# Visual web scraping with Ruby

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/visual-web-scraping-with-ruby/58126>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [April 18, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/visual-web-scraping-with-ruby/58126 "2006-04-18T18:53:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![splattael](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@splattael](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/splattael)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/visual-web-scraping-with-ruby/58126/1 "2006-04-18T18:53:04Z")

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Hello all,

Does anybody have an idea about this stuff?

Wikipedia site:

> **[Data scraping](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_scraping)**
>
> Data scraping is a technique where a computer program extracts data from human-readable output coming from another program.
> Normally, data transfer between programs is accomplished using data structures suited for automated processing by computers, not people. Such interchange formats and protocols are typically rigidly structured, well-documented, easily parsed, and minimize ambiguity. Very often, these transmissions are not human-readable at all.
> Thus, the key element that distinguishes dat...

Look at the end:

“The Ruby On Rails platform makes it possible to perform web scraping  
visually. The built in AJAX engine can partially refresh portions of the  
web page independently. Built in drag and drop means fragments of the  
original page can be dropped on and incorporated into a new page.”

However there is no link to this ‘visual scraping tool’ - can someone  
point me to it?

Thx,  
Peter

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![splattael](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@splattael](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/splattael)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/visual-web-scraping-with-ruby/58126/2 "2006-04-18T19:11:39Z")

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Hi,

On 4/18/06, Peter S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> "The Ruby On Rails platform makes it possible to perform web scraping

> **[Talk:Data scraping](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Screen_scraping)**
>
> Pappa, I noticed that you wrote about some Perl modules. Are these modules for screen scraping. If so we could include the better ones in the article. JesseHogan 01:44, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)
> I dispute the notion that screen scraping is relegated to just reading HTML. I've done work on the BlackBerry (J2ME) that required screenscraping solutions... DoomBringer 02:21, 28 May 2005 (UTC)Reply\[reply\]
> As a layman, I'm still confused. Are there examples that could be linked? -- Nick Douglas 05:24, 18 Sept...

at bottom:  
“”“On 20:43, 21 January 2006, an anonymous user added a link to  
Box-A-Web[1]. No edit summary was given, but the contributor included  
the link description “Not an article on how to do it in Ruby, but  
rather a technology demonstrator for drag and drop web scraping using  
Ruby on Rails Framework”.”“”

[1] [http://www.boxaweb.com/](http://www.boxaweb.com/)