Cron job updating currencies is logging a warning... working, but warning

[s_mack]

I've used a currency updating script for ages without problems (I think I wrote it, but I don't recall for sure lol). Anyway, now that I'm finally updating to 1.5.4 I found the current rendition of automatic currency updating but I get a warning logged everytime the cron job runs. It looks like this:

[26-Oct-2015 07:07:01 MST] PHP Warning: session_start(): Cannot send session cookie - headers already sent in /home/smartiep/public_html/test/includes/functions/sessions.php on line 107

I think I get what's happening. The "new" way for the currency updating is to start the file with "require_once('includes/application_top.php');" and I think that tries to begin a session. Since nobody's home, no cookie can be set and it tries to output a "turn on your cookies" message but (again) nobody's home so the message can't output and it throws that warning. That's kind of a guess, but I'm thinking I'm close.

So is calling application_top the wrong way to do it? Or is there a way to treat the cron 'session' as a bot so the cookies aren't tried?

Or am I way off base?

[DrByte]

When I wrote the cron script for v160 I started by setting the user agent, but then discovered it was better to simply set a new $loader_prefix to point to a dedicated auto_loader script which skipped starting any sessions.

https://github.com/zencart/zencart/b...rency_cron.php
https://github.com/zencart/zencart/b..._cron.core.php

Actually most of the commits related to implementing this are summarized here: https://github.com/zencart/zencart/c...rency_cron.php

[s_mack]

Is this going to be backward applicable to 1.5.4?

[DrByte]

A variation of it has been backported into the upcoming v155.

And so far it seems to work fine with this new plugin I made for openexchangerates, inspired from your post the other day: https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=2035

[s_mack]

Ah, well then... you're welcome :)

Is 1.5.5 imminent?

[s_mack]

Btw, in the instructions for that you say "Login to your Admin, go to Admin->Configuration->My Store, and set the primary currency server to openexchangerates"... primary whatnow? No such setting exists.

And I see you say it can easily be set with a cron in 1.5.5... but what about 1.5.4? The contrib suggests it is compatibel with 1.5.4

[s_mack]

I ended up resolving the issue an ugly way after failed attempts at working with your 1.5.5/1.6.0 hints.

I put this right above the call to application_top.php

$current_page_base = 'currency_updater';

And then in includes\functions\sessions.php right after the function zen_session_start() line I added

    global $current_page_base;
    if ($current_page_base == 'currency_updater') {
      return 0;
    }

I hate modding core files for niggly little things like this so if you have a better solution that works in 1.5.4 I'd love to read it. I tried changing the user agent but that got me nowhere. I tried calling a custom core file but I'm not familiar enough and it wasn't working. I certianly couldn't just copy/paste your 1.5.5 one over.

[nwjh]

I have the same issues. I am trying to get the 'openexchangerates' plug-in to work and there are obviously changes coming in 1.5.5. Any clues for 1.5.4 for this, because there are plenty of currencies that ecb and boc don't seem to be interested to find.

[s_mack]

I have the same issues. I am trying to get the 'openexchangerates' plug-in to work and there are obviously changes coming in 1.5.5. Any clues for 1.5.4 for this, because there are plenty of currencies that ecb and boc don't seem to be interested to find.

I suggest using the code I posted here, along with the fix I just posted above, rather than using DrByte's code which appears to be specific to an unreleased version, despite saying in the downloads that it is for 1.5.3, 1.5.4 etc. There's no place in the admin to make the stated change to server.

Mine is working on 1.5.4.

So you just make a new file called currency_updater.php and put it in the root of your store's installation (ie. not inside your includes folder, but the same folder that your includes folder is in). Copy and paste this code into it (which is a combination of the one I linked to and the fix):

<?php
/*
 * Automatic Currency Update v6.0
 * Originally by Richard Fink (masterblaster)  based on Zen Cart manual currency update
 * updated by Kuroi to include Zen Cart's currency uplift ratio
 * further updated by Kuroi to use European Central Bank reference rates  (adapted from ECB-supplied code)
 * updated by Zen4All (design75) use Zen Cart standard coding
 *
 * Rework for PHP 5.3 compatibility (ereg and mysql_db_query functions deprecated in PHP 5.3.0)
 * switched to using SimpleXML and mysqli instead.
 * JeRo www.jero.co.nz 18/06/2010
 *
 * modified by s_mack to use openexchangerates instead of very limited ECB. Simplified some logic.
 * license: GNU Public License V2.0
 *
 */
$current_page_base = 'currency_updater';
require_once('includes/application_top.php');
//  Sign up for openechangerates.org API and enter your ID below
$openexhangeratesapi = "";
/*
 *  Get default currency.
 */
$defaultCurrency = $db->Execute("SELECT configuration_value
                                FROM " . TABLE_CONFIGURATION . "
                                WHERE configuration_key = 'DEFAULT_CURRENCY' LIMIT 1 ");

$defaultCurrency = $defaultCurrency->fields['configuration_value'];

/* 
 * Get currency conversion ratio.
 */
$currencyUpliftRatio = $db->Execute("SELECT configuration_value
                                     FROM " . TABLE_CONFIGURATION . "
                                     WHERE configuration_key = 'CURRENCY_UPLIFT_RATIO' LIMIT 1 ");

//grab the full dataset from openechangerates.org

$currency_data = file_get_contents('http://openexchangerates.org/api/latest.json?app_id=' . $openexhangeratesapi);
$currency_data = json_decode($currency_data, true);

//since USD is not represented in the dataset, lets push it in
$currency_data['USD'] = 1;


// extract your default currency's exchange rate.

$defaultRate = (float)$currency_data['rates'][$defaultCurrency];

// put each currency into the DB, adjusted with the currency uplift ratio

foreach ($currency_data['rates'] as $code => $rate) {
  $rate = ( $code == $defaultCurrency ? 1 : (float)$rate * $currencyUpliftRatio->fields['configuration_value'] / $defaultRate );
  $sql_data_array = array('value' => $rate,
                          'last_updated' => 'now()',
                          'code' => $code);
  zen_db_perform(TABLE_CURRENCIES, $sql_data_array, 'update', "code = '" . $code . "'");
}

If you don't mind a WARNING in your log files every hour or day or whatever you set the cron to... then you can stop there. To get rid of the warning, you also need to do the change to your includes\functions\sessions.php file I described earlier.

Then go into your server's control panel or whatever you use and make a cron job that looks something like this:

20	*	*	*	*	php -f /home/whatever/public_html/test/currency_updater.php

(that runs at the 20th minute of every hour). Of course, you'll have to adjust the path to suit your web server.

[nwjh]

Many thanks for that. I've followed the instructions, but added " >/dev/null 2>&1 " onto the cron job to skip the emails.

Now to see how it works! Still building (and re-building) the site....

Thanks and cheers,

Bill.