If you ever tried to integrate an HTML-based data source into your business report or somehow use it in a processed form, you must know the tedium of the cut-and-paste exercise. The job of integration of unstructured HTML data into a structured format is a trivial everyday job that we do in the line of work. It may be an update for market quotes or a probe into competitor's prices. You may have distributed web applications that need integrating for data aggregation purposes. Anyway, until now we had to do such things manually. There were a number of web data retrieval solutions, but none of them offered a user-friendly interface. At some point or another you had to put in a script patch into you template, which denied access to the web scraping for users, unversed in programming.

WebSundew is the solution that allows you to handle web content without using scripts. It was developed for those who wish to use scripts' functionality for web data extraction and not bother for code writing. By just following the program's wizard, the user can build a template for web scraping. Websundew will guide you through the template creation without a single string of code. It provides you with capabilities to extract unstructured HTML data from any web source and save it to a CSV, XML or spreadsheet format. Now, instead of frustrating browsing for updates when the time is pressing, you can open the Websundew window, click for data extraction and reap the fruit of modern cutting edge technologies. With the same ease that you share data between your MS Office applets, you can retrieve the most recent market figures or integrate existing web-enabled applications. The retrieved data will be available for processing and analysis in your customary format.

From Template to Extraction Step by Step

The extraction creation goes in about five steps:

• First, Websundew records your web navigation sequence that leads to the input data. While you are surfing through web pages to access the data, the program is recording a macro of your navigation.
• Having done with it, select the root element of the first page that returns desired information. Inside the root element define the nodes required and not required for extraction.
• Then, choose output file dimensions. Choose one of a number of suggested patterns and see the returned fields. Websundew shows you the page's current figures in the chosen data format. You can save selected nodes and data format as a pattern and use it for the following page, if its structure is the same.
• Choose the elements that link your current page to the next page to be extracted and apply the saved pattern for extraction. Here, you can adapt the pattern for the new page by leaving out some fields.
• Finally, configure the data output format and run the extraction.

Benefits of Data Aggregation and Market Intelligence

As can be seen from above, the steps of template creation are about the same as the steps of any data import. All you have to do is link the source and the recipient and define formats. The program transforms manipulations in GUI into a script and runs it at the user's request, thus providing updates of market figures and aggregated data in the customary format. It allows integrating current figures into your calculations and instantaneously provides you with the ground for an informed decision or response. Graphic interface relieves you of needless complexity and dramatically decreases the total cost of ownership of data integration solution. The solution does not require IT staff involvement or the user's extensive knowledge of applications.

WebSundew allows integrating different web-enabled applications into a single point of reference without modifying them. Customers, suppliers, distributors and trading partners can be easily linked through existing web HTML-based applications. Fast iterative integration between web-enabled applets brings business to the competitive edge at the low TCO. Data aggregation and market intelligence are the main spheres of application of Websundew functionality. A wide range of industries starting with finance and banking to the real estate and retailing can greatly benefit from data integration .

WebSundew 3.1 Features at a Glance

• Extracts HTML-based data to CSV, XML or Microsoft Excel format
• Step-by-step template wizards
• Built-in web browser
• Automatic iteration for linked pages
• Extracts images and files
• Multilevel extraction
• Macros for automatic log into sites and data extraction
• Point and Click User Interface
• Scheduling Extraction
• Command Line Tools

• Operating System Requirement: Windows Vista/XP/2000
• Processor (CPU): Pentium III/Athlon 500 MHz or above
• RAM: 256 MB or above