iCash Currency Manager updating system is broken


After about a decade without a single issue, the iCash Currency Manager updating system has stopped working. Indeed, if you open the currency window and click on the 'Update now' button or you have activated the iCash 'Document > Update Currency rates' at startup preference, you will get the currency list filled with zeroes. So, what happened?

Actually iCash was fetching currency rates from Yahoo! services. It seems like Yahoo! has discontinued the (private, mostly-undocumented) Yahoo Finance API that many developers have been using for their currency data. All responses seem to be returning "violation of the Yahoo Terms" error. I suppose there's a chance they may switch it back on, but they don't officially support that API anywhere as far as I can tell. You can see by yourself clicking on the link below:

http://download.finance.yahoo.com/d/quotes.csv?s=USDEUR=X&f=sl1d1t1ba&e=.csv

Instead of receiving the USD to EUR rate as usual now we get that:

It has come to our attention that this service is being used in violation of the Yahoo Terms of Service. As such, the service is being discontinued. For all future markets and equities data research, please refer to finance.yahoo.com.

Same happens to http://finance.yahoo.com/d/quotes.csv?e=.csv&f=sl1d1t1&s=EURUSD=X

So we have to update the iCash system to use a different currency provider. There are several available we are looking at, like Google's:

https://finance.google.com/finance/converter?a=1&from=EUR&to=USD

Or maybe something like CurrencyLayer, Open Exchange Rate etc.

+ Info: https://forums.yahoo.net/t5/Yahoo-Finance-help/Is-Yahoo-Finance-API-broken/td-p/250503/page/3

I welcome your comment on that matter. Meanwhile we will try to fix that as fast as possible.

—
Stan Busk - Software Engineer
at www.maxprog.com


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The history of iCash and Peggy Première

The iCash development was projected in the late eighties but actually began in the early nineties. The very first version was released by the end of 1991. At the time, it was built to run on Microsoft Windows 3.1 and IBM OS/2. It was coded using the Pascal language. The development of the application continued up to the release of version 2.0 on May 1995. The application wasn't known as iCash but as 'Peggy Première'. Peggy because of the Muppet Show character and the analogy with a piggy bank. And 'Première' refers to the shooting of the first scene of a movie (it means 'First' in french). Peggy Première was supposed to be the best Personal Finance software at that time. Well at least in Spain, where I was leaving. The software was only available in Spanish, not even in french my mother tongue nor English. There were no international sales projected. I spent a decade selling Peggy Première, sending 3'5 floppy disks by mail with cash on delivery as t
Read more

Maxprog 16th anniversary

Maxprog just turned 16 years old last monday. Believe me or not, it has been a quite pleasant journey. That's very likely because I do what I always wanted. I am a self-taught vocational software developer, I started programming when I was around twelve. In my place computers were like UFOs so no one could help you or even understand you. I have always been fascinated by algoritms (and spinning things), I started very early and never stopped however, being fascinated by something and creating a company are two different things that require very different skill sets. Indeed, in order to be successful creating a company you have to learn about business, you have to create real products, market them, handle payments and after-sales support. Later you may need to hire people, outsource stuff, learn basic accounting etc. Finally you have to fight against your competitors, maintain a good visibility on the internet and take the right decisions in order to continue in business. Most peopl
Read more