It would be possible to wrap a UI around this to configure and activate the cron job, and then package that as a module

The setup in the first part of the script would be a good template for other batch tasks, though it is not possible to call functions that are expecting a display to be present, which does limit what processes can be performed via cron.

Hope this helps

xr_load.php (assuming that this is in FA root directory)

<?php
/**********************************************************************
*
* Load current day Exchange Rates from external provider using cron
*
* run using:
* cd <fa root dir>
* php xr_load.php
*
***********************************************************************/

// set environment
$path_to_root=".";
$page_security = 'SA_EXCHANGERATE';

// configure fake server environment for cron
$_SERVER = array();
$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']='batch';
$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']='cron';
$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']='';
$_SERVER['HTTPS']='';
define('FA_LOGOUT_PHP_FILE', 'cronjob');
include_once($path_to_root . "/includes/session.inc");
install_hooks();

// load rates function
include_once($path_to_root . "/includes/date_functions.inc");
include_once($path_to_root . "/includes/banking.inc");

/**
*
* Load Exchange Rates from external provider
*
* @param {object} $company The FA Company to by loaded
* @param {object} $usr     FA User
* @param {object} $pwd     FA Password
*
* @return
*
*/
function xr_load($company, $usr, $pwd)
{
    global $_SESSION;

    $_SESSION['wa_current_user']->login($company,$usr,$pwd);

    $date_ = Today();

    foreach (get_currencies() as $curr) {
        $curr_abrev = $curr['curr_abrev'];

        if (!is_company_currency($curr_abrev)) {
            $BuyRate = maxprec_format(retrieve_exrate($curr_abrev, $date_));

            if (get_date_exchange_rate($curr_abrev, $date_) == 0)
            {
                add_exchange_rate($curr_abrev, $date_, $BuyRate, $BuyRate);
            } else {
                update_exchange_rate($curr_abrev, $date_, $BuyRate, $BuyRate);
            }
        }
    }
}

// load rates
xr_load(0,'user',password');

I create a module with hooks.php having the above function _construct()

I have one more file in module cron.php that contains the code to automatically fetch the exchange rate and update the database of the logged in Company if accessed directly.

Now when this cron.php is called through cron job then how this function in hooks.php creates a session with the defined user login and password. Credentials are hardcoded in hooks.php

Please give some guidelines

Wiki-ed it.

    public function __construct() {
        global $_SESSION;
        // if _CJ is defined, login user non interactively
        if (@$cron_request) {
            $_SESSION['wa_current_user']->login($comp, $usr, $pwd);
        }
    }

$cron_request is variable within cron.php file which is server cron accesses.

I have created cron job module which will automatically update exchange rates and revalue foreign accounts on daily basis. It works when I am logged in but not when I am off or on cron request. I have created new user ex: cron, and tried to process login process with $_SESSION['wa_current_user']->login function without any luck.

Can someone instruct me how can I write authorization code better without use of password.

Regards