Stories from the Web Crawling trenches in Selenium

Web Scraping using ChatGPT - Complete Guide with Examples

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Sep 25, 2023

Web scraping using ChatGPT: extract data from websites using code. ChatGPT is a powerful tool for web scraping. Techniques include using Selenium and Beautiful Soup. Get started now!

How to Setup Proxy in Selenium in 2024

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Jan 9, 2024

Learn how to use proxies in Selenium for web scraping, including proxy configuration, authentication, rotating proxies, and troubleshooting. Proxies are essential for avoiding blocks and scaling your web scrapers.

Bypassing Captcha with Selenium and Anti-Captcha Services

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Oct 4, 2023

Learn how to bypass captcha challenges using Python, Selenium, and Anti-Captcha services. Retrieve the captcha site key, configure the anti-captcha client, solve the captcha, and submit the form. Simplify automation with Proxies API.

Web Scraping with Python & ChatGPT

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Sep 25, 2023

Web scraping is the process of extracting data from websites. Python and ChatGPT can assist in web scraping tasks. Popular libraries include Beautiful Soup, Scrapy, Selenium, and Requests.

Chromedriver Executable Needs to be in Path? - Solved

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Jan 9, 2024

Learn how to install and configure Chromedriver for Selenium automation in Python, and avoid the 'chromedriver executable needs to be in PATH' error.

Loading HTML Files into BeautifulSoup for Web Scraping

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Oct 6, 2023

BeautifulSoup makes it straightforward to load HTML for parsing and extraction. Use Python's built-in html.parser or choose others like lxml or html5lib. Selenium may be needed for dynamic pages.

Solving CAPTCHAs with OpenAI's Whisper Using Selenium

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Oct 4, 2023

Automate solving audio CAPTCHAs using OpenAI's Whisper and Selenium. Whisper's powerful speech recognition capabilities paired with Selenium's web automation tool provide an end-to-end pipeline for defeating CAPTCHAs programmatically.

Bypassing Cloudflare Error with Python

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Oct 4, 2023

Learn how to bypass Cloudflare bot protection using undetected-chromedriver in Python. Scraping Cloudflare-protected sites made easy with this tool.

Tips for Handling JavaScript Content with BeautifulSoup

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Oct 6, 2023

Dealing with heavy JavaScript sites takes specialized tools like browser automation or APIs. BeautifulSoup can still effectively access and parse content.

Using Rotating Proxies in rvest in 2024

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Jan 9, 2024

Configuring proxies in rvest for web scraping. Learn how to set up proxies, rotate them dynamically, and implement best practices for optimal performance.

Scraping Hidden Emails with Python Web Scraping

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Feb 3, 2024

Email addresses are often hidden on websites. Python web scraping with BeautifulSoup and re module can help uncover hidden emails.

The Complete Guide to JavaScript Scraping with Python: Tips, Tricks, and Gotchas

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Nov 17, 2023

Scraping JavaScript-heavy sites in Python can be tricky. With the right tools like Selenium and Requests-HTML, you can conquer complex JS pages and handle async JS rendering.

Scraping Websites Without Requests: 4 Python Alternatives

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Feb 3, 2024

The Python Requests module is a popular, easy way to download web pages and scrape data. But what if you need an alternative? Here are 5 good options to scrape websites without Requests.

Web Scraping in Python: A Comparison of Beautiful Soup, Selenium, and Scrapy

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Oct 4, 2023

Web scraping with Python using Beautiful Soup, Selenium, and Scrapy. Each tool serves a different niche, from simple extraction to browser automation and large-scale scraping.

Mastering XPath Locators for Reliable Selenium Tests

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Jan 9, 2024

Locators in test automation allow for the identification of elements on a web page. XPath locators are robust and flexible, making them ideal for scalable test automation. By mastering XPath syntax and operators, test engineers can construct dynamic locators to handle complex scenarios. Integrating XPath locators into Selenium scripts requires understanding the difference between finding a single element and multiple elements. Best practices include reusing locators through the Page Object Model pattern and handling exceptions carefully. Troubleshooting XPath issues involves verifying locator accuracy, outputting attribute values, and using more resilient variations. Overall, mastering XPath locators is crucial for successful UI test automation using Selenium.

Puppeteer vs Selenium: A Web Scraper's Experience-Driven Comparison

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Jan 9, 2024

Puppeteer and Selenium differ in their origins and purposes. Puppeteer is for web data extraction, while Selenium is for web app testing. When scraping data, Puppeteer requires explicit waits and explicit element lookup, while Selenium allows for configurable implicit waits and implicit element lookup. Both tools have their strengths and should be used accordingly.

How to SCRAPE DYNAMIC Websites with Selenium

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Oct 4, 2023

Web scraping dynamic websites with Selenium for automation and data extraction. Consider using ProxiesAPI for robust and scalable commercial scraping projects.

Is BeautifulSoup faster than selenium?

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Feb 5, 2024

Web scraping involves extracting data from websites. BeautifulSoup is lightweight and efficient for scraping static content, while Selenium is necessary for dynamically loaded content. Together, they provide a comprehensive solution for web scraping.

Is BeautifulSoup good for web scraping?

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Feb 5, 2024

BeautifulSoup is the leading Python web scraping library, with an intuitive API for parsing HTML. It struggles with JavaScript-heavy sites, so use proxies and mimic humans. Try it for your next project!

Is web scraping good for freelancing?

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Feb 20, 2024

Web scraping freelancing offers great income potential in a niche with lots of demand. Be ready to continually monitor scripts and adapt to site changes.

Is BeautifulSoup or Selenium better?

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Feb 5, 2024

Selenium vs BeautifulSoup: choose the right tool for web scraping based on the complexity of the site and the presence of dynamic content.

Can I use Selenium with BeautifulSoup?

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Feb 5, 2024

Web scraping with Selenium and BeautifulSoup allows for dynamic page access and data extraction, making them a powerful combination.

Should I learn Selenium or Scrapy?

Author: Mohan Ganesan

Date: Feb 5, 2024

Automating tests with Selenium saves time and reduces errors, while Scrapy is better for large scale web scraping.

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