I wonder if I would be able to collect data from such page using Python

2013-08-21 Thread Comment Holder
Hi,
I am totally new to Python. I noticed that there are many videos showing how to 
collect data from Python, but I am not sure if I would be able to accomplish my 
goal using Python so I can start learning.

Here is the example of the target page:
http://and.medianewsonline.com/hello.html
In this example, there are 10 articles.

What I exactly need is to do the following:
1- Collect the article title, date, source, and contents.
2- I need to be able to export the final results to excel or a database client. 
That is, I need to have all of those specified in step 1 in one row, while each 
of them saved in separate column. For example:

Title1Date1   Source1   Contents1
Title2Date2   Source2   Contents2

I appreciate any advise regarding my case. 

Thanks & Regards//
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Re: I wonder if I would be able to collect data from such page using Python

2013-08-21 Thread Comment Holder
Many thanks Joel,

You are right to some extent. I come from Finance background, but I am very 
familiar with what could be referred to as non-native languages such as Matlab, 
VBA,.. actually, I have developed couple of complete programs.

I have asked this question, because I am a little worried about the structure 
of this particular page, as there are no specific defined classes. 

I know how powerful Python is, but I wonder if it could do the job with this 
particular page.

Again, many thanks Joel, I appreciate your guidance.
All Best//
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Re: I wonder if I would be able to collect data from such page using Python

2013-08-21 Thread Comment Holder
Dear Joel,

Many thanks for your help - I think I shall start with this way and see how it 
goes. My concerns were if the task can be accomplished with Python, and from 
your posts, I guess it can - so I shall give it a try :). 

Again, thanks a lot & all best//

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Re: I wonder if I would be able to collect data from such page using Python

2013-08-22 Thread Comment Holder
Dear Terry,

Many thanks for your comments. Actually I was, because the target-page doesn't 
have a neat structure. But, after all of your contributions, I think the task 
can be achieved very well with Python.

Thanks again & all best//
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Re: I wonder if I would be able to collect data from such page using Python

2013-08-22 Thread Comment Holder
Dear Piet,

Many thanks for your assistance. It is much appreciated. I have just installed 
Python 3.3.2 and BeautifulSoup 4.3.1. I tried running the code, but run into 
some syntax errors. 

>  I wonder how you would want that with multiparagraph contents.

I am looking to save all the paragraphs of an article in one field, so that, 
the afterwards-analysis becomes easier.

As I am new, I won't ask for assistance before I get some general idea about 
Python. I shall dedicate the weekend for this purpose, or at least Sunday. Once 
I am done, I will post my results back in here.

Thanks again & all best//
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