(Visual Basic) Avoiding Outbound Links Matching Patterns

The spider accumulates outbound links when crawling. Your program may specify any number of "avoid patterns" to prevent any link matching at least one of the wildcarded patterns from being added.

Download Chilkat Spider ActiveX

'  The Chilkat Spider component/library is free.
Dim spider As New Spider

'  --------------------------------------------------------------------
'  Note: The URLs in this example are no longer valid.
'  You should replace the URLs with URLs from a site of your
'  own choosing -- preferably your own site if testing.
'  (Google's Directory no longer exists.)
'  --------------------------------------------------------------------

'  First, we'll get the outbound links for a page in the
'  Google directory.  Then we'll add some avoid patterns
'  and then re-fetch, to see it work...

spider.Initialize "directory.google.com"
spider.AddUnspidered "http://directory.google.com/Top/Recreation/Food/Cheese/"

Dim success As Long
success = spider.CrawlNext()

'  Display the outbound links
Dim i As Long
Dim url As String
For i = 0 To spider.NumOutboundLinks - 1
    Text1.Text = Text1.Text & spider.GetOutboundLink(i) & vbCrLf
Next

'  The output:
'  http://www.cheese.com/
'  http://www.cheesediaries.com/
'  http://www.WisDairy.com/
'  http://www.newenglandcheese.com
'  http://www.ilovecheese.com
'  http://www.cheesefromspain.com
'  http://www.realcaliforniacheese.com/
'  http://www.frencheese.co.uk/
'  http://www.cheesesociety.org/
'  http://www.specialcheese.com/queso.htm
'  http://www.franceway.com/cheese/intro.htm
'  http://www.foodsubs.com/Chesfirm.html
'  http://www.cheeseboard.co.uk/
'  http://www.thecheeseweb.com/
'  http://www.vtcheese.com/
'  http://www.coldbacon.com/cheese.html
'  http://www.norwegiancheeses.co.uk/
'  http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/cheese.htm
'  http://www.lancewood.co.za/
'  http://www.switzerlandcheese.ca
'  http://www.frenchcheese.dk/
'  http://www.dolcevita.com/cuisine/cheese/cheese.htm
'  http://cheeseisland.net/
'  http://www.cheestrings.ca/
'  http://www.dreamcheese.co.uk
'  http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC3506.htm
'  http://www.epicurious.com/cooking/how_to/food_dictionary/entry?id=1815
'  http://www.mousetrapcheese.co.uk
'  http://taquitos.net/yum/gc.shtml
'  http://www.greek-recipe.com/static/greek-cheese
'  http://www.park.org/Netherlands/pavilions/food_and_markets/cheese/introduction.html
'  http://www.dairyfarmers.org/engl/recipes/4_1.asp
'  http://www.prairieridgecheese.com/wischeesguid.html
'  http://dmoz.org/cgi-bin/add.cgi?where=Recreation/Food/Cheese
'  http://dmoz.org/about.html
'  http://dmoz.org/cgi-bin/apply.cgi?where=Recreation/Food/Cheese

'  Do it again, but this time with avoid patterns.
spider.Initialize "directory.google.com"
spider.AddUnspidered "http://directory.google.com/Top/Recreation/Food/Cheese/"

'  Add some avoid patterns:
spider.AddAvoidOutboundLinkPattern "*dmoz.org*"
spider.AddAvoidOutboundLinkPattern "*?id=*"
spider.AddAvoidOutboundLinkPattern "*.co.uk*"
success = spider.CrawlNext()

Text1.Text = Text1.Text & "-----------------------" & vbCrLf

'  Display the outbound links
For i = 0 To spider.NumOutboundLinks - 1
    Text1.Text = Text1.Text & spider.GetOutboundLink(i) & vbCrLf
Next

'  Output:
'  http://www.cheese.com/
'  http://www.cheesediaries.com/
'  http://www.WisDairy.com/
'  http://www.newenglandcheese.com
'  http://www.ilovecheese.com
'  http://www.cheesefromspain.com
'  http://www.realcaliforniacheese.com/
'  http://www.cheesesociety.org/
'  http://www.specialcheese.com/queso.htm
'  http://www.franceway.com/cheese/intro.htm
'  http://www.foodsubs.com/Chesfirm.html
'  http://www.thecheeseweb.com/
'  http://www.vtcheese.com/
'  http://www.coldbacon.com/cheese.html
'  http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/cheese.htm
'  http://www.lancewood.co.za/
'  http://www.switzerlandcheese.ca
'  http://www.frenchcheese.dk/
'  http://www.dolcevita.com/cuisine/cheese/cheese.htm
'  http://cheeseisland.net/
'  http://www.cheestrings.ca/
'  http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC3506.htm
'  http://taquitos.net/yum/gc.shtml
'  http://www.greek-recipe.com/static/greek-cheese
'  http://www.park.org/Netherlands/pavilions/food_and_markets/cheese/introduction.html
'  http://www.dairyfarmers.org/engl/recipes/4_1.asp
'  http://www.prairieridgecheese.com/wischeesguid.html