Ask HN: Web crawler generator

Posted by villagefool on Wednesday May 09, 2012 @08:21AM
from the ask-hn dept.

I am looking for a web crawler generator, that I could prototype what I would like to crawl using a visual dom explorer type of interface, is there such a thing? anything recommended? Thanks

( 3 comments | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Web crawler generator by skram on Wednesday May 09, 2012 @09:13AM (#3948354)

Not sure if you're looking for a hosted solution (there are less of those) or a library to build upon (google "scraper"/"crawler" and the programming language of your choice).

Either way, check out ScraperWiki: http://scraperwiki.com

Hope this helps.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Web crawler generator by villagefool on Wednesday May 09, 2012 @10:09AM (#3948620)

Interesting service, never heard of it. I am actually looking for a library/framework rather than service, I was hoping there is some "visual editor" for defining what to scrape/crawl and simplify the building process.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Web crawler generator by skram on Wednesday May 09, 2012 @11:01AM (#3948865)

Well like I said, google or even a targetted search on Github/Sourceforge will reveal a TON of libs. As for a GUI... I don't recall any free ones coming up in my search a few months back.

[ Parent | on HN ]