Selenium Crawler: Automated Browser Capture

Putting a cloak on Selenium.

Engaged in data collection know that the use of Selenium automated browser is like driving a tank on the street - the movement of large and easy to be watched. At this time, the proxy IP is the best camouflage props, especially like ipipgo this professional service, you can make your crawler into a "thousand faces", every time you visit a different identity.

Why do you have to use a proxy IP?

For example, if you continuously use your own network to access a certain website, it's like trying to eat 20 times in a row in a supermarket without buying, the security guards will surely come to kick people out. ipipgo's proxy IP pool is equivalent to preparing numerous trying to eat for you, every time you change a vest to try to eat, the shopkeeper simply do not recognize it.

Three major scenarios for must-use agents:

• When more than 100 pages of data need to be collected continuously
• Target sites have strict access frequency limits
• To capture geographic content (e.g., prices in different cities)

Hands-on configuration of agents

With Python + Selenium to engage in proxy settings is actually very simple, the key is to choose the right type of proxy. Here we recommend using ipipgo's exclusive proxy, the stability of no doubt, than those free proxy 100 times more reliable.

from selenium import webdriver

proxy = "123.123.123.123:8888" proxy address provided by ipipgo
chrome_options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
chrome_options.add_argument(f'--proxy-server=http://{proxy}')

driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=chrome_options)
driver.get("http://目标网站.com")

Dynamic IP switching

If you want long-term stable collection, you must learn to dynamically change the IP. ipipgo's API interface can directly access the latest proxy, here to teach you a trick: randomly change the IP every time you visit a new page, just like guerrilla warfare.

import requests
from selenium import webdriver

def get_ipipgo_proxy():
     Call ipipgo's API to get the latest proxy.
    api_url = "https://api.ipipgo.com/random"
    resp = requests.get(api_url)
    return resp.text

 Update the proxy before each visit
for page in range(1, 101): new_proxy = get_ipgo_proxy()
    new_proxy = get_ipipgo_proxy()
    chrome_options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    chrome_options.add_argument(f'--proxy-server=http://{new_proxy}')
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=chrome_options)
    driver.get(f "http://目标网站.com/page/{page}")
     Data collection operation...
    driver.quit()

Guide to avoiding the pit

Three common mistakes newbies make:

Frequently Asked Questions QA

Q: What should I do if the proxy suddenly fails?
A: It is recommended to use ipipgo's smart switching package, which will automatically switch to a new one when it encounters invalid IPs, and save your mind than dealing with it on your own.

Q: How do I test if the proxy is valid?
A: Start by testing with a small batch, like this:

driver.get("http://httpbin.org/ip")
print(driver.page_source) to see if the returned IP is correct.

Q: What should I do if I need to collect foreign websites?
A: ipipgo has global nodes to choose from, remember to choose the corresponding regional agent on the line, but do not use it to do illegal things!

Final Recommendations

Instead of bothering with free proxies, why not use ipipgo's professional service? Their residential proxies are especially suitable for scenarios that require high anonymity, and new users have trial credits, so doesn't it smell good to whore around before deciding? Remember, a stable proxy IP is the lifeblood of automated acquisition, don't save your budget on this one.