Comments on: Easy Screen Scraping in PHP with the Simple HTML DOM Library http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/ Keeping webmasters up-to-date on technology. Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:03:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: seo http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-4398 seo Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:56:23 +0000 http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-4398 simple and brief intro, nice work there! simple and brief intro, nice work there!

]]> By: Ian http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3486 Ian Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:39:21 +0000 http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3486 This looks promising. Why not try to get this into PECL or PEAR? This looks promising. Why not try to get this into PECL or PEAR?

]]> By: Mohammad http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3426 Mohammad Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:47:23 +0000 http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3426 Nice, I should try it. I used htmlsql [http://www.jonasjohn.de/lab/htmlsql.htm] and it was good; very fast and easy to learn and write code; LIKE sql "SELECT href FROM a WHERE $class='newsLinks' ". the only problem was that it could not parse the invalid html; for example (<a href="/home" rel="nofollow">) Nice, I should try it.
I used htmlsql [http://www.jonasjohn.de/lab/htmlsql.htm] and it was good; very fast and easy to learn and write code; LIKE sql “SELECT href FROM a WHERE $class=’newsLinks’ “.
the only problem was that it could not parse the invalid html; for example ()

]]> By: drew http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3418 drew Fri, 08 Aug 2008 06:20:18 +0000 http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3418 mmm, tasty. i've been looking for something like this. mmm, tasty. i’ve been looking for something like this.

]]> By: Akash Mehta http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3396 Akash Mehta Thu, 07 Aug 2008 06:39:39 +0000 http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3396 Thanks WC. @David: Just download the library .zip file, extract the files, locate the library .php file somewhere readable on your server and include it. Also check out the manual included in the download. @Matthew: Interesting point, and thanks for mentioning DOM Parser. As far as I can see, simplehtmldom is just a wrapper around the DOM APIs in PHP 5, but it's a very high level of abstraction and it does a lot in between (such as all these complex selectors). There are some regular expressions with considerable overhead, but it's still reasonably efficient. Thanks WC.

@David: Just download the library .zip file, extract the files, locate the library .php file somewhere readable on your server and include it. Also check out the manual included in the download.

@Matthew: Interesting point, and thanks for mentioning DOM Parser. As far as I can see, simplehtmldom is just a wrapper around the DOM APIs in PHP 5, but it’s a very high level of abstraction and it does a lot in between (such as all these complex selectors). There are some regular expressions with considerable overhead, but it’s still reasonably efficient.

]]> By: Mohsen http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3395 Mohsen Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:42:39 +0000 http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3395 Thanks! was looking for an HTML scrapper Thanks! was looking for an HTML scrapper

]]> By: Matthew Turland http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3394 Matthew Turland Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:07:29 +0000 http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3394 @WC Yes. While I like several things about jQuery, I have to say that the syntax offers somewhat of a sharp learning curve for those not already familiar with CSS selectors. I have my own library similar to the Simple HTML DOM Parser project that offers similar functionality programmatically through the API rather than having the overhead of an expression parser in PHP userland for the sake of extreme concision in API calls. You can find my library here: http://svn.assembla.com/svn/php_domquery/trunk. The vast majority of the code is covered by unit tests and all API methods are documented using phpDoc-style docblocks. @WC Yes.

While I like several things about jQuery, I have to say that the syntax offers somewhat of a sharp learning curve for those not already familiar with CSS selectors. I have my own library similar to the Simple HTML DOM Parser project that offers similar functionality programmatically through the API rather than having the overhead of an expression parser in PHP userland for the sake of extreme concision in API calls. You can find my library here: http://svn.assembla.com/svn/php_domquery/trunk. The vast majority of the code is covered by unit tests and all API methods are documented using phpDoc-style docblocks.

]]> By: WC http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3385 WC Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:03:30 +0000 http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3385 Neat library. BTW... foreach($html->find('a' as $element)) should be foreach($html->find('a') as $element) no? Neat library.

BTW…
foreach($html->find(’a’ as $element))
should be
foreach($html->find(’a') as $element)
no?

]]> By: David Mobley http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3384 David Mobley Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:00:45 +0000 http://www.developertutorials.com/blog/php/easy-screen-scraping-in-php-simple-html-dom-library-simplehtmldom-398/#comment-3384 How do set this up with a server running locally? I don't understand how to install the simplehtmldom library. How do set this up with a server running locally? I don’t understand how to install the simplehtmldom library.

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