"Currency Magic" module outage

[Kent Multer]

Hi folks --

Many of the users of the Currency Magic module have noticed that it stopped working on Nov. 14. This is because Google made a change in the format of their exchange-rate page, which is where many of your modules are getting their data.

I am looking into several different solutions, and I'll have one available as soon as possible. In the meantime, you can simply turn off the auto-update feature. The module will continue to use the exchange rates that it has saved, and you can manually edit them as needed on the module's admin page. A good place to view exchange rates is http://www.x-rates.com/table/?from=USD, which shows many currencies in a long list on a single page.

There are other currency-server pages on the Web besides Google's. If any of you are getting good results from a different server, please contact me, so I can have a look, and if appropriate, pass this information on to other users.

Sorry for the inconvenience --

[netblazon]

Re: "Currency Magic" module outage

Thanks Kent. I'm posting here so I get subscribed for when you find an update. Thanks for the great support.
Susan

[lesliekirk]

Re: "Currency Magic" module outage

Going to tag along too.

ps - Susan, did you get my email(s)?

[netblazon]

Re: "Currency Magic" module outage

Leslie, nope, I don't have anything from you, not even in my IMAP spam folder. I'll send you a PM so you can check that you have the right email address. Sorry!

[ids]

Re: "Currency Magic" module outage

Kent,

Will you be contacting store owners directly? I have a client with this module and really has no idea about the forum.

Thanks,

Scott

[Kent Multer]

Re: "Currency Magic" module outage

Hi Scott --

I expect to do a mass mailing to module users at some point. Not all of them will be having this problem; and for the ones who do, I'm easy to find. There are links to me right on the module's admin page; and the Viking/eMedia folks also refer users to me.

[Kent Multer]

Re: "Currency Magic" module outage

And now for some good news! I was able to find a couple more public sites from which Currency Magic can retrieve exchange-rate data. A module update will not be needed at this time.

To retrieve rates from Oanda.com, you can set the module's Update URL to:

http://www.oanda.com/currency/travel-exchange-rates?result=1&lang=en&exch=%fromcode%&expr=%tocode%

-- and set the Retrieval Pattern to:

1 text = 1 =
2 tag = /td

This page supports over 100 currencies; you can view the list in your browser at http://www.oanda.com/currency/travel-exchange-rates.


Also, USForex.com has a page that the module can read at http://www.usforex.com/exchange-rate/. This page displays a 2-column chart of major exchange rates. For some reason, the right column of the table uses different HTML from the left; Currency Magic can read one or the other, but not both. For the left column, use this URL:

http://www.usforex.com/exchange-rate/

and this retrieval pattern:

1 text = %fromcode%/%tocode%
2 tag = /td

For the right column, use the same URL, but this retrieval pattern:

1 text = %fromcode%/%tocode%
1 tag = /span

[Canexan]

Re: "Currency Magic" module outage

Ouch, we just discovered this today. Glad there's already a fix.

On a funny note, I was considering extraction from xe.com (it'll redirect /USD US Dollar to /usd-us-dollar on its own) when I found
<!-- WARNING: Automated extraction of rates is prohibited under the Terms of Use. --> right where I was looking. Clever!

[Kent Multer]

Re: &quot;Currency Magic&quot; module outage

Yep, I saw that too. It's getting harder to find public pages for this purpose. At some point, I may have to switch to a paid service; but so far, so good.

[Kent Multer]

Re: &quot;Currency Magic&quot; module outage

Hey folks --

Since this issue surfaced, I've had reports of another problem related to Currency Magic. An earlier version had a bug which could allow one database table to grow indefinitely. It happens very slowly in some stores; but when it gets large enough, it can slow down the entire store. This bug was fixed several years ago, but I guess I didn't announce the update as well as I should have. Anyone experiencing this problem can contact me to get the latest version (no charge for this).

Thanks --

[Canexan]

Re: &quot;Currency Magic&quot; module outage

Is 1.05 current?

[Kent Multer]

Re: &quot;Currency Magic&quot; module outage

No, Currency Magic is currently at version 1.08.

[lesliekirk]

Re: &quot;Currency Magic&quot; module outage

No, Currency Magic is currently at version 1.08.

Would a storeowner contact you for the updated version?

Leslie

[lesliekirk]

Re: &quot;Currency Magic&quot; module outage

One more question Kent, would the first issue you pointed out cause this error?

Runtime error in Merchant2/5.00/modules/currency/currencymagic.mvc @ [0000002d:000006c2]: currencymagic.mv: Line 1824: MvCALL: Found &quot;r&quot; in tag following /

This store is using version 1.04

Leslie

[Kent Multer]

Re: &quot;Currency Magic&quot; module outage

(I'm updating this; seems like the Q's and A's got out of sync).

The runtime error is not caused by a module bug; it;s caused by a change in the format of Google Finance's currency page, which now contains some code that the Miva engine can't parse. Updating to version 1.08 will not fix that, but the instructions given earlier in this thread will.

Version 1.08 is needed mainly for anyone who's experiencing the expanding-database bug. It has a few other small fixes, so all users should probably go ahead and install it.

Sorry, I haven't kept the Viking server up to date; for now, anyone who needs version 1.08 can email me. I'll be available to send out updates all thru the holiday weekend. Happy Thanksgiving! --