Core and Advanced plans are no longer available for purchase. Please consider migrating to the all-in-one Web Scraper API; check out the guide here. Actions
click
| Name | Arguments | Description |
|---|
click | Selectors: type:“xpath”/“css”/“text” value: string | Performs a click action on a specified element and waits a set count of seconds. |
{
"target": "universal",
"url": "https://www.yahoo.com/",
"browser_actions": [
{
"type": "click",
"selector": {
"type": "xpath",
"value": "//button"
}
}
]
}
| Name | Arguments | Description |
|---|
input | Selectors: *type: “xpath”/“css”/“text” *value: string value: string | Inserts text into a specified input element on the page. |
{
"target": "universal",
"url": "https://www.yahoo.com/",
"browser_actions": [
{
"type": "input",
"selector": {
"type": "xpath",
"value": "//input"
},
"value": "Hello world"
}
]
}
| Name | Arguments | Description |
|---|
scroll | x: integer y: integer | Scrolls the content of a page a a specified number of pixels. |
{
"target": "universal",
"url": "https://www.yahoo.com/",
"browser_actions": [
{
"type": "scroll",
"x": "0",
"y": "300"
}
]
}
| Name | Arguments | Description |
|---|
scroll_to_bottom | timeout_s: integer | Scrolls down the page for a set amount of seconds. |
{
"target": "universal",
"url": "https://www.yahoo.com/",
"browser_actions": [
{
"type": "scroll_to_bottom",
"timeout_s": 5
}
]
}
wait
| Name | Arguments | Description |
|---|
wait | wait_time_s: integer | Pauses for a specified number of seconds. |
{
"target": "universal",
"url": "https://www.yahoo.com/",
"browser_actions": [
{
"type": "wait",
"wait_time_s": 5
}
]
}
wait_for_element
| Name | Arguments | Description |
|---|
wait_for_element | Selectors: *type: “xpath”/“css”/“text” *value: string timeout_s: integer | Waits for a specified duration for element to load. |
{
"target": "universal",
"url": "https://www.yahoo.com/",
"browser_actions": [
{
"type": "wait_for_element",
"selector": {
"type": "css",
"value": ".submit-button"
},
"timeout_s": 5
}
]
}
fetch_resource
fetch_resource cannot be combined with any other instructions and should be used with separate requests.
| Name | Arguments | Description |
|---|
fetch_resource | filter: regex on_error:“error”/“skip” | Retrieves the first Fetch or XHR resource that matches the specified pattern |
{
"target": "universal",
"url": "https://www.yahoo.com/",
"browser_actions": [
{
"type": "fetch_resource",
"filter": "https://api.example.com/products/*",
"on_error": "error"
}
]
}
General Arguments
Arguments available for all actions above
type
| Name | Description |
|---|
type | Type of browser action used |
timeout_s
| Name | Description |
|---|
timeout_s | How much time in seconds to wait at max until the execution of the action is terminated. |
wait_time_s
| Name | Description |
|---|
wait_time_s | How much time in seconds to use explicitly to execute the action. |
on_error
| Name | Description |
|---|
on_error | Indicates what to do with actions in case they fail: “error”: Stops the execution of browser actions. “skip”: Continues with the next action. |
Fetching a Network Request
If a website populates content by fetching a JSON object, you can scrape just the network request and thus avoid having to deal with HTML altogether. To do this, you can use the fetch_resource browser action, as shown below.
fetch_resource cannot be combined with any other instructions and can only be used with separate requests.
exp.json file being loaded:
If you wish to scrape just the contents of this request, you can use the fetch_resource browser action. Note that filter is a regular expression that matches the filename:
{
"target": "universal",
"url": "https://www.yahoo.com/",
"browser_actions": [
{
"type": "fetch_resource",
"filter": "/ybar/exp"
}
]
}
{
"results": [
{
"content": "{\n \"expCount\":5,\n \"selection\":\"individual\",\n ... }",
"status_code": 200,
"url": "https://example.com/api/product/1",
"task_id": "7131940420107377665",
"created_at": "2023-11-19 09:46:41",
"updated_at": "2023-11-19 09:47:08"
}
]
}
Support
Need help or just want to say hello? Our support is available 24/7.
You can also reach us anytime via email at support@decodo.com. Feedback
Can’t find what you’re looking for? Request an article!
Have feedback? Share your thoughts on how we can improve.
