|
Data Ferret 4.06 - User Guide and FAQ
Screenshots - More Details
Web Site Scripts
Data Ferret is driven by Web Site Scripts. When Data Ferret was first written, some websites were 'hard coded' into the program. That is to say that the definition of how the website is structured was integrated into the program itself. However as the program evolved, it quickly became apparent that this was a problem for a number of reasons:-
- Every new website that was requested had to be hand coded into the program.
- New releases of the program were needed every time a new web site became available.
- The size of the program was becoming larger and larger as more web site definitions were included into the code.
- When websites changed their formats, we had to send out a new version of the program.
- Most customers only ever use one website in their own country and having all the others included became unnecessary.
So the actual websites are separated from the program and therefore the publisher set about writing Ferret Script which is our own language that we use to interpret a web site's format. Using this approach has the following advantages:
- Customers only purchased the web site scripts that they needed. If they wanted more, then those could be simply bolted in within the program.
- Any new website scripts that are added can be downloaded and included into Data Ferret without having to download new versions of the program.
- The publisher can concentrate on new features to Data Ferret rather than hard coding new scripts into the program.
- If a website format changes we can simply change the script on our server, Data Ferret will automatically recognise that the script has been changed and will apply those changes to the script on your machine. This is done in the background, so that you don't even realise that the web site format has changed.
Frequently Asked Questions - Data Ferret
- What is Data Ferret?
Data Ferret is a Windows application which is designed to extract structured names and addresses from on line HTML files (web pages). It aims to be as automatic as possible, whilst at the same time, offering a huge amount of flexibility.
Screenshots - More Details
|
