Documentation

Antibot page: emit a verification result (Python)

Read and check the ScrapingCourse control page, then save a clear boolean result. The pattern can serve as a separate content-checking step.

Choose Python, paste the complete source from this article and set the run parameters below. The source for this collection is ScrapingCourse. This walkthrough applies to the specified demonstration page.

Example settings

{
  "path": "/antibot-challenge",
  "mode": "challenge",
  "expected": 1
}

path selects the page, mode selects an algorithm branch, and expected sets the control count for this example. It is not a plan limit. When the source dataset changes, check the expected count against it.

How the algorithm works

Set /antibot-challenge and the challenge mode. The shared source stays the same; the selected page parameters change.
Open the page with the browser SDK and the auto_captcha setting.
Read the body text and normalize whitespace so HTML line breaks do not affect the comparison.
Require the demonstration site control phrase. An HTTP status alone does not replace this content check.
On a match, emit one record: name contains the path, passed is true, and the path is also the record key.
Close the session in finally. This branch does not invoke the product collector or compare card counts.

Details that matter

A control condition should reflect the page being checked. This example expression matches ScrapingCourse content; it is not a universal indication of access to any website.

Python details

The Python SDK is sequential here: no async or await is needed. Method names use snake_case: without_cache, wait_for, wait_for_response. The nested collect uses a shared key set and returns the current HTML card count. finally calls page.close().

Expected output

This branch emits one record with name and passed. name is /antibot-challenge; passed is true only after matching the control text. The final seen count check is skipped for challenge mode.

Complete scenario source

The source is shared by this collection. This example runs its challenge branch using the parameters above. Copy the complete block into the Python editor; no fixed sign-in credentials or service keys need to be added.

import re


def run(ctx):
    origin = "https://www.scrapingcourse.com"
    path = str(ctx.param("path", "/pagination"))
    mode = str(ctx.param("mode", "http"))
    auto = ctx.param("auto_captcha", True) is not False
    seen = set()

    def collect(html):
        dom = ctx.dom(html)
        for card in dom.qa(".product-item, li.product"):
            title = card.q(".product-name, .woocommerce-loop-product__title")
            name = title.text().strip() if title else ""
            link = card.q("a")
            key = (link.attr("href") if link else "") or name
            if not name or key in seen:
                continue
            price = card.q(".product-price, .price")
            image = card.q("img")
            seen.add(key)
            ctx.emit({"name": name, "price": ctx.text().money(price.text() if price else ""),
                      "image": image.attr("src") if image else ""}, key)
        return len(dom.qa(".product-item, li.product"))

    if mode == "http":
        url = origin + path
        visited = set()
        while url and len(visited) < 50:
            if url in visited:
                raise ValueError("Pagination returned an already processed page")
            visited.add(url)
            response = ctx.http().without_cache().get(url, auto)
            if not response.ok():
                raise ValueError("The source could not be opened: " + str(response.status))
            html = response.body
            collect(html)
            next_url = ctx.dom(html).attr('a[rel="next"], a.next.page-numbers', "href")
            url = ctx.url().absolutize(url, next_url) if next_url else None
        if url:
            raise ValueError("The pagination safety limit was reached")
    else:
        page = ctx.browser().open(origin + path, ["*/ajax/products*"], {}, auto)
        try:
            if mode == "login":
                dom = ctx.dom(page.content())
                hint = next((p.text() for p in dom.qa("p") if "Demo Credentials:" in p.text()), "")
                password = re.search(r"Password:\s*([^\s|]+)", hint, re.I)
                email_match = re.search(r"Email:\s*([^\s|]+@[^\s|]+)", hint, re.I)
                email = email_match.group(1) if email_match else ""
                encoded = dom.attr("[data-cfemail]", "data-cfemail")
                if not email and encoded and len(encoded) > 2:
                    key = int(encoded[:2], 16)
                    email = "".join(chr(int(encoded[i:i + 2], 16) ^ key) for i in range(2, len(encoded), 2))
                if not email or not password:
                    raise ValueError("The page does not contain demo credentials")
                page.type("#email", email)
                page.type("#password", password.group(1))
                page.click('button[type="submit"]')
            if mode == "challenge":
                text = re.sub(r"\s+", " ", ctx.dom(page.content()).text("body") or "")
                if not re.search(r"You (?:successfully )?bypassed|successfully bypassed|Congratulations", text, re.I):
                    raise ValueError("The expected page content was not received")
                ctx.emit({"name": path, "passed": True}, path)
            else:
                page.wait_for(".product-name:not(:empty)", 15000)
                if mode == "button":
                    complete = False
                    for step in range(30):
                        html = page.content()
                        before = ctx.dom(html)
                        collect(html)
                        button = before.q("#load-more-btn")
                        if not button or re.search(r"display:\s*none", button.attr("style") or ""):
                            complete = True
                            break
                        offset = button.attr("data-offset")
                        count = len(before.qa(".product-item"))
                        page.click("#load-more-btn")
                        response = page.wait_for_response("*offset=" + offset, 15000)
                        if not response or not 200 <= response["status"] < 300 or response["truncated"] or response["error"]:
                            raise ValueError("The next batch could not be loaded")
                        if not (response.get("body") or "").strip():
                            complete = True
                            break
                        page.wait_for(".product-item:nth-child(" + str(count + 1) + ")")
                    if not complete:
                        raise ValueError("The batch loading safety limit was reached")
                if mode == "scroll":
                    stable, previous = 0, 0
                    for step in range(40):
                        page.scroll(3, 400)
                        count = collect(page.content())
                        stable = stable + 1 if count == previous else 0
                        previous = count
                        if stable >= 3:
                            break
                    if stable < 3:
                        raise ValueError("The feed is still loading: increase the scroll limit")
                collect(page.content())
        finally:
            page.close()
    expected = int(ctx.param("expected", 1))
    if mode != "challenge" and len(seen) != expected:
        raise ValueError("Incomplete result: " + str(len(seen)) + " instead of " + str(expected))