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Question About Craigslist Renewal Bot


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Hello everyone!

 

So... I'm trying to create a bot to renew a group of ads for me on Craigslist.  The goal is to create 50-100 ads and then be able to renew them after a couple days with the bot.

 

Running into an issue with clicking the renewal button that I can't seem to figure out.  Granted, I'm still sorta new at this so that might have something to do with it. 

 

It looks like after logging into a page CL gives you the option to select either delete, edit, or renew.  I'm trying to use the CLICK command but each one of those links returns the following code:

 

<input type="submit" name="go" value="repost" class="managebtn">

 

The only difference is the OFFSET which varies for each link.  

 

So I'm guessing that I'm either using the wrong command to accomplish this task or I need to figure out a way to keep adjusting the OFFSET so that it selects the Renew link all the way down the page.  In that case is there a way to set the OFFSET to perform in such a way?

 

 

At this point I'm banging my head against the desk because Craigslist has to be about the simplest site to make work with a bot and I'm totally stuck right now...

 

If anyone can shed some light I'd really appreciate it. 

 

Thank you,

Chris 

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First of all I highly doubt CL is the easiest site to bot because of all the troubles they have had with botting over the years. So don't beat yourself up about that.

 

Anyways, its kind of hard to say without seeing the code but if you use the click command and select the button you want, Ubot will automatically add in an element offset function if its needed.

 

If that changes you may need to try and target in a different way.

 

What you can do is click the blue gear icon to go into the advanced element editor. Then you can you choose attributes which that button has, each attribute you choose may narrow down the number of results. You can use the plus button on the right to add another attribute.

 

Doing this may allow you to choose 2-3 attributes that button has and it may narrow the results down to hopefully one and if not then maybe a few where you can always use an offset and its more reliable.

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Thanks Insomnia - 

 

I'm finally getting some free time today to get back to it and see what I can put together.  On the bright side, since initially posting, Craigslist changed the formatting of their page again so at least I didn't get a chance to spend all week working on this even more prior to the change. 

 

Thanks for your suggestion about narrowing it down to 2-3 attributes.  I'll give that a shot and see what happens.

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First of all I highly doubt CL is the easiest site to bot because of all the troubles they have had with botting over the years. So don't beat yourself up about that.

 

Anyways, its kind of hard to say without seeing the code but if you use the click command and select the button you want, Ubot will automatically add in an element offset function if its needed.

 

If that changes you may need to try and target in a different way.

 

What you can do is click the blue gear icon to go into the advanced element editor. Then you can you choose attributes which that button has, each attribute you choose may narrow down the number of results. You can use the plus button on the right to add another attribute.

 

Doing this may allow you to choose 2-3 attributes that button has and it may narrow the results down to hopefully one and if not then maybe a few where you can always use an offset and its more reliable.

 

So I've got a quick question for you since you worlds more about Ubot that I do.  I keep trying different angles with the code below to try and get it to work but to no avail.  So I'm just wondering if what I'm trying to do is even possible with Ubot?  Just to avoid endless hours of running in circles. 

 

Below is the code for a single Craigslist ad, but they are all the same with the exception of the post ID number and the crypt value.  So what I'm trying to do is get Ubot to click the forth (renew) form action.  

 

It works with using the click command using an offset, but if one ad is off it'll throw the whole page off, so that's not an ideal solution.  Trying to narrow it down based on the idea you posted in your previous post.

 

Again, not trying to be lazy and look for the answer, just wondering if it's possible...  Thank you!

 

Here is the HTML code:

 

<tr class="posting-row even ui-widget-content" role="row">

 
             <td class="status active">
               <small class="gc" style="background:">
Active               </small>
             </td>
 
             <td class="buttons active">
               <div class="regular">
                <form action="https://post.craigslist.org/manage/6369856848"method="GET" class="manage display">
                  <input type="hidden" name="action" value="display">
                  <input type="submit" name="go" value="display" class="managebtn">
                </form>
 
                                  <form action="https://post.craigslist.org/manage/6369854432"method="POST" class="manage ">
                                      <input type="hidden" name="action" value="delete">
                                          <input type="hidden" name="crypt" value="U2FsdGVkX18xNjAzNDE2MFMROEwzL95CcCwVr3vpzuSPmMZbF1xuPw">
                                      <input type="submit" name="go" value="delete" class="managebtn">
                                  </form>
                                  <form action="https://post.craigslist.org/manage/6369855812"method="POST" class="manage ">
                                      <input type="hidden" name="action" value="edit">
                                          <input type="hidden" name="crypt" value="U2FsdGVkX18xNjAzNDE2MJ4HiO95xVHfCzdBdCgwUc1V4J93Szs7Yg">
                                      <input type="submit" name="go" value="edit" class="managebtn">
                                  </form>
                                  <form action="https://post.craigslist.org/manage/6369855854"method="POST" class="manage ">
                                      <input type="hidden" name="action" value="renew">
                                          <input type="hidden" name="crypt" value="U2FsdGVkX18xNjAzNDE2MJJQ3AdTO17QwALX_wtz6DKAj0x1LiNSIw">
                                      <input type="submit" name="go" value="renew" class="managebtn">
                                  </form>
               </div>
             </td>
Edited by echo
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  • 2 weeks later...

First of all I highly doubt CL is the easiest site to bot because of all the troubles they have had with botting over the years. So don't beat yourself up about that.

 

Anyways, its kind of hard to say without seeing the code but if you use the click command and select the button you want, Ubot will automatically add in an element offset function if its needed.

 

If that changes you may need to try and target in a different way.

 

What you can do is click the blue gear icon to go into the advanced element editor. Then you can you choose attributes which that button has, each attribute you choose may narrow down the number of results. You can use the plus button on the right to add another attribute.

 

Doing this may allow you to choose 2-3 attributes that button has and it may narrow the results down to hopefully one and if not then maybe a few where you can always use an offset and its more reliable.

 

Hi @helloinsomnia,

 

Just wanted to see if you had a chance to look at the code I posted and possibly offer any pointers or let me know if it's even possible to do what I'm looking to do.

 

Thank you!

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