jsonlite::fromJSON failed to connect to Port 443 in quantmod getFX() - r

Question

I needed a function which automatically gets the Exchange Rate from a website (oanda.com), therefore I used the quantmod package and made a function based on that.
library(quantmod)
ForeignCurrency<-"MYR" # has to be a character
getExchangeRate<-function(ForeignCurrency){
Conv<-paste("EUR/",(ForeignCurrency),sep="")
getFX(Conv,from=Sys.Date()-179,to=Sys.Date())
Conv2<-paste0("EUR",ForeignCurrency,sep="")
Table<-as.data.frame(get(Conv2))
ExchangeRate<-1/mean(Table[,1])
ExchangeRate
}
ExchangeRate<-getExchangeRate(ForeignCurrency)
ExchangeRate
On my personal PC, it works perfectly and do what I want. If i run this on the working PC, I get following Error:
Warning: Unable to import “EUR/MYR”.
Failed to connect to www.oanda.com port 443: Timed out
I googled already a lot, it seems to be a Firewall Problem, but none of the suggestions I found there doesnt work. After checking the getFX() function, the Problem seems to be in the jsonlite::fromJSON function which getFX() is using.
Did someone of you faced a similar Problem? I am quite familar with R, but with Firewalls/Ports I have no expertise. Do I have to change something in the R settings or is it a Problem independent of R and something in the Proxy settings needs to be changed?
Can you please help :-) ?

Answer 1

The code below shows how you can do a workaround for the getfx() in an enterprise context where you often have to go through a proxy to the internet.
library(httr)
# url that you can find inside https://github.com/joshuaulrich/quantmod/blob/master/R/getSymbols.R
url <- "https://www.oanda.com/fx-for-business//historical-rates/api/data/update/?&source=OANDA&adjustment=0&base_currency=EUR&start_date=2022-02-17&end_date=2022-02-17&period=daily&price=mid&view=table&quote_currency_0=VND"
# original call inside the quantmod library: # Fetch data (jsonlite::fromJSON will handle connection) tbl <- jsonlite::fromJSON(oanda.URL, simplifyVector = FALSE)
# add the use_proxy with your proxy address and proxy port to get through the proxy
response <- httr::GET(url, use_proxy("XX.XX.XX.XX",XXXX))
status <- status_code(response)
if(status == 200){
content <- httr::content(response)
# use jsonlite to get the single attributes like quote currency, exchange rate = average and base currency
exportJson <- jsonlite::toJSON(content, auto_unbox = T)
getJsonObject <- jsonlite::fromJSON(exportJson, flatten = FALSE)
print(getJsonObject$widget$quoteCurrency)
print(getJsonObject$widget$average)
print(getJsonObject$widget$baseCurrency)
}