Web3.js .toNumber Error – Solving Function Issues

web3.eth.blockNumber is synchronous. You need to change this to web3.eth.getBlockNumber((err, res) => {})

Alternatively you can restructure this chain with promises:

const Promise = require('bluebird');
const Web3 = require('web3');
const web3 = new Web3(new Web3.providers.HttpProvider(<WEB3_PROVIDER_URL>));

if (typeof web3.eth.getAccountsPromise === 'undefined') {
  Promise.promisifyAll(web3.eth, { suffix: 'Promise' });
}

Then you can do:

web3.getBlockNumberPromise()
.then(_blockNumber => web3.eth.getBlock(_blockNumber))
.then(_block =>   { YOUR BLOCK CODE })

I'm not sure and I can not test but if I were you I would try to do a result.toNumber()

Edit: And for the two Metamask I would advise to remove the web3.eth.sendTransaction When you call the contract function, the use of web3 is encapsulated. I would say you are trying to send a transaction of a contract function call. Just call the contract function.

Edit2: You call the contract function with a callback so it's asynchronous. The result is in the callback, not in the return. You can either go into callback hell or use async/await syntax like : var b = await ProjectContractInstance.getProject(1);