Hey everyone,
I’m working on a project where I need to grab a bunch of PDF files from a website automatically. I’ve heard Puppeteer might be a good tool for this, but I’m not sure how to set it up.
The PDFs on the site follow a pattern like this:
What I’m trying to figure out is how to make Puppeteer loop through these files and download them. Is there a way to increment the number at the end of the filename and keep downloading until it can’t find any more?
Any tips or code snippets would be super helpful. Thanks in advance!
As someone who’s tackled similar projects, I can offer some insights on automating PDF downloads with Puppeteer. One approach that’s worked well for me is using page.setRequestInterception(true) to catch PDF requests. This lets you filter for PDFs based on content type and URL pattern.
For looping through files, I’ve found that a simple counter variable works great. You can increment it in each iteration and use it in your URL string. Just keep going until you hit a 404 or another error that indicates you’ve reached the end of the available files.
A word of caution from experience: make sure to implement proper error handling and respect the site’s rate limits. Adding a small delay between requests can help avoid overwhelming the server and potentially getting your IP blocked.
If you run into any specific issues during implementation, feel free to ask for more detailed guidance. Good luck with your project!
hey flyingstar, i’ve used puppeteer for similar stuff before. here’s a quick tip:
use page.setRequestInterception(true) to catch the PDF requests. then in the request handler, check if it’s a PDF and download it. you can use a counter to increment the filename.
hope this helps! let me know if u need more details
Absolutely, I can help you with that. I’ve done similar projects before using Puppeteer. Here’s a key tip: use page.setRequestInterception(true) to intercept PDF requests. In the request handler, check the content type and URL pattern to identify PDFs, then use response.buffer() to get the file content.
For looping, a simple counter variable works well. Increment it in each iteration and use it in your URL string. Keep going until you hit a 404 or another error.
Remember to implement error handling and respect the site’s rate limits. You might also want to add a delay between requests to avoid overwhelming the server.
Let me know if you need more specific guidance on implementation!