web crawling PHP
Hello,
I am supposed to construct a page that searches in specific websites to extract information, like those sites from where you can rent a car for example. There is a form in the site where the user selects some fields (for instance departure and drop-off date), then the data are submitted to the other page that searches 2-3 sites and finds which cars are available on those dates.
I wanted to ask if there are ready scripts to do that, if not, some hints on how to start.
I am familiar with PHP forms and data extraction from mysql databases, but when you extract data from other sites, I have no clue how I can begin and deal with it...
Greg K posted this at 18:27 — 3rd November 2006.
He has: 2,145 posts
Joined: Nov 2003
The first, and most important thing is, do you have the site's permission to mine their data (that is what I used to call it when I wrote programs for that). I don't do that anymore unless I have permission to use their data.
Contact them, ask permission, they may have a way for you to get the information easily.
-Greg
ktsirig posted this at 22:17 — 3rd November 2006.
They have: 53 posts
Joined: Oct 2005
Hi Greg, thanx for your time,
the companies I assume that will give the authorization to my boss, since they will have the cars for rent. My page is supposed only to have a form that the user will say "I want a car from Nov 24 to Nov 29" and, by clicking Submit, I must show him/her all available cars from the companies involved int those specific days.
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