How to add Currency selector to Magento’s header

By: Zvonimir Buric, Last updated: Aug 29, 2023 | Published: Dec 14, 2012
How to add Currency selector to Magento’s header

Since Magento has built in functionality for currencies, it shouldn’t be too hard to create custom currency selector and put it to the header. You might say this tutorial is for beginners, since it’s pretty much straightforward.

You might have noticed the “Currency Setup” tab in Magento’s Administration under “System->Configuration” menu. There you should select default site currency, and besides that, all currencies you want to support.

Here’s a screenshot of that tab:

After that, you should go to “System->Manage Currency Rates” and set rates for currencies you’ve chosen before. You can use Webservicex to import currency rates from Webservicex service. Here’s how it looks like:

And now, after you’re done with initial setup, let’s go further with modifications to make that output shows in the header. First thing you should do is to create a new template file and put it under “YOUR_PACKAGE/YOUR_THEME/template/currency/currency.phtml”. Put in this content:

<?php if($this->getCurrencyCount() > 1): ?>
<div class="form-language">
<label for="custom-currency-selector"><?php echo $this->__('Your Currency:') ?></label>
<select onchange="window.location.href=this.value" name="custom-currency-selector" id="custom-currency-selector">
<?php foreach ($this->getCurrencies() as $_code => $_name): ?>
<option value="<?php echo $this->getSwitchCurrencyUrl($_code)?>"
<?php if($_code == $this->getCurrentCurrencyCode()): ?>
selected="SELECTED"
<?php endif; ?>>
<?php echo $_code ?>
</option>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</select>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>

You can put in line #10 either $_name or $_code, depending what do you want to show in your currency selector. Here you can see how these changes affect to the selector.

Next thing you should do is to tell Magento which template should be used for the selector. You should create “YOUR_PACKAGE/YOUR_THEME/layout/local.xml”, or just append the following content if you already have this file in your theme.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<layout version="0.1.0">
<default>
<reference name="header">
<block type="directory/currency" name="custom_currency_selector" template="currency/currency.phtml"/>
</reference>
</default>
</layout>

And finally, there’s one more thing you’ll need to do to make the template visible on frontend, Open “YOUR_PACKAGE/YOUR_THEME/template/page/html/header.phtml” (or create new file if there isn’t any) and add the following content:

<div class="header-container">
<div class="header">
<?php if ($this->getIsHomePage()):?>
<h1 class="logo"><strong><?php echo $this->getLogoAlt() ?></strong><a href="<?php echo $this->getUrl('') ?>" title="<?php echo $this->getLogoAlt() ?>" class="logo"><img src="<?php echo $this->getLogoSrc() ?>" alt="<?php echo $this->getLogoAlt() ?>" /></a></h1>
<?php else:?>
<a href="<?php echo $this->getUrl('') ?>" title="<?php echo $this->getLogoAlt() ?>" class="logo"><strong><?php echo $this->getLogoAlt() ?></strong><img src="<?php echo $this->getLogoSrc() ?>" alt="<?php echo $this->getLogoAlt() ?>" /></a>
<?php endif?>
<div class="quick-access">
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('topSearch') ?>
<p class="welcome-msg"><?php echo $this->getWelcome() ?> <?php echo $this->getAdditionalHtml() ?></p>
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('topLinks') ?>
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('store_language') ?>
<!-- START How to add Currency selector to Magento's header -->
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('custom_currency_selector') ?>
<!-- END How to add Currency selector to Magento's header -->
</div>
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('topContainer'); ?>
</div>
</div>
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml('topMenu') ?>

After this, if you save everything, clear the cache and reload the page, you should see something like this:

Note!

By default, Magento is configured to show default currency selector if there is more than one currency set up. You can see that below:

To disable default currency selector you need to add

<remove name="currency" />

to default handle in your layout.xml. Then, your local.xml would look like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<layout version="0.1.0">
<default>
<reference name="header">
<block type="directory/currency" name="custom_currency_selector" template="currency/currency.phtml"/>
</reference>
<remove name="currency" />
</default>
</layout>

I hope this helped someone, cheers!

Info!

This article was revised on Dec 14, 2012. You will notice that some of the comments are older. This is because the original article was posted in 2011 by Mladen Lotar.

In case you need any additional help or simply want to get your store in the best possible shape, we would be happy to assist you. Find out more about our Magento Technical Audit and what we can do for you!

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60 comments

  3. Thanks this is great but I have one issue!
    It works fine when there is no products in the basket but as soon as you add a product to the basket and then switch currencies the site breaks and times out. My memory limit is 1024M so that is fine?
    You have to reset the cookies to get the site back again, it’s is browser specific.
    Any ideas as to why it fails? It also fails with all extensions disabled so that is not the conflict either.

    Reply

  4. can i connect the API from the forex currency for the currency conversion…rather then converting the currency rates manually??????

    Reply

  5. Great article, really helped me. Currency should be top right, it’s an internet convention.

    Reply

  7. The code is fine but i face the issue of cache .Because of that change in currency is not reflecting on page load .The changes reflect only after hard refresh.Is there any way so that the cache automatically gets cleared when currency is changed

    Reply

  8. Currently in my site both default and base currency is set to Indian Rupee .

    Let’s say there is a product of ₹60, if change currency to USD using switcher, price should be showing $0.90, instead it is showing as ₹3976.20 which is multiplied with currency rate.

    Any hints?

    I am using magento 1.9.2

    Reply

  9. I have this store based on magento ofcourse
    https://demo4sell.com
    , and the products in either home page or internal page without any symbol of currency, just price.
    what should I do to show the currency symbol beside the price ?

    Reply

  12. Sorry, I am asking a question in comment section!
    In magento one page checkout, core functionality says that under “Order Review”, if I change the currency then it shows me at final “Your credit card will be charged for” with the amount reflecting in base currency but I wanted it to be in selected currency instead of base currency.
    Please help me if possible..

    Reply

  13. It’s an easy & quick way to add currency selector to Magento header.
    In order to automatically adjust currency & language for incoming customers based on their geographical location, use this extension. http://goo.gl/fIzdzd
    You can easily personalize the web experience for your incoming customers.

    Reply

  14. Hello i get an error: Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘?>’, expecting identifier (T_STRING) or variable (T_VARIABLE) or ‘{‘ or ‘$’ in C:\xampp\htdocs\app\design\frontend\ultimo\default\template\page\html\header.phtml on line 258.

    Reply

  15. I have in my checkout the message “your credit card will be charged for” CHF1661.50 but i will the order in EUR 1381.03 not in CHF, how can i do that?

    Reply

  19. Thank you so much. I really needed this. Awesome post with detailed explanation for beginners.

    Can you guide me how can I show country flags too along with the currency code or currency name in options tag?

    Reply

  20. Hi bro. thanks for great stuff actually when i followerd all you steps for my one website at http://www.socialmediaexperts.co.in it worked like charm as i am using magento’s blank theme for it. but my other site at http://www.socialmart.us only shows two currencies. i have added same currencies for both websites but this site uses custom theme. but than it wont suppose to show two currencies also if anything was wrong. please do advice. and thanks for the nice article.

    Reply

  21. hi, i added this currency selector to my website, but my home page products won’t change the currency whatever the currency i chose, it always displays the default USD, but the category list and product description page are normal.

    Please help me to solve this problem.

    Reply

  23. Something’s weird. I followed all the instructions, but my dropdown appeared in the layered navigation field inside my category pages. Weird huh?

    Reply

  25. Not working currency conversation on home page but another on working.
    what is i don’t know so you have any idea so please revert asap

    Reply

  29. “It’s not working on Absolute theme. It reloads the page, but the currencies are not changing.”

    Same here with other Theme. U can see it load but after the reload the old/base currency is set again.

    Reply

  30. It’s not working on Absolute theme. It reloads the page, but the currencies are not changing. 🙁

    Reply

  31. works like a charme!

    Is it also possible to add an google analytics event tracker in the code?

    It would be very interesting to know if te currency selector is being used actually.

    Reply

  33. Dear Friend,

    I am using magneto 1.7.0.2 and Themeforest shopper theme v 1.1 which is available to download, I am updating my site to this theme right now I am working on my localhost xampp on windows xp.

    The problem i am facing is this that i tried to set up PayPal payment option on the admin panel as paypal standard but paypal option is not visible on the payment option in the theme where we do payment.

    I have integrated cc avenue and it is working fine as i have to made changes after downloading the kit form the cc avenus as per the pdf document provided by them.

    There are other option which are visible in the front end when i select yes option on the admin panel like :- saved cc etc but only pay pal is not visible in the front.

    Need help as i am trying to change to this theme of shopper by this month of may.

    Regards,
    Abhishek

    Reply

  34. i choose 6 allowed currencies but displays only 3 Euro,Indian Rupee and US dollar Base currency is Indian rupee can anyone help ?.

    Reply

  35. hi, i added this currency selector to my website, but my home page products won’t change the currency whatever the currency i chose, it always displays the default USD, but the category list and product description page are normal. Anyone knows how to resolve?

    Reply

  37. I had applied currency converter to my site. Iwas working very well, But it create a very huge problem.

    (1) A Canadian client purchase ab book in Canadian 4.98 Dollar and he pay with CCavaenu payment gateway (INR account)
    It take 4.98 Rupees

    Could it be possible that at and of purchase amount shows in Rupees or whichever Default Display Currency

    Client only evaluate but pays in Default Display Currency

    Plz reply soon , bcz I disabled my currency converter but i need to have it

    Reply

  39. Thanks for the auspicious writeup. It if truth
    be told was once a amusement account it. Glance
    complex to more introduced agreeable from you!
    However, how could we be in contact?

    Reply

  45. I have two sections in magento.
    1 is the default section and the other ias an additional section. Here i have enable currency conversion but i would like to help me out if i can enable the currency conversion for any one of the sections.

    please suggest.

    Reply

  47. Hi, How can i close the currency switcher on left column once it is appear on the header, or how can i set switcher on the left column (including all page, e.g home, and all product page and CMS page)

    Reply

  50. @Igor (My name is also Igor) ;),

    I managed to do that, i.e. have flags as a “switcher”.

    Instead of me explaining it for you step by step, you will find the answer you are looking for at following page; http://www.e-commercewebdesign.co.uk/blog/magento-tutorials/custom-magento-currency-switcher-in-header.php.

    In newcurrency.phtml I’ve changed

    from:

    <li><a href="<?php echo $this->getSwitchCurrencyUrl($_code) ?>" title="GBP"<?php if($_code==$this->getCurrentCurrencyCode()): ?> class="selected"<?php endif; ?>><?php echo $_code ?></a></li>

    to:

    <a href="<?php echo $this->getSwitchCurrencyUrl($_code) ?>" title="<?php echo $_code ?>"<?php if($_code==$this->getCurrentCurrencyCode()): ?> class="selected"<?php endif; ?>><img src="http://www.dummiestore.com/skin/frontend/default/default/images/media/currency/<?php echo $_code ?>.png" alt="<?php echo $_code ?>" style="margin-top:1px;" /></a>

    Please note that I have “.png” as the url to my images. This will output the currencycode for each currency, so for an exampel USD will be represented by a flag that has a filname of “USD.png”.

    If you need any help with this, please feel free to contact me! You can see the result at http://www.madlady.se/ and to contact me please send me a message through http://www.madlady.se/contacts.

    I hope it works for you! (:

    Ciao,
    Igor

    Reply

  51. Hi,

    I need to send a link, already with currency which is different from the base currency (e.g. my base is US$ and I want to send a link with Euro, so people will not need to change currency – but to see it imminently in Euro). Any solution?

    Thanks,
    Ben

    Reply

  52. Great post 🙂

    I was wondering if it was possible manually to administrate two different currencies in the admin area – e.g. type in EURO on the danish version of the product, and type in USD on the english version of the product.

    In other words – it seems that Magento only will display one currency in backend at a time.

    Reply

  53. Hi,

    Do you know how to make currency selector as images of flags by clicking on a particular flag, currency will be switched to the currency of that flag (if you know what I mean). I tried doing it myself, but without a success yet.

    Reply

  56. Another quick way:

    Just need to paste the line in any template file

    <?php echo $this->getLayout()->createBlock('directory/currency')->setTemplate('directory/currency.phtml')->toHtml(); ?>
    Reply

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