Welcome to the Student Housing Crawler, a project designed to make the process of finding a suitable student housing easier and hassle-free! No more constantly refreshing housing websites or missing out on great opportunities. This crawler will keep an eye on housing websites for you and send you notifications when new listings become available.
Imagine this: it's November 2023 and your student house has become overrun with mice. Every time you enter the kitchen, you're greeted by these unwelcome guests nibbling at your food or running around. It's a nightmare! You and your roommate, Hanna, have tried various methods to get rid of them, but nothing seems to work. Hanna, being a city-born girl, has reached her breaking point. She can't stand living with these furry intruders anymore and has decided to move out.
However, finding a suitable student house is no easy task. Some say it's even harder than finding a job! Hanna has been tirelessly searching for available houses, clicking on agency websites as soon as new listings are released. But despite her best efforts, she hasn't had any luck so far. Frustrated and exhausted, she spends hours in front of her computer screen every day, wasting precious time.
This is where the Student Housing Crawler comes to the rescue! Rather than relying solely on Hanna's vigilance, you've decided to write a crawler that will automate the house hunting process for her. With this free and personalized solution, Hanna will receive real-time notifications whenever a new listing matching her criteria is posted. No more constant website refreshing or missed opportunities!
- Automatic Web Scraping: The crawler will periodically visit housing websites, powered by Selenium, to search for new listings, ensuring Hanna is always up to date.
- Smart Comparison: The crawler will compare the newly found listings with the previous ones, ensuring only new or updated listings trigger notifications.
- Instant Notifications: Once a new listing is identified, the crawler will send a message to Hanna with all the relevant details, saving her time and effort.
- Easy Configuration: The crawler can be easily configured to match Hanna's preferences, including location, price range, and other specific criteria.
To set up the Student Housing Crawler, follow these steps:
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Development Environment: Install Python and the necessary libraries like Selenium and BeautifulSoup. These libraries will assist in web browsing automation and data extraction.
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Design the Crawler: Use Selenium to navigate housing websites and extract relevant information, such as housing titles, locations, and details. Implement logic to compare new data with previous listings.
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Notification System: Choose a notification method, such as email or Twilio, to send alerts. Implement the code to send notifications when new listings are found.
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Scheduling: Use a scheduler library like schedule to run the crawler at regular intervals. Configure it to trigger the crawler script every hour, ensuring Hanna doesn't miss any updates.
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Testing and Deployment: Test the crawler locally to validate its functionality. Once satisfied, deploy the crawler using a platform like Heroku, ensuring it runs continuously and sends notifications reliably.
Remember to be respectful of the terms of service and privacy policies of the housing websites you crawl. Some websites may have specific guidelines or restrictions on web scraping activities.
The Student Housing Crawler is open-source software released under the MIT license. You are free to use, modify, and distribute the code according to the terms of this license.
Happy house hunting, and may Hanna find her perfect mouse-free student house soon! 🐭🚫🏠