Scraper
Scraper unable to tackle database with complex structure
Problems with iFrame, pagination and detail pages foil browser extension.
Scraper required a lot of hand-holding to capture even a single page of data from this directory of physicians in British Columbia. But even with manual help, its navigation limitations make it a bad choice for the task.
Scraper isn't designed to automatically enter the search terms required by this database, so manual entry is required. Since these search results are displayed in an iFrame, the extension threw an error and was unable to capture the information.
After navigating past the iFrame, however, the tool did quickly highlight, scrape and export the resulting data into a table and Google Document. But it's not able to dig down into the detail pages or navigate through multiple pages of results.
Journalists seeking a tool that can dig into a large database like this will be better served by using other tools.
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