Data Sources - Mi API BCV

Overview

Mi API BCV collects USD/VES exchange rates from four major Venezuelan financial institutions. Each source uses a different method for data extraction, but all provide reliable rate information.

BCV (Banco Central de Venezuela)

About

The Banco Central de Venezuela is the official central bank of Venezuela. Their published rate is considered the official government reference rate.

Data Source

URL: https://www.bcv.org.ve/
Method: Web scraping
Update Frequency: Daily (typically updated in the morning)

Scraping Implementation

app/Strategies/Url/UrlBcv.php

class UrlBcv implements UrlStrategy
{
    protected $scraper;

    public function __construct($scraper)
    {
        $this->scraper = $scraper;
    }

    public function getValue(): float
    {
        $url = 'https://www.bcv.org.ve/';
        $value = $this->scraper->scrapeData($url, 'bcv');
        return $value;
    }
}

Parsing Logic

app/Services/ScraperService.php

private function parseBCVData($crawler)
{
    $element = $crawler->filter('#dolar');
    if ($element->count() === 0) {
        throw new \Exception('No se encontró el elemento esperado en BCV');
    }

    $text = $element->text();

    if (preg_match('/USD\s+(.*)/', $text, $matches)) {
        if (preg_match_all('/[0-9]+,[0-9]+/', $matches[1], $coincidencias)) {
            $valor = trim($coincidencias[0][0]);
        }
    }

    return $this->cleanValue($valor);
}

CSS Selector: #dolar - Targets the element with ID “dolar” containing the USD rate Extraction Pattern: Looks for “USD” followed by a number in format “XX,XX”

The BCV website structure may change occasionally. If scraping fails, check if the #dolar selector is still valid.

Banplus

About

Banplus is a major Venezuelan commercial bank. They display their exchange rate prominently on their homepage for transparency.

Data Source

URL: https://www.banplus.com/
Method: Web scraping
Update Frequency: Multiple times daily

Scraping Implementation

app/Strategies/Url/UrlBanplus.php

class UrlBanplus implements UrlStrategy
{
    protected $scraper;

    public function __construct($scraper)
    {
        $this->scraper = $scraper;
    }

    public function getValue(): float
    {
        $url = 'https://www.banplus.com/';
        $value = $this->scraper->scrapeData($url, 'banplus');
        return $value;
    }
}

Parsing Logic

app/Services/ScraperService.php

private function parseBanplusData($crawler)
{
    $element = $crawler->filter('.awb-news-ticker-link');
    if ($element->count() === 0) {
        throw new \Exception('No se encontró el elemento esperado en Banplus');
    }

    $text = $element->text();

    $valor = null;
    if (preg_match('/tasa de cambio\s+(.*)/', $text, $matches)) {
        if (preg_match_all('/[0-9]+,[0-9]+/', $matches[1], $coincidencias)) {
            $valor = trim($coincidencias[0][0]);
        }
    }

    if ($valor === null) {
        $valor = $text;
    }

    return $this->cleanValue($valor);
}

CSS Selector: .awb-news-ticker-link - Targets the news ticker element Extraction Pattern: Searches for “tasa de cambio” (exchange rate) followed by the numeric value

Banplus displays rates in a news ticker format, making it easy to identify and extract.

BNC (Banco Nacional de Crédito)

About

Banco Nacional de Crédito is one of Venezuela’s largest banks. They publish their exchange rates on their online banking portal.

Data Source

URL: https://www.bncenlinea.com/
Method: Web scraping
Update Frequency: Daily

Scraping Implementation

app/Strategies/Url/UrlBnc.php

class UrlBnc implements UrlStrategy
{
    protected $scraper;

    public function __construct($scraper)
    {
        $this->scraper = $scraper;
    }

    public function getValue(): float
    {
        $url = 'https://www.bncenlinea.com/';
        $value = $this->scraper->scrapeData($url, 'bnc');
        return $value;
    }
}

Parsing Logic

app/Services/ScraperService.php

private function parseBNCData($crawler)
{
    $items = $crawler->filter('.ItemSpace')->each(function (Crawler $node) {
        $text = $node->text();
        return str_contains($text, 'USD $ Compra Bs:') ? $text : null;
    });

    $filteredItems = array_values(array_filter($items));
    if (empty($filteredItems)) {
        throw new \Exception('No se encontró el texto esperado en BNC');
    }

    preg_match_all('/[0-9]+,[0-9]+/', $filteredItems[0], $matches);
    if (empty($matches[0])) {
        throw new \Exception('No se encontró el valor numérico en BNC');
    }

    $value = $matches[0][0];
    return $this->cleanValue($value);
}

CSS Selector: .ItemSpace - Targets item containers, then filters for USD purchase rate Extraction Pattern: Searches for “USD $ Compra Bs:” text and extracts the following numeric value

BNC requires text filtering as they display multiple currency rates. The scraper specifically looks for the USD purchase rate.

BDV (Banco de Venezuela)

About

Banco de Venezuela is a state-owned bank. Unlike the other sources, they provide a JSON API endpoint, making data extraction more reliable.

Data Source

URL: https://www.bancodevenezuela.com/files/tasas/tasas2.json
Method: API integration (JSON)
Update Frequency: Real-time

Implementation

app/Strategies/Url/UrlBdv.php

class UrlBdv implements UrlStrategy
{
    protected string $url = 'https://www.bancodevenezuela.com/files/tasas/tasas2.json';

    public function getValue(): float
    {
        try {
            $response = Http::timeout(10)
                ->withHeaders([
                    'User-Agent' => 'Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) Chrome/120.0.0.0',
                    'Accept' => 'application/json',
                ])
                ->get($this->url);

            if ($response->failed()) {
                throw new Exception("Error de conexión con BDV: " . $response->status());
            }

            $data = $response->json();
            $rawRate = data_get($data, 'menudeo.compra.dolares');

            if (!$rawRate) {
                throw new Exception("Estructura de JSON no reconocida o tasa faltante.");
            }

            return $this->formatRate($rawRate);
        } catch (Exception $e) {
            Log::error("Fallo obteniendo tasa BDV: " . $e->getMessage());
            return "0.00";
        }
    }

    private function formatRate(string $rate): float
    {
        $cleanRate = str_replace(',', '.', $rate);
        return (float) preg_replace('/[^0-9.]/', '', $cleanRate);
    }
}

API Endpoint: Direct JSON file access Data Path: menudeo.compra.dolares - Retail dollar purchase rate JSON Structure Example:

{
  "menudeo": {
    "compra": {
      "dolares": "45,26"
    }
  }
}

BDV’s API approach is more reliable than web scraping since JSON structure changes less frequently than HTML.

Data Normalization

All sources use the same normalization function to ensure consistent data format:

app/Services/ScraperService.php

private function cleanValue($value)
{
    // Replace comma with period (Venezuelan format uses comma for decimals)
    // Remove any non-numeric characters except period
    // Convert to float
    return (float) preg_replace('/[^0-9.]/', '', str_replace(',', '.', $value));
}

Input: "45,25" (Venezuelan format) Output: 45.25 (PHP float)

Comparison of Sources

Bank	Method	Reliability	Update Speed	Complexity
BCV	Scraping	High	Medium	Medium
Banplus	Scraping	Medium	Fast	Medium
BNC	Scraping	Medium	Medium	High
BDV	JSON API	Very High	Real-time	Low

Rate Variations

Exchange rates typically vary slightly between banks:

BCV: Official rate, usually the baseline
Banplus: Slightly higher (0.05-0.10 above BCV)
BNC: Similar to Banplus
BDV: Close to BCV (state-owned bank)

Rate differences reflect each bank’s individual market position and operational costs.

Adding New Data Sources

To add a new bank:

Create Strategy Class

Create a new class implementing UrlStrategy:

app/Strategies/Url/UrlNewBank.php

class UrlNewBank implements UrlStrategy
{
    protected $scraper;

    public function __construct($scraper)
    {
        $this->scraper = $scraper;
    }

    public function getValue(): float
    {
        $url = 'https://newbank.com/';
        $value = $this->scraper->scrapeData($url, 'newbank');
        return $value;
    }
}

Add Parsing Logic

Add a parsing method in ScraperService:

private function parseNewBankData($crawler)
{
    // Your scraping logic here
    $element = $crawler->filter('.rate-display');
    $text = $element->text();
    return $this->cleanValue($text);
}

Add to UrlProviderService:

public function getStrategy(string $identifier): UrlStrategy
{
    return match ($identifier) {
        'newbank' => new UrlNewBank(new ScraperService()),
        // ... existing banks
    };
}

Update Command

Add to the banks array in FetchExchangeRates:

protected array $banco = ['bdv', 'banplus', 'bnc', 'bcv', 'newbank'];

Documentation Index

​Overview

​BCV (Banco Central de Venezuela)

​About

​Data Source

​Scraping Implementation

​Parsing Logic

​Banplus

​About

​Data Source

​Scraping Implementation

​Parsing Logic

​BNC (Banco Nacional de Crédito)

​About

​Data Source

​Scraping Implementation

​Parsing Logic

​BDV (Banco de Venezuela)

​About

​Data Source

​Implementation

​Data Normalization

​Comparison of Sources

​Rate Variations

​Adding New Data Sources

Overview

BCV (Banco Central de Venezuela)

About

Data Source

Scraping Implementation

Parsing Logic

Banplus

About

Data Source

Scraping Implementation

Parsing Logic

BNC (Banco Nacional de Crédito)

About

Data Source

Scraping Implementation

Parsing Logic

BDV (Banco de Venezuela)

About

Data Source

Implementation

Data Normalization

Comparison of Sources

Rate Variations

Adding New Data Sources