From: Wang Jian <jwang376@...>
Date: 2009-04-10T12:39:33+09:00
Subject: Re: Help connecting to a web page, doing a search and filtering out 	the returned data!

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Being no expert in crawling through ajax this is the best I know:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/17764/Crawling-AJAX-SShah



2009/4/10 Ruby Student <ruby.student@gmail.com>

> Hello team,
> I need recommendations on what to use to accomplish the following with a
> Ruby program.
> Today, I do the following by hand:
>
>
>   1. http://www.bmwusa.com/
>   2. Click bottom "Certified Pre_Owned" which takes me to:
>   http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/CPO/Default.aspx
>   3. Next I click "Model Search" taking me to:
>   http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/CPO/ModelSearch.aspx
>   4. I then select "Body Styles", "Series" and fill in some number, as
>   shown below:
>
> Price Limit    No Limit  $15,000-$25,000  $20,000-$30,000  $25,000-$35,000
> $30,000-$40,000  $35,000-$45,000  $40,000-$50,000  $45,000-$100,000
> $100,000+
> Transmission    Either  Automatic  Manual
> Zip Code
> Distance    No Limit  10 Miles  25 Miles  50 Miles  100 Miles  150 Miles
>  200
> Miles  500 Miles
>
> I then get back a list which looks like the following partial list below.
> Please notice that the search returned 350 vehicles. Sometime it can return
> double that amount.
> I am only interested in a model 328i or 335i 2007. I would like to purchase
> one of these vehicles, but I am watching for the "right" price. I just
> don'w
> want to be browsing everyday and filtering through the list by hand.
> Please also notice that I would like to enter the parameters listed above.
>
> Also, I could actually do a "global" search without entering any filtering
> data. In other words, I could click search without selecting body type or
> anything like that, but the returned data could be large. Then again a Ruby
> program would go though the returned data rather quickly. So I guess I can
> do it that way if the programming part is easier than entering parameters.
> I
> would like to learn both ways, though!
>
> For instance, I did it before writing this to test it and I got;
> 13508 vehicles found. To view details about a specific vehicle, click the
> model name.
>
> What tool should I use to accomplish this task?
>
> Thank you
>
>
>
>  Search Results
> 350 vehicles found. To view details about a specific vehicle, click the
> model name.
>  330Ci Convertible<
> http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/CPO/CPOModelDetail.aspx?VID=11532&searchtype=cpo&bodystyle=b_convertible&series=s_3&transmission=&pricelimit=4&searchzip=11201&distance=9999&page=1&sortby=DistCalc(40.6944,%2073.9902)&sortasc=True&pagerecs=4
> >
> 2006 Automatic 20,845 Titanium Silver Metallic $32,995.00 Hassel BMW
> Freeport, NY 20.95 Miles 330Ci
> Convertible<
> http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/CPO/CPOModelDetail.aspx?VID=10030&searchtype=cpo&bodystyle=b_convertible&series=s_3&transmission=&pricelimit=4&searchzip=11201&distance=9999&page=1&sortby=DistCalc(40.6944,%2073.9902)&sortasc=True&pagerecs=4
> >
> 2006 Automatic 26,208 Sparkling Graphite Metallic $32,995.00 Hassel BMW
> Freeport, NY 20.95 Miles 328i
> Convertible<
> http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/CPO/CPOModelDetail.aspx?VID=11135&searchtype=cpo&bodystyle=b_convertible&series=s_3&transmission=&pricelimit=4&searchzip=11201&distance=9999&page=1&sortby=DistCalc(40.6944,%2073.9902)&sortasc=True&pagerecs=4
> >
> 2007 Automatic 16,360 Monaco Blue Metallic $37,995.00 Hassel BMW
> Freeport, NY 20.95 Miles
>
> --
> Ruby Student
>

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