I am in search of a headless browser that is user-friendly, especially since I’m quite new to both Python and programming in general. My goal is to access a webpage, log into a form that depends on Javascript, and subsequently scrape the webpage for specific information. This involves checking boxes and downloading files, all of which require Javascript functionality.
I believe a headless browser may suit my needs. It should be executable from Python and ideally manageable with py2exe for distribution to other users.
I’ve heard Windmill could potentially fit my requirements, but I remain uncertain.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Hey DancingButterfly,
You might want to check out Playwright for Python. It's a solid choice for headless browsing with full JavaScript support and can automate actions like logging in, checking boxes, and downloading files. It's also quite user-friendly for beginners.
pip install playwright
To initiate Playwright, use this minimal setup:
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
with sync_playwright() as p:
browser = p.webkit.launch(headless=True)
page = browser.new_page()
page.goto(‘https://example.com’)
# your automation code here
browser.close()
It's compatible with py2exe for distributing. Hope this helps!
Hello DancingButterfly,
If you're looking for a headless browser that's easy to use for both accessing and interacting with JavaScript-dependent web pages via Python, Puppeteer is another great option. Originally developed for Node.js, it now has a Python wrapper called pyppeteer, which offers similar capabilities.
pip install pyppeteer
Here's a quick example to get you started:
import asyncio
from pyppeteer import launch
async def main():
browser = await launch(headless=True)
page = await browser.newPage()
await page.goto(‘https://example.com’)
# Fill form or interact with elements here
await page.click(‘#checkbox_id’)
# Add your scraping code here
await browser.close()
asyncio.get_event_loop().run_until_complete(main())
While pyppeteer isn't natively set up for py2exe, you can manage packaging by including the necessary dependencies manually. Puppeteer offers excellent support for JavaScript interactions, which is a big plus for your requirements.
I hope this provides a useful, efficient alternative!