Mbielaszka
asked on
How can I pull data from a website into an excel file
I am trying to pull public data from a website into an excel file. The website is www.superpages.com - I want to gather all of my local business listings into an excel file so that i can create a directory on my own webpage. I would also like to know if what I am looking to do is legal. Im not trying to break any laws but I am pretty sure any info that I could, hypothetically get out of a regular phone book and manually eneter wouldnt be illegal to obtain otherwise....right?
I have tried using the web query function inn excel but it seems to only work if there is a table on the site I am pulling from.
p.s. i am not familiar with VB ( i heard it can be done using this program), is there another way?
I have tried using the web query function inn excel but it seems to only work if there is a table on the site I am pulling from.
p.s. i am not familiar with VB ( i heard it can be done using this program), is there another way?
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Oh one another note: I do see you mentioned that you tried a web query and had trouble if the website didnt have tables.
The above seemed to work for me on the site you noted if you only click the arrow when importing for the particular list area of the page and also then using the format as table option under the home ribbon tab & the remove duplicates option under the data tab ribbon in Excel 2007.
Also after you have formatted as a table, it will then allow you to filter out blank rows through the dropdown multiple selection option by unchecking (Blanks).
Again hope it helps ....
The above seemed to work for me on the site you noted if you only click the arrow when importing for the particular list area of the page and also then using the format as table option under the home ribbon tab & the remove duplicates option under the data tab ribbon in Excel 2007.
Also after you have formatted as a table, it will then allow you to filter out blank rows through the dropdown multiple selection option by unchecking (Blanks).
Again hope it helps ....
Mbielaszka,
>I'm not trying to break any laws but I am pretty sure any info that I could, hypothetically get out of a regular phone book and manually enter wouldnt be illegal to obtain otherwise....right?
WRONG - I am afraid you are so wrong. The contents of telephone books is Copyrighted material. You may not reproduce it in any form at all. Of course you can take a photocopy of a page(s) for your own use but you cannot re-publish that data anywhere - that is unless you want to be sued for copyright infringement. If you lose such a law suit you would have to pay damages, legal costs, claimed loss of revenue, forfeit your website and maybe even your computer, a fine and so on. If that's all pretty trivial to you, then go ahead.
However if you want to extract data for analysis then that is generally permitted. Some websites expect that - for example stock market data websites. However what you are proposing is not legal unless the laws in your country are very different to ours in the UK. However copyright laws have been standardised in most western countries so my guess is you are subject to the same copyright laws as us in the UK.
Patrick
>I'm not trying to break any laws but I am pretty sure any info that I could, hypothetically get out of a regular phone book and manually enter wouldnt be illegal to obtain otherwise....right?
WRONG - I am afraid you are so wrong. The contents of telephone books is Copyrighted material. You may not reproduce it in any form at all. Of course you can take a photocopy of a page(s) for your own use but you cannot re-publish that data anywhere - that is unless you want to be sued for copyright infringement. If you lose such a law suit you would have to pay damages, legal costs, claimed loss of revenue, forfeit your website and maybe even your computer, a fine and so on. If that's all pretty trivial to you, then go ahead.
However if you want to extract data for analysis then that is generally permitted. Some websites expect that - for example stock market data websites. However what you are proposing is not legal unless the laws in your country are very different to ours in the UK. However copyright laws have been standardised in most western countries so my guess is you are subject to the same copyright laws as us in the UK.
Patrick
ASKER
patrick Thank you for the legal advice but i posted my question mainly for technical advice. However how can public info be copyrighted? especially when i am not selling it? i have three phonebooks in my home all from different companies which business paid to be in - I wanted to know if it was illegal to gather data from someone elses website.
ASKER
thankyou very much! i was pulling my hair out over this I hope that the experts on this website such as yourself get compensation for your efforts! thanks again!
It is irrelevant whether it's in a phone book or on a website. Because it is publicly available does not give you the right to copy it. It is copyrighted material and that's all there is to it.
>I wanted to know if it was illegal to gather data from someone else's website.
The answer is yes, it is illegal - unless they specifically state that it can be copied and re-published.
>I wanted to know if it was illegal to gather data from someone else's website.
The answer is yes, it is illegal - unless they specifically state that it can be copied and re-published.
Then, there should be a tool called phpmyadmin installed on the server, or, if it isn't, you have the possibility to install it.
A short google search should direct you to a website where it is available for download. Or, your website hoster may install it for you.
In phpmyadmin, you have the possibility to EXPORT tables to excel, text, csv or database files. There are really many possibilities.
This is how I do for my own web sites.