3.eth.defaultAccount,
            gas: myConfig.gas,
            gasPrice: myConfig.gasPrice
        })