Table of Contents

• Overview
• Installation
• Getting Your API Key
• Configuration
• Usage
  • Methods
    • Available Currencies
    • Exchange Rate
      • Getting the Rate Between Two Currencies
      • Getting the Rate Between More Than Two Currencies
    • Exchange Rates Between Date Range
      • Getting the Rates Between Two Currencies
      • Getting the Rates Between More Than Two Currencies
    • Convert Currencies
      • Converting Between Two Currencies
      • Converting Between More Than Two Currencies
    • Convert Currencies Between Date Range
      • Converting Between Two Currencies in a Date Range
      • Converting Between More Than Two Currencies in a Date Range
  • Facade
  • Validation Rule
  • Examples
  • Caching
    • Busting Cached Exchange Rates
    • Preventing Exchange Rates from Being Cached
  • Supported Currencies
• Testing
• Security
• Contribution
• Credits
• Changelog
• Upgrading
• License

Overview

A simple Laravel package used for interacting with the exchangeratesapi.io API. 'Laravel Exchange Rates' allow you to get the latest or historical exchange rates and convert monetary values between different currencies.

Installation

You can install the package via Composer:

composer require ashallendesign/laravel-exchange-rates

The package has been developed and tested to work with the following minimum requirements:

• PHP 7.2
• Laravel 6

Getting Your API Key

As of 1st April 2021, the exchangeratesapi.io now requires an API key to use the service. To get an API key, head over to https://exchangeratesapi.io/pricing. You can sign up for free or use the paid tiers.

Please note that at the time of writing this, you will need to be on at least the 'Basic' plan to make request via HTTPS. You will also be required to have at least the 'Professional' plan to use the convertBetweenDateRange() and exchangeRateBetweenDateRange() that this package offers.

You will also be required to have at least the 'Basic' paid plan to use exchangeRate() and convert() methods offered by this package due to the fact that the free plan does not allow setting a base currency when converting.

Configuration

Publish the Config and Migrations

You can publish the package's config file and database migrations (so that you can make changes to them) by using the following command:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="AshAllenDesign\LaravelExchangeRates\Providers\ExchangeRatesProvider"

Add the necessary configuration keys in your .env:

EXCHANGE_RATES_API_URL=https://api.exchangeratesapi.io/v1/
EXCHANGE_RATES_API_KEY={Your-API-Key-Here}

Usage

Methods

Available Currencies

$exchangeRates = new ExchangeRate();
$exchangeRates->currencies();

Exchange Rate

Getting the Rate Between Two Currencies

To get the exchange for one currency to another, you can use the ->exchangeRate() method. When doing this, you can pass the currency code as a string as the second parameter. The ->exchangeRates() method will then return a string containing the exchange rate.

The example below shows how to get the exchange rate from 'GBP' to 'EUR' for today.

$exchangeRates = new ExchangeRate();
$result = $exchangeRates->exchangeRate('GBP', 'EUR');

// $result: '1.10086'

Note: If a Carbon date is passed as the third parameter, the exchange rate for that day will be returned (if valid). If no date is passed, today's exchange rate will be used.

Getting the Rate Between More Than Two Currencies

It is possible to get the exchange rates for multiple currencies in one call. This can be particularly useful if you are needing to get many exchange rates at once and do not want to multiple API calls.

To do this, you can use ->exchangeRate() method and pass an array of currency code strings as the second parameter. This will return the an array containing the exchange rates as strings.

The example below shows how to get the exchange rates from 'GBP' to 'EUR' and 'USD' for today.

$exchangeRates = new ExchangeRate();
$result = $exchangeRates->exchangeRate('GBP', ['EUR', 'USD']);

// $result: [
//     'EUR' => '1.10086',
//     'USD' => '1.25622'
// ];

Exchange Rates Between Date Range

Getting the Rates Between Two Currencies

To get the exchange rates between two currencies between a given date range, you can use the ->exchangeRateBetweenDateRange() method. When doing this, you can pass the currency code as a string as the second parameter. The method will then return an array containing the exchange rates.

The example below shows how to get the exchange rates from 'GBP' to 'EUR' for the past 3 days.

$exchangeRates = new ExchangeRate();
$result = $exchangeRates->exchangeRateBetweenDateRange('GBP', 'EUR', Carbon::now()->subWeek(), Carbon::now());

// $result: [
//     '2020-07-07' => 1.1092623405
//     '2020-07-08' => 1.1120625424
//     '2020-07-09' => 1.1153867604
// ];

Getting the Rates Between More Than Two Currencies

To get the exchange rates for multiple currencies in one call, you can pass an array of currency codes strings as the second parameter to the ->exchangeRateBetweenDateRange() method.

The example below shows how to get the exchange rates from 'GBP' to 'EUR' and 'USD' for the past 3 days.

$exchangeRates = new ExchangeRate();
$result = $exchangeRates->exchangeRateBetweenDateRange('GBP', ['EUR', 'USD'], Carbon::now()->subDays(3), Carbon::now());

// $result: [
//     '2020-07-07' => [
//         'EUR' => 1.1092623405,
//         'USD' => 1.2523571825,
//      ],
//     '2020-07-08' => [
//         'EUR' => 1.1120625424,
//         'USD' => 1.2550737853,
//      ],
//     '2020-07-09' => [
//         'EUR' => 1.1153867604,
//         'USD' => 1.2650716636,
//      ],
// ];

Convert Currencies

When passing in the monetary value (first parameter) that is to be converted, it's important that you pass it in the lowest denomination of that currency. For example, £1 GBP would be passed in as 100 (as £1 = 100 pence).

Converting Between Two Currencies

Similar to how you can get the exchange rate from one currency to another, you can also convert a monetary value from one currency to another. To do this you can use the ->convert() method.

The example below shows how to convert £1 'GBP' to 'EUR' at today's exchange rate.

$exchangeRates = new ExchangeRate();
$result = $exchangeRates->convert(100, 'GBP', 'EUR', Carbon::now());

// $result: 110.15884906

Note: If a Carbon date is passed as the third parameter, the exchange rate for that day will be returned (if valid). If no date is passed, today's exchange rate will be used.

Converting Between More Than Two Currencies

You can also use the ->convert() method to convert a monetary value from one currency to multiple currencies. To do this, you can pass an array of currency codes strings as the third parameter.

The example below show how to convert £1 'GBP' to 'EUR' and 'USD' at today's exchange rate.

$exchangeRates = new ExchangeRate();
$result = $exchangeRates->convert(100, 'GBP', ['EUR', 'USD'], Carbon::now());

// $result: [
//     'EUR' => 110.15884906,
//     'USD' => 125.30569081
// ];

Convert Currencies Between Date Range

When passing in the monetary value (first parameter) that is to be converted, it's important that you pass it in the lowest denomination of that currency. For example, £1 GBP would be passed in as 100 (as £1 = 100 pence).

Converting Between Two Currencies in a Date Range

Similar to getting the exchange rates between a date range, you can also get convert monetary values from one currency to another using the exchange rates. To do this you can use the ->convertBetweenDateRange() method.

The example below shows how to convert £1 'GBP' to 'EUR' using the exchange rates for the past 3 days.

$exchangeRates = new ExchangeRate();
$exchangeRates->convertBetweenDateRange(100, 'GBP', 'EUR', Carbon::now()->subDays(3), Carbon::now());

// $result: [
//     '2020-07-07' => 110.92623405,
//     '2020-07-08' => 111.20625424,
//     '2020-07-09' => 111.53867604,
// ];

Converting Between More Than Two Currencies in a Date Range

You can also use the ->convertBetweenDateRange() method to convert a monetary value from one currency to multiple currencies using the exchange rates between a date range. To do this, you can pass an array of currency codes strings as the third parameter.

The example below show how to convert £1 'GBP' to 'EUR' and 'USD' at the past three days' exchange rates.

$exchangeRates = new ExchangeRate();
$result = $exchangeRates->exchangeRateBetweenDateRange('GBP', ['EUR', 'USD'], Carbon::now()->subDays(3), Carbon::now());

// $result: [
//     '2020-07-07' => [
//         'EUR' => 110.92623405,
//         'USD' => 125.23571825,
//      ],
//     '2020-07-08' => [
//         'EUR' => 111.20625424,
//         'USD' => 125.50737853,
//      ],
//     '2020-07-09' => [
//         'EUR' => 111.53867604,
//         'USD' => 126.50716636,
//      ],
// ];

Facade

If you prefer to use facades in Laravel, you can choose to use the provided ExchangeRate facade instead of instantiating the AshAllenDesign\LaravelExchangeRates\Classes\ExchangeRate class manually.

The example below shows an example of how you could use the facade to get the available currencies:

<?php
    
    namespace App\Http\Controllers;
    
    use ExchangeRate;
    
    class TestController extends Controller
    {
        public function index()
        {
            return ExchangeRate::currencies();
        }
    }

Validation Rule

Laravel Exchange Rates comes with its own ValidCurrency rule for validating currencies. This can be useful for if you need to be sure that a currency (maybe one provided by the user) is supported by the library. The example below show how you can use the rule for validating the currency.

<?php
    
    namespace App\Http\Controllers;
    
    use AshAllenDesign\LaravelExchangeRates\Rules\ValidCurrency;
    use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Validator;

    class TestController extends Controller
    {
        public function index()
        {
            $formData = [
                'currency' => 'GBP',
            ];
    
            $rules = [
                'currency' => new ValidCurrency,
            ];
    
            $validator = Validator::make($formData, $rules);
        }
    }

Examples

This example shows how to convert 100 pence (£1) from Great British Pounds to Euros. The current exchange rate will be used (unless a cached rate for this date already exists).

<?php
    
    namespace App\Http\Controllers;
    
    use AshAllenDesign\LaravelExchangeRates\Classes\ExchangeRate;
    
    class TestController extends Controller
    {
        public function index()
        {
            $exchangeRates = new ExchangeRate();
            return $exchangeRates->convert(100, 'GBP', 'EUR', Carbon::now());
        }
    }

Caching

Busting Cached Exchange Rates

By default, the responses all of the requests to the exchangeratesapi.io API are cached. This allows for significant performance improvements and reduced bandwidth from your server.

However, if for any reason you require a fresh result from the API and not a cached result, the ->shouldBustCache() method can be used. The example below shows how to ignore the cached value (if one exists) and make a new API request.

<?php
    
    namespace App\Http\Controllers;
    
    use AshAllenDesign\LaravelExchangeRates\Classes\ExchangeRate;
    
    class TestController extends Controller
    {
        public function index()
        {
            $exchangeRates = new ExchangeRate();
            return $exchangeRates->shouldBustCache()->convert(100, 'GBP', 'EUR', Carbon::now());
        }
    }

Preventing Exchange Rates from Being Cached

It is also possible to prevent the exchange rates from being cached at all. To do this, you can use the ->shouldCache(false) method. The example below shows how to get an exchange rate and not cache it:

<?php
    
    namespace App\Http\Controllers;
    
    use AshAllenDesign\LaravelExchangeRates\Classes\ExchangeRate;
    
    class TestController extends Controller
    {
        public function index()
        {
            $exchangeRates = new ExchangeRate();
            return $exchangeRates->shouldCache(false)->convert(100, 'GBP', 'EUR', Carbon::now());
        }
    }

Note: The caching works by storing exchange rates after fetching them from the API. As an example, if you were to fetch the exchange rates for 'GBP' to 'EUR' for 20-11-2019 - 27-11-2019, the rates between these dates will be cached as a single cache item. This cache item will only be retrieved if you attempt to fetch the same exchange rates on with the exact same currencies and date range.

Therefore, if you were to try and get 'GBP' to 'EUR' for 20-11-2019 - 26-11-2019, a new API request would be made because the date range is different.

Supported Currencies

Laravel Exchange Rates supports working with the following currencies (sorted in A-Z order):

Code	Currency Name
AUD	Australian dollar
BGN	Bulgarian lev
BRL	Brazilian real
CAD	Canadian
CHF	Swiss franc
CNY	Chinese yuan renminbi
CZK	Czech koruna
DKK	Danish krone
EUR	Euro
GBP	Pound sterling
HKD	Hong Kong dollar
HRK	Croatian kuna
HUF	Hungarian forint
IDR	Indonesian rupiah
ILS	Israeli shekel
INR	Indian rupee
ISK	Icelandic krone
JPY	Japanese yen
KRW	South Korean won
MXN	Mexican peso
MYR	Malaysian ringgit
NOK	Norwegian krone
NZD	New Zealand dollar
PHP	Philippine peso
PLN	Polish zloty
RON	Romanian leu
RUB	Russian rouble
SEK	Swedish krona
SGD	Singapore dollar
THB	Thai baht
TRY	Turkish lira
USD	US dollar
ZAR	South African rand

Note: Please note that the currencies are available because they are exposed in the exchangeratesapi.io API.

Testing

vendor/bin/phpunit

Security

If you find any security related issues, please contact me directly at mail@ashallendesign.co.uk to report it.

Contribution

If you wish to make any changes or improvements to the package, feel free to make a pull request.

To contribute to this library, please use the following guidelines before submitting your pull request:

• Write tests for any new functions that are added. If you are updating existing code, make sure that the existing tests pass and write more if needed.
• Follow PSR-2 coding standards.
• Make all pull requests to the master branch.

Credits

• Ash Allen
• Zak
• Jess Pickup (Logo)
• All Contributors

Changelog

Check the CHANGELOG to get more information about the latest changes.

Upgrading

Check the UPGRADE guide to get more information on how to update this library to newer versions.

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.