Infinite-scrolling, also known as "endless scrolling," is often used by websites with JavaScript or AJAX to load additional content dynamically as users scroll down to the bottom of the webpage.
Usually, when you drag down the sidebar to the bottom directly, you can see the "loading" sign, and the new content will be added to the page very soon:
Like how you will manually scroll down the page, Octoparse does it the same way with the proper settings. All you need to do is to tell Octoparse which page to scroll, how many times to scroll, and the time interval between every two scrolls.
This tutorial will show you how to deal with the infinitive scroll in Octoparse.
To follow through, you may want to use the URL below:
Note: This tutorial is for scrolling the whole page. If you only need to scroll a designated area of the page, please check Scrolling within designated area of a web page.
1) Use the auto-detect algorithm to deal with it
Select Auto-detect web page data in the Tips panel.
Modify the scroll settings
Click Edit under Add a page scroll and set up the scroll mode, repeat times, and wait time. Then click Confirm to save the settings.
Tips: 1. Scroll to the bottom of the page: Octoparse would scroll down directly without stopping in the middle of the page. It would help if you considered using this option when the page only loads elements when you reach the bottom. 2. Scroll for one screen: Octoparse would scroll for one screen only each time. Consider using this option if the page loads content as you scroll down the page continuously. (Scroll for one screen can be used for all websites, while scrolling to the bottom of the page may fail to work for some specific websites.） 3. Enter a number for Repeats which is the number of times you'd like to repeat the scroll-down (i.e., the number of scrolls). You may want to scroll the target web page manually in advance to find out how many scrolls you'd need to load all the required information. 4. Select a proper wait time between each of the two scrolls. You may want to pick a longer wait time for pages that take longer to load. |
Create the workflow with the settings
You will get a workflow as shown in the picture below:
You can click Scroll Page to check or modify the settings of the scrolling
Note: Make sure to set up enough scroll-down times and proper intervals between each scroll.
Check if the Loop Item can locate all the elements correctly
You can go to the settings of the Loop Item to see if all the elements are located. Please ensure the Loop Mode is Variable List with the correct XPath.
2) Set up the infinitive scroll manually
There are two ways to set up an infinitive scroll action.
a. Add a scroll action for the existing steps
Take Go to Web Page as an example.
Click Go to Web Page
Tick Scroll down the page after it is loaded in the Options
Select to the bottom of the page
Appy
Alternatively, you can set up a scroll action for the Click Item step by following the instructions above
b. Set up a scroll action from scratch
Click on the "+" icon and select Loop
Click on the newly created Loop Item
Switch the Loop Mode to Scroll Page
Apply
Note: Check out more on Page scroll-down & Loop Item.