Exchange rate sometimes inexplicably 1.0

[jgarber]

I've dug through the code, but I can't figure out why sometimes in my Rails application, a few currencies come out with an exchange rate of 1.0.

In an initializer, I'm setting ISO4217::Currency.base_currency = 'GBP'

Yet somehow:

>> ISO4217::Currency.from_code("EUR")
=> #<ISO4217::Currency:0xb667a3c @exchange_rate=1.0, @exchange_currency="GBP", @symbol="€", @code="EUR", @name="Euro">
>> ISO4217::Currency.from_code("EUR").load_exchange_rate
=> 0.8814
>> ISO4217::Currency.from_code("EUR").exchange_rate
=> 1.0

I understand that load_exchange_rate doesn't actually store it in @exchange_rate, I just wanted to show that it's getting it successfully from Yahoo Finance. What I don't understand is how @exchange_rate got to be 1.0 in the first place. My only call to the Currency class is in a model...

  # Value of this currency in the default currency (defined in config/initializers/currencies.rb)
  def exchange_rate
    ISO4217::Currency.from_code(iso4217_code).exchange_rate
  end

[jgarber]

I've got $100 for anyone who can replicate it and show a solution (not just a workaround).

[jgarber]

Here's the smallest bit of code that will produce the inconsistent results. It only does it on my production server, not on my development machine (not even in production mode).

rails@li354-33:/srv/tinefcon-orders/current$ ./script/console production
Loading production environment (Rails 2.3.8)
>> ["AUD", "CAD", "EUR", "HKD", "PLN", "RUB", "ZAR", "GBP", "USD"].map {|c| ISO4217::Currency.from_code(c).exchange_rate }
=> [1.0, 0.6493, 0.8819, 0.0787, 0.2209, 0.0221, 1.0, 1.0, 505571776.0]
>> ["AUD", "CAD", "EUR", "HKD", "PLN", "RUB", "ZAR", "GBP", "USD"].map {|c| ISO4217::Currency.from_code(c).exchange_rate }
=> [1.0, 0.6493, 0.8819, 0.0787, 0.2209, 0.0221, 1.0, 1.0, 505571776.0]
>> exit
rails@li354-33:/srv/tinefcon-orders/current$ ./script/console production
Loading production environment (Rails 2.3.8)
>> ["AUD", "CAD", "EUR", "HKD", "PLN", "RUB", "ZAR", "GBP", "USD"].map {|c| ISO4217::Currency.from_code(c).exchange_rate }
=> [0.665, 0.6493, 0.8819, 0.0787, 1.0, 0.0221, 0.0906, 1.0, 0.6135]
>> exit

[jgarber]

Mystery solved. It's actually coming from Yahoo that way.

?> ["AUD", "CAD", "EUR", "HKD", "PLN", "RUB", "ZAR", "GBP", "USD"].each {|c| puts get_yahoo_response(c) }
"AUDGBP=X",1.00,"N/A","N/A"
"CADGBP=X",0.6494,"7/21/2011","12:59pm"
"EURGBP=X",0.8821,"7/21/2011","12:59pm"
"HKDGBP=X",0.0787,"7/21/2011","12:59pm"
"PLNGBP=X",1.00,"N/A","N/A"
"RUBGBP=X",1.00,"N/A","N/A"
"ZARGBP=X",1.00,"N/A","N/A"
"GBPGBP=X",1.00,"N/A","N/A"
"USDGBP=X",0.6134,"7/21/2011","12:59pm"

Now to figure out why.

[jgarber]

I'm going to use https://github.com/RubyMoney/eu_central_bank instead. So long and thanks for all the fish.

[hexorx]

Sorry for the slow response, I have been planning my wedding and very swamped. I will take a look at Yahoo and see if they changed something or are just mucking it up.