Crawlbase

.NET library for scraping and crawling websites using the Crawlbase API.

Installation

See nuget package

Asynchronous Programming

Every method has a corresponding async version.

i.e.

Get has an async version GetAsync while,

Post has an async version named PostAsync,

and so on...

Crawling API Usage

Initialize the API with one of your account tokens, either normal or javascript token. Then make get or post requests accordingly.

You can get a token for free by creating a Crawlbase account and 1000 free testing requests. You can use them for tcp calls or javascript calls or both.

Crawlbase.API api = new Crawlbase.API("YOUR_TOKEN");

GET requests

Pass the url that you want to scrape plus any options from the ones available in the API documentation.

api.Get(url, options);

Example:

try {
  api.Get("https://www.facebook.com/britneyspears");
  Console.WriteLine(api.StatusCode);
  Console.WriteLine(api.OriginalStatus);
  Console.WriteLine(api.CrawlbaseStatus);
  Console.WriteLine(api.Body);
} catch(Exception ex) {
  Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
}

You can pass any options of what the Crawlbase API supports in exact dictionary params format.

Example:

api.Get("https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/5bx4bx/thanks_obama/", new Dictionary<string, object>() {
  {"user_agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; rv:20.0) Gecko/20121202 Firefox/30.0"},
  {"format", "json"},
});

Console.WriteLine(api.StatusCode);
Console.WriteLine(api.Body);

Optionally pass store parameter to true to store a copy of the API response in the Crawlbase Cloud Storage.

Example:

api.Get("https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/5bx4bx/thanks_obama/", new Dictionary<string, object>() {
  {"store", "true"},
});

Console.WriteLine(api.StorageURL);
Console.WriteLine(api.StorageRID);

POST requests

Pass the url that you want to scrape, the data that you want to send which can be either a json or a string, plus any options from the ones available in the API documentation.

api.Post(url, data, options);

Example:

api.Post("https://producthunt.com/search", new Dictionary<string, object>() {
  {"text", "example search"},
});
Console.WriteLine(api.StatusCode);
Console.WriteLine(api.Body);

You can send the data as application/json instead of x-www-form-urlencoded by setting options post_content_type as json.

api.Post("https://httpbin.org/post", new Dictionary<string, object>() {
  {"some_json", "with some value"},
}, new Dictionary<string, object>() {
  {"post_content_type", "json"},
});
Console.WriteLine(api.StatusCode);
Console.WriteLine(api.Body);

Javascript requests

If you need to scrape any website built with Javascript like React, Angular, Vue, etc. You just need to pass your javascript token and use the same calls. Note that only Get is available for javascript and not Post.

Crawlbase.API api = new Crawlbase.API("YOUR_JAVASCRIPT_TOKEN");

api.Get("https://www.nfl.com");
Console.WriteLine(api.StatusCode);
Console.WriteLine(api.Body);

Same way you can pass javascript additional options.

api.Get("https://www.freelancer.com", new Dictionary<string, object>() {
  {"page_wait", "5000"},
});
Console.WriteLine(api.StatusCode);

Original status

You can always get the original status and crawlbase status from the response. Read the Crawlbase documentation to learn more about those status.

api.Get("https://sfbay.craigslist.org/");
Console.WriteLine(api.OriginalStatus);
Console.WriteLine(api.CrawlbaseStatus);

Scraper API usage

Initialize the Scraper API using your normal token and call the Get method.

Crawlbase.ScraperAPI scraper_api = new Crawlbase.ScraperAPI("YOUR_TOKEN");

Pass the url that you want to scrape plus any options from the ones available in the Scraper API documentation.

scraper_api.Get(url, options);

Example:

try {
  scraper_api.Get("https://www.amazon.com/Halo-SleepSack-Swaddle-Triangle-Neutral/dp/B01LAG1TOS");
  Console.WriteLine(scraper_api.StatusCode);
  Console.WriteLine(scraper_api.Body);
} catch(Exception ex) {
  Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
}

Leads API usage

Initialize with your Leads API token and call the Get method.

Crawlbase.LeadsAPI leads_api = new Crawlbase.LeadsAPI("YOUR_TOKEN");

try {
  leads_api.Get("stripe.com");
  Console.WriteLine(leads_api.StatusCode);
  Console.WriteLine(leads_api.Body);
  Console.WriteLine(leads_api.Success);
  Console.WriteLine(leads_api.RemainingRequests);

  foreach (var lead in leads_api.Leads)
  {
    Console.WriteLine(lead.Email);

    foreach (var source in lead.Sources)
    {
      Console.WriteLine(source);
    }
  }
} catch(Exception ex) {
  Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
}

If you have questions or need help using the library, please open an issue or contact us.

Screenshots API usage

Initialize with your Screenshots API token and call the Get method.

Crawlbase.ScreenshotsAPI screenshots_api = new Crawlbase.ScreenshotsAPI("YOUR_TOKEN");

try {
  screenshots_api.Get("https://www.apple.com");
  Console.WriteLine(screenshots_api.StatusCode);
  Console.WriteLine(screenshots_api.ScreenshotPath);
} catch(Exception ex) {
  Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
}

or specifying a file path

Crawlbase.ScreenshotsAPI screenshots_api = new Crawlbase.ScreenshotsAPI("YOUR_TOKEN");

try {
  screenshots_api.Get("https://www.apple.com", new Dictionary<string, object>() {
    {"save_to_path", @"C:\Users\Default\Documents\apple.jpg"},
  });
  Console.WriteLine(screenshots_api.StatusCode);
  Console.WriteLine(screenshots_api.ScreenshotPath);
} catch(Exception ex) {
  Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
}

Note that screenshots_api.Get(url, options) method accepts an options

Also note that screenshots_api.Body is a Base64 string representation of the binary image file. If you want to convert the body to bytes then you have to do the following:

byte[] bytes = Convert.FromBase64String(screenshots_api.Body);

Storage API usage

Initialize the Storage API using your private token.

Crawlbase.StorageAPI storage_api = new Crawlbase.StorageAPI("YOUR_TOKEN");

Pass the url that you want to get from Crawlbase Storage.

try {
  var response = storage_api.GetByUrl("https://www.apple.com");
  Console.WriteLine(storage_api.StatusCode);
  Console.WriteLine(storage_api.Body);
  Console.WriteLine(response.OriginalStatus);
  Console.WriteLine(response.CrawlbaseStatus);
  Console.WriteLine(response.URL);
  Console.WriteLine(response.RID);
  Console.WriteLine(response.StoredAt);
} catch(Exception ex) {
  Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
}

or you can use the RID

try {
  var response = storage_api.GetByRID(RID);
  Console.WriteLine(storage_api.StatusCode);
  Console.WriteLine(storage_api.Body);
  Console.WriteLine(response.OriginalStatus);
  Console.WriteLine(response.CrawlbaseStatus);
  Console.WriteLine(response.URL);
  Console.WriteLine(response.RID);
  Console.WriteLine(response.StoredAt);
} catch(Exception ex) {
  Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
}

Delete request

To delete a storage item from your storage area, use the correct RID

try {
  bool success = storage_api.Delete(RID);
  Console.WriteLine(success);
} catch(Exception ex) {
  Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
}

Bulk request

To do a bulk request with a list of RIDs, please send the list of rids as an array

try {
  var list = new List<string>();
  list.Add(RID1);
  list.Add(RID2);
  list.Add(RIDn);
  var responses = storage_api.Bulk(list);
  Console.WriteLine(storage_api.StatusCode);
  foreach (var response in responses)
  {
    Console.WriteLine(response.OriginalStatus);
    Console.WriteLine(response.CrawlbaseStatus);
    Console.WriteLine(response.URL);
    Console.WriteLine(response.RID);
    Console.WriteLine(response.StoredAt);
    Console.WriteLine(response.Body);
  }
} catch(Exception ex) {
  Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
}

RIDs request

To request a bulk list of RIDs from your storage area

try {
  var rids = storage_api.RIDs();
  foreach (var rid in rids)
  {
    Console.WriteLine(rid);
  }
} catch(Exception ex) {
  Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
}

You can also specify a limit as a parameter

var rids = storage_api.RIDs(100);

Total Count

To get the total number of documents in your storage area

try {
  var totalCount = storage_api.TotalCount();
  Console.WriteLine(totalCount);
} catch(Exception ex) {
  Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
}

If you have questions or need help using the library, please open an issue or contact us.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/crawlbase-source/crawlbase-net. This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the Contributor Covenant code of conduct.

License

The library is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.

Code of Conduct

Everyone interacting in the Crawlbase project’s codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms and mailing lists is expected to follow the code of conduct.

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Copyright 2024 Crawlbase