Why JS webpages are different for web scraping
We all scraped web pages.HTML content returned as response has our data and we scrape it to fetch certain results.
If a web page has JavaScript implementation, original data is obtained after rendering process. If we use a normal request package in that situation then the responses those are returned contain no data in them.
JavaScript is one of the three computer languages that all web programmers should learn. HTML is for defining the content of web pages and CSS is to specify the layout of web pages, while JavaScript is to program the behavior of web pages.
JavaScript (JS) is a dynamic computer programming language. It is most commonly used as part of web browsers, whose implementations allow client-side scripts to interact with the user, control the browser, communicate asynchronously, and alter the document content that is displayed. It is also being used in server-side programming, game development and the creation of desktop and mobile applications.
Web scraping tool to scrap JS pages
These days when you have to reach for Python, Ruby, or some other languages to accomplish your web page scraping needs, Octoparse is a good tool to scrape websites with JavaScript support.
When you approach a target page, you won’t necessarily be able to tell whether or not it is JS-scrape-proof locked. It might take you some time and a few unsuccessful trials, before you begin to suspect something is wrong; especially since there’s no essential output at scrape’s end.
Many web scraping tools can help you avoid writing crawlers to do the scraping. Octoparse would be a great assistant for you to scrape websites stuffed with JavaScript. Our scraper is capable of extracting data from 99% web pages, including Ajax and JavaScript, etc. It can also solve the Captcha problem. The free edition is totally free for all the users and update the free edition to the latest version for free.