Selectors

Selector categories

Data extraction selectors

Navigation selectors

Record and interaction selectors

Common configuration

Selector ID - The field or navigation name used in the sitemap and output.
CSS selector - The expression used to match page elements.
Parent selectors - The selector contexts in which this selector runs.
Delay - Time allowed before selection or interaction where the page updates asynchronously.
Multiple - HTML, Link, Table, Element and Element Click selectors use a Multiple checkbox. When disabled, only the first match is processed. When enabled, all matching elements are processed.
Multiple type - Text, Image and Element Attribute selectors use a Multiple type dropdown instead of a Multiple checkbox. The dropdown controls whether only the first match is returned or multiple matches are returned, and how those values are arranged in the output.

Execution order

Selectors under the same parent execute from top to bottom in the order displayed in the selector tree. Place selectors that change the page state before selectors that depend on the result of that action.

For example, when an Element Click selector reveals a phone number, the click selector must be positioned above the Text selector that extracts the phone number. Otherwise, the Text selector executes before the value is visible.

This is different from the order of elements matched by a CSS selector. Selector rows determine execution order. Matching elements within an individual selector are processed in HTML document order.

Multiple selectors and record generation

Selectors with Multiple enabled can create multiple output records. Sibling selectors that return a single value are repeated across those records.

One Multiple selector with single-value siblings

If one sibling selector has Multiple enabled and matches several elements, it creates several records. A sibling selector configured to return one value is copied into each of those records.

category          Multiple: No
title             Multiple: Yes

If title matches six elements, six records are created and the single category value is repeated in each record.

Two or more Multiple selectors at the same level

Multiple sibling selectors are processed independently. Web Scraper does not pair their first matches, second matches and subsequent matches by position.

category          Multiple: No
title             Multiple: Yes
year              Multiple: Yes

In this structure, the records created by title are output separately from the records created by year. The single category value is repeated across both groups of records.

If several values belong to the same repeated item and must appear in the same record, create an Element selector for the repeated item, enable Multiple on that Element selector, and place the individual field selectors beneath it.

item              Multiple: Yes
├── title         First Record Only
└── year          First Record Only

This makes each repeated item element the record boundary, so its child fields are extracted from the same item context.

Selection tools

Use the point-and-click selection tool for initial selector generation. Use manual CSS selectors when the generated selector is unstable or incomplete.