Integrating Dynamic Currency Conversion in Bold BI: A Step-by-Step Guide
Integrating live currency conversion into Bold BI dashboards can be a valuable feature for businesses that operate across different countries and deal with multiple currencies. Although Bold BI does not have direct currency conversion support, there is a workaround that involves using an external currency conversion API and integrating it with Bold BI. This article will guide you through the process of fetching live currency values and using them in your Bold BI dashboards.
Step 1: Obtain Currency Conversion API Access
First, you need to get access to a currency conversion API. One such service is provided by CurrencyAPI, which offers live currency data. You can sign up and obtain an API key from their website:
- CurrencyAPI: https://app.currencyapi.com/
NOTE: The Currency API imposes restrictions on the number of API requests permitted under the Free tier. Depending on your specific needs, you may opt to upgrade to a paid plan or explore alternative currency conversion APIs available.
Step 2: Create a WEB Live Data Source
With the API key, you can create a WEB live data source in Bold BI to fetch the live currency values. This data source will be used to retrieve the latest currency exchange rates.
Example API Request
Here is an example of how you might request the latest currency rates using the CurrencyAPI:
https://api.currencyapi.com/v3/latest?apikey=<your_API_key>& currencies=EUR%2CUSD%2CCAD
Replace <your API key> with the actual API key you obtained from CurrencyAPI.
Data Retrieved from the Currency API
Step 3: Bind Values to Dashboard Parameter
Once you have the live currency data, you can bind these values to a dashboard parameter in Bold BI. This parameter can then be used across your dashboard for various calculations and data representations.
Step 4: Use Expressions for Conversion
In your actual data source, you can use this dashboard parameter created from the above data source in expressions to convert the values from one currency to another based on the live rates you’ve fetched. For example, if you have an ‘amount’ field with numeric values representing amounts in USD, you can convert these to CAD and EUR using the appropriate expressions and exchange rates.
Step 5: Visualize the Data
After setting up the currency conversion, you can visualize the data on your dashboard. You can use various widgets and charts to display the converted currency values and make your dashboard more informative and interactive.
With the help of dashboard parameters, live currency rates will be fetched from the APIs and will be multiplied by the amount to give you accurate conversion rates. By following these steps, you can effectively integrate currency conversion into your Bold BI dashboards, allowing for more dynamic and versatile data analysis across different currencies.
Additional Resources
