Must-Match Patterns

You may restrict the spider to only follow links that match any one of a set of "must-match" wildcard patterns. The AddMustMatchPattern can be called repeatedly to add must-match patterns.

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

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

spider.Initialize("directory.google.com")
spider.AddUnspidered("http://directory.google.com/Top/Recreation/Outdoors/Hiking/Backpacking/")

Dim success As Boolean
success = spider.CrawlNext()

' Display the outbound links
Dim i As Integer
Dim url As String
For i = 0 To spider.NumOutboundLinks - 1
    TextBox1.Text = TextBox1.Text & spider.GetOutboundLink(i) & vbCrLf
    TextBox1.Refresh()
Next

' The output:
' http://www.backpacker.com
' http://www.cmc.org
' http://www.backpacking.net
' http://www.thebackpacker.com/
' http://www.rei.com/online/store/LearnShareArticlesList?categoryId=Camping
' http://www.trailspace.com/
' http://www.catskillhikes.com/
' http://gorp.away.com/gorp/location/asia/nepal/favpicks.htm
' http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/index.html
' http://www.yetizone.com/
' http://www.backpackingfun.com
' http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/
' http://www.spadout.com/backpacking/
' http://sierrabackpacker.com
' http://www.abovecalifornia.com/
' http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/r/p/rpc1/bbb/
' http://www.thebackpackersguide.com
' http://www.journeywest.com/WB/index.html
' http://www.johann-sandra.com/backpackdir.htm
' http://www.geocities.com/amytys/
' http://www.cloudwalkersbasecamp.com
' http://www.netbackpacking.com
' http://members.tripod.com/~stooges/
' http://www.thebackpackingsite.com
' http://www.thruhikers.com/
' http://www.redcompservices.com/AT/
' http://members.aol.com/CMorHiker/backpack
' http://mywebpages.comcast.net/midwestpacker/
' http://www.midwesthiker.com/
' http://www.WeBackpack.com
' http://www.michiganhiker.com
' http://www.host33.com/backpack/
' http://www.wilderness-backpacking.com
' http://www.thetravelmonkey.net
' http://dmoz.org/cgi-bin/add.cgi?where=Recreation/Outdoors/Hiking/Backpacking
' http://dmoz.org/about.html
' http://dmoz.org/cgi-bin/apply.cgi?where=Recreation/Outdoors/Hiking/Backpacking
' http://dmoz.org
' http://dmoz.org/profiles/cdog.html
' http://dmoz.org/profiles/justinwp.html


' Do it again, but this time with avoid patterns.
spider.Initialize("directory.google.com")
spider.AddUnspidered("http://directory.google.com/Top/Recreation/Outdoors/Hiking/Backpacking/")

' Add some must-match patterns:
spider.AddMustMatchPattern("*.com/*")
spider.AddMustMatchPattern("*.net/*")

' Add some avoid-patterns:
spider.AddAvoidOutboundLinkPattern("*.mypages.*")
spider.AddAvoidOutboundLinkPattern("*.personal.*")
spider.AddAvoidOutboundLinkPattern("*.comcast.*")
spider.AddAvoidOutboundLinkPattern("*.aol.*")
spider.AddAvoidOutboundLinkPattern("*~*")

success = spider.CrawlNext()

TextBox1.Text = TextBox1.Text & "-----------------------" & vbCrLf
TextBox1.Refresh()

' Display the outbound links
For i = 0 To spider.NumOutboundLinks - 1
    TextBox1.Text = TextBox1.Text & spider.GetOutboundLink(i) & vbCrLf
    TextBox1.Refresh()
Next

' Output:
' http://www.thebackpacker.com/
' http://www.rei.com/online/store/LearnShareArticlesList?categoryId=Camping
' http://www.trailspace.com/
' http://www.catskillhikes.com/
' http://gorp.away.com/gorp/location/asia/nepal/favpicks.htm
' http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/index.html
' http://www.yetizone.com/
' http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/
' http://www.spadout.com/backpacking/
' http://www.abovecalifornia.com/
' http://www.journeywest.com/WB/index.html
' http://www.johann-sandra.com/backpackdir.htm
' http://www.geocities.com/amytys/
' http://www.thruhikers.com/
' http://www.redcompservices.com/AT/
' http://www.midwesthiker.com/
' http://www.host33.com/backpack/