3.1: Using ASP

Create the Script

The ASP script we'll be using will invoke our scraping session remotely, passing in a value for the TEXT_TO_SUBMIT session variable. Create a new ASP script on your computer, and paste the following code into it:

<%
' Create a RemoteScrapingSession object.
Set objRemoteSession = Server.CreateObject("Screenscraper.RemoteScrapingSession")

' Generate a new "Hello World" scraping session.
Call objRemoteSession.Initialize("Hello World")

' Put the text to be submitted in the form into a session variable so we can reference it later.
Call objRemoteSession.SetVariable( "TEXT_TO_SUBMIT", "Hi everybody!" )

' Check for errors.
If objRemoteSession.isError Then
Response.Write( "Error: " & objRemoteSession.GetErrorMessage )
Else
' Tell the scraping session to scrape.
Call objRemoteSession.Scrape

' Write out the text that was scraped:
Response.Write( "Scraped text: " + objRemoteSession.GetVariable("FORM_SUBMITTED_TEXT") )
End If

' Disconnect from the server.
Call objRemoteSession.Disconnect
%>

Script Description

After creating our RemoteScrapingSession object we make a separate call to initialize it. This is required for ASP. Also, you'll notice that before calling the Scrape method we check for any errors that may have occurred up to this point.

If for some reason your ASP script can't connect to the server you'd want to know before you tried to tell it to scrape.

Finally, the script explicitly disconnects from the server so that it knows we're done.

Running the Script

OK, we're ready to give our script a try. Make sure that screen-scraper running in server mode. If you've succeeded in starting up the server go ahead and load your ASP script in a browser. After a short pause you should see Scraped text: Hi everybody! output to your browser.

If there was an error then a message indicating the problem that occurred will be displayed.