Kevin Wells has updated two of his handy applications that use Wget to relay information back and forth to remote APIs (application programmer interfaces), allowing RISC OS users to access, lookup, and retrieve information from the desktop.
The first of the updates was to CardInfo, the initial release of which came back in October 2024. The purpose of the software is to look up information about everyone’s flexible friend1 – the plastic in your wallet.
Given the first six digits of a bank card number, CardInfo will communicate with BIN (Bank Identification Number) Checker, which is provided by API Layer, and from the returned information it can tell you things like the bank that issued the card, the country in which it was issued, and so on. (Please note that you will need an API key to be able to access the service, which you can get by registering with the API Layer website – and you may have done so already if you use Kevin’s Currency application, though you’ll still need to register with the BIN Checker service.)
The change that brings the software up to version 1.01 is the addition of logos to represent the card scheme. These are provided by the application itself, rather that the remote API, and Kevin has added graphics for Discover, JCB, Mastercard, and VISA – and will add more as and when he finds them, or people send him information about them.
And speaking of Currency, Kevin has also pushed out a small update to that to fix a bug.
The bug addressed in version 2.06 of the application was introduced in the previous version, and could cause the software to crash after the data download from the World Bank API. The information it retrieves from there includes data about the GDP and population figures for different countries – but it also accesses the Exchange Rate Service from API Layer (as noted above, this requires registering for an API key) for information about current and limited historical exchange rates.
If you find any of Kevin’s software useful, why not consider rewarding him for it by buying some merchandise or with a small contribution.
!ReadMe
- ‘Your flexible friend’ was actually the Access credit card in the late 1970s and into the 1980s, according to their advertising at the time. I think enough time has passed, though, that we can use it generically for all debit or credit cards, along with store cards and so on. Well, I’m going to, anyway.