How do you scrape data from websites with infinite scrolling?

Uthyr Natasha · 2024-12-17T09:32:22+00:00

Scraping websites with infinite scrolling can be tricky because the data isn’t fully loaded when the page first loads. How do you handle this? One method is to analyze the network requests sent by the browser when you scroll down the page. Often, these requests fetch additional data in JSON format, which can be directly accessed and parsed. This eliminates the need to render the page entirely. But what if the site doesn’t use API calls and relies on JavaScript to render new content? In such cases, tools like Selenium or Puppeteer can simulate scrolling to trigger the loading of additional data.For example, here’s how you might handle infinite scrolling using Selenium in Python:from selenium import webdriver from selenium.webdriver.common.by import Byfrom selenium.webdriver.common.action_chains import ActionChainsimport timedriver webdriver.Chrome()driver.get("https://example.com/infinite-scroll")last_height driver.execute_script("return document.body.scrollHeight")while True: driver.execute_script("window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight);") time.sleep(2) new_height driver.execute_script("return document.body.scrollHeight") if new_height last_height: break last_height new_height# Extract data after scrollingitems driver.find_elements(By.CLASS_NAME, "item")for item in items: print(item.text)driver.quit()If you prefer not to use browser automation, inspecting the network traffic can reveal API endpoints used for loading data. Using these endpoints is often faster and more efficient. How have you approached scraping infinite scrolling sites, and do you prefer browser-based solutions or direct API access?

General Web Scraping

How do you scrape data from websites with infinite scrolling?

Posted by Uthyr Natasha on 12/17/2024 at 9:32 am
Scraping websites with infinite scrolling can be tricky because the data isn’t fully loaded when the page first loads. How do you handle this? One method is to analyze the network requests sent by the browser when you scroll down the page. Often, these requests fetch additional data in JSON format, which can be directly accessed and parsed. This eliminates the need to render the page entirely. But what if the site doesn’t use API calls and relies on JavaScript to render new content? In such cases, tools like Selenium or Puppeteer can simulate scrolling to trigger the loading of additional data.
For example, here’s how you might handle infinite scrolling using Selenium in Python:
```
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.common.action_chains import ActionChains
import time
driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get("https://example.com/infinite-scroll")
last_height = driver.execute_script("return document.body.scrollHeight")
while True:
    driver.execute_script("window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight);")
    time.sleep(2)
    new_height = driver.execute_script("return document.body.scrollHeight")
    if new_height == last_height:
        break
    last_height = new_height
# Extract data after scrolling
items = driver.find_elements(By.CLASS_NAME, "item")
for item in items:
    print(item.text)
driver.quit()
```
If you prefer not to use browser automation, inspecting the network traffic can reveal API endpoints used for loading data. Using these endpoints is often faster and more efficient. How have you approached scraping infinite scrolling sites, and do you prefer browser-based solutions or direct API access?
Jacinda Thilini replied 4 hours, 41 minutes ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
1 Reply

Jacinda Thilini

Member
12/21/2024 at 11:58 am

I’ve found that inspecting network traffic for API calls is the easiest way to scrape infinite scrolling sites. It’s faster and avoids the overhead of rendering the page.

How do you scrape data from websites with infinite scrolling?

Jacinda Thilini