Documentation

Table catalog: extract product rows (PHP)

Read a table-style catalog and produce familiar product fields. This example uses page element selectors rather than column numbers.

Choose PHP, paste the complete source from this article and set the run parameters below. The source for this collection is ScrapingCourse. This walkthrough applies to the specified demonstration page.

Example settings

{
  "path": "/table-parsing",
  "mode": "http",
  "expected": 15
}

path selects the page, mode selects an algorithm branch, and expected sets the control count for this example. It is not a plan limit. When the source dataset changes, check the expected count against it.

How the algorithm works

Open /table-parsing with the http mode. A normal request is sufficient to obtain the original markup.
Check the response and pass its HTML to the shared collector.
Select .product-item, li.product elements and read the name, price, link and image within each. The table presentation does not change how fields are located.
Convert the price text to a number with SDK text tools. Use the product link as its identifier, falling back to its name when the link is absent.
Check for a next-page link with the same HTTP algorithm. If none is present, finish reading.
Compare the unique row count with expected and return records containing name, price and image.

Products are processed by courseCollect($ctx, $html, $seen). Read the name first, skip empty names, and use the card link as the key, falling back to the name when necessary. seen prevents the same key being emitted twice. This matters when a later HTML read includes products already collected.

Details that matter

This example parses a particular HTML structure. For another catalog, map its fields to the collector selectors first; the visible column order is not used.

PHP details

PHP calls network and browser methods sequentially with ->. courseCollect receives $seen and returns its updated array, so assign each result back. Close the page in finally; $ctx->fail() stops the run with a readable message.

Expected output

The configured demonstration dataset expects 15 unique records. The final check compares the actual unique key count with expected.

Field	Contents
`name`	Product name with leading and trailing whitespace removed.
`price`	Price converted from text to a number.
`image`	Image URL read from the card src attribute.

Complete scenario source

The source is shared by this collection. This example runs its http branch using the parameters above. Copy the complete block into the PHP editor; no fixed sign-in credentials or service keys need to be added.

<?php

function run(\Sdk\Context $ctx): void
{
    $origin = 'https://www.scrapingcourse.com';
    $path = (string) $ctx->param('path', '/pagination');
    $mode = (string) $ctx->param('mode', 'http');
    $auto = $ctx->param('auto_captcha', true) !== false;
    $seen = [];
    if ($mode === 'http') {
        $url = $origin.$path;
        $visited = [];
        while ($url !== null && count($visited) < 50) {
            if (isset($visited[$url])) {
                $ctx->fail('Pagination returned an already processed page');
            }
            $visited[$url] = true;
            $response = $ctx->http()->withoutCache()->get($url, $auto);
            if (! $response->ok()) {
                $ctx->fail('The source could not be opened: '.$response->status);
            }
            $html = $response->body;
            $seen = courseCollect($ctx, $html, $seen);
            $next = $ctx->dom($html)->attr('a[rel="next"], a.next.page-numbers', 'href');
            $url = $next ? $ctx->url()->absolutize($url, $next) : null;
        }
        if ($url !== null) {
            $ctx->fail('The pagination safety limit was reached');
        }
    } else {
        $page = $ctx->browser()->open($origin.$path, ['*/ajax/products*'], [], $auto);
        try {
            if ($mode === 'login') {
                $dom = $ctx->dom($page->content());
                $hint = '';
                foreach ($dom->qa('p') as $p) {
                    if (str_contains($p->text(), 'Demo Credentials:')) {
                        $hint = $p->text();
                    }
                }
                preg_match('/Password:\s*([^\s|]+)/i', $hint, $password);
                preg_match('/Email:\s*([^\s|]+@[^\s|]+)/i', $hint, $emailMatch);
                $email = $emailMatch[1] ?? '';
                if ($email === '' || ! isset($password[1])) {
                    $ctx->fail('The page does not contain demo credentials');
                }
                $page->type('#email', $email)->type('#password', $password[1])->click('button[type="submit"]');
            }
            if ($mode === 'challenge') {
                $text = preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ', $ctx->dom($page->content())->text('body') ?? '');
                if (! preg_match('/You (?:successfully )?bypassed|successfully bypassed|Congratulations/i', $text)) {
                    $ctx->fail('The expected page content was not received');
                }
                $ctx->emit(['name' => $path, 'passed' => true], $path);
            } else {
                $page->waitFor('.product-name:not(:empty)', 15000);
                if ($mode === 'button') {
                    $complete = false;
                    for ($i = 0; $i < 30; $i++) {
                        $html = $page->content();
                        $before = $ctx->dom($html);
                        $seen = courseCollect($ctx, $html, $seen);
                        $button = $before->q('#load-more-btn');
                        if ($button === null || preg_match('/display:\s*none/', $button->attr('style') ?? '')) {
                            $complete = true;
                            break;
                        }
                        $offset = $button->attr('data-offset');
                        $count = count($before->qa('.product-item'));
                        $page->click('#load-more-btn');
                        $response = $page->waitForResponse('*offset='.$offset, 15000);
                        if ($response === null || ($response['status'] < 200 || $response['status'] >= 300) || $response['truncated'] || $response['error']) {
                            $ctx->fail('The next batch could not be loaded');
                        }
                        if (trim($response['body'] ?? '') === '') {
                            $complete = true;
                            break;
                        }
                        $page->waitFor('.product-item:nth-child('.($count + 1).')');
                    }
                    if (! $complete) {
                        $ctx->fail('The batch loading safety limit was reached');
                    }
                }
                if ($mode === 'scroll') {
                    $stable = 0;
                    $previous = 0;
                    for ($i = 0; $i < 40 && $stable < 3; $i++) {
                        $page->scroll(3, 400);
                        $html = $page->content();
                        $seen = courseCollect($ctx, $html, $seen);
                        $count = count($ctx->dom($html)->qa('.product-item'));
                        $stable = $count === $previous ? $stable + 1 : 0;
                        $previous = $count;
                    }
                    if ($stable < 3) {
                        $ctx->fail('The feed is still loading: increase the scroll limit');
                    }
                }
                $seen = courseCollect($ctx, $page->content(), $seen);
            }
        } finally {
            $page->close();
        }
    }
    $expected = (int) $ctx->param('expected', 1);
    if ($mode !== 'challenge' && count($seen) !== $expected) {
        $ctx->fail('Incomplete result: '.count($seen).' instead of '.$expected);
    }
}

function courseCollect(\Sdk\Context $ctx, string $html, array $seen): array
{
    $dom = $ctx->dom($html);
    foreach ($dom->qa('.product-item, li.product') as $card) {
        $name = trim($card->q('.product-name, .woocommerce-loop-product__title')?->text() ?? '');
        $key = $card->q('a')?->attr('href') ?? $name;
        if ($name === '' || isset($seen[$key])) {
            continue;
        }
        $seen[$key] = true;
        $ctx->emit(['name' => $name, 'price' => $ctx->text()->money($card->q('.product-price, .price')?->text() ?? ''),
            'image' => $card->q('img')?->attr('src') ?? ''], $key);
    }

    return $seen;
}