NAME¶
WWW::Search::Ebay - backend for searching www.ebay.com
SYNOPSIS¶
use WWW::Search;
my $oSearch = new WWW::Search('Ebay');
my $sQuery = WWW::Search::escape_query("C-10 carded Yakface");
$oSearch->native_query($sQuery);
while (my $oResult = $oSearch->next_result())
{ print $oResult->url, "\n"; }
DESCRIPTION¶
This class is a Ebay specialization of WWW::Search. It handles making and
interpreting Ebay searches
http://www.ebay.com.
This class exports no public interface; all interaction should be done through
WWW::Search objects.
NOTES¶
The search is done against CURRENT running AUCTIONS only. (NOT completed
auctions, NOT eBay Stores items, NOT Buy-It-Now only items.) (If you want to
search completed auctions, use the WWW::Search::Ebay::Completed module.) (If
you want to search eBay Stores, use the WWW::Search::Ebay::Stores module.)
The query is applied to TITLES only.
This module can return only the first 200 results matching your query.
In the resulting WWW::Search::Result objects, the
description() field
consists of a human-readable combination (joined with semicolon-space) of the
Item Number; number of bids; and high bid amount (or starting bid amount).
In the resulting WWW::Search::Result objects, the
end_date() field
contains a human-readable DTG of when the auction is scheduled to end (in the
form "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM TZ"). If environment variable TZ is set, the
time will be converted to that timezone; otherwise the time will be left in
ebay.com's default timezone (US/Pacific).
In the resulting WWW::Search::Result objects, the
bid_count() field
contains the number of bids as an integer.
In the resulting WWW::Search::Result objects, the
bid_amount() field is a
string containing the high bid or starting bid as a human-readable monetary
value in seller-native units, e.g. "$14.95" or "GBP 6.00".
In the resulting WWW::Search::Result objects, the
category() field
contains the Ebay category number.
In the resulting WWW::Search::Result objects, the
sold() field will be
non-zero if the item has already sold. (Only if you're using
WWW::Search::Ebay::Completed)
After a successful search, your search object will contain an element named
'categories' which will be a reference to an array of hashes containing names
and IDs of categories and nested subcategories, and the count of items
matching your query in each category and subcategory. (Special thanks to Nick
Lokkju for this code!) For example:
$oSearch->{category} = [
{
'ID' => '1',
'Count' => 19,
'Name' => 'Collectibles',
'Subcategory' => [
{
'ID' => '13877',
'Count' => 11,
'Name' => 'Historical Memorabilia'
},
{
'ID' => '11450',
'Count' => 1,
'Name' => 'Clothing, Shoes & Accessories'
},
]
},
{
'ID' => '281',
'Count' => 1,
'Name' => 'Jewelry & Watches',
}
];
If your query string happens to be an eBay item number, (i.e. if ebay.com
redirects the query to an auction page), you will get back one
WWW::Search::Result without bid or price information.
OPTIONS¶
- Limit search by price range
- Contributed by Brian Wilson:
$oSearch->native_query($sQuery, {
_mPrRngCbx=>'1', _udlo=>$minPrice, _udhi=>$maxPrice,
} );
PUBLIC METHODS OF NOTE¶
- user_agent_delay
- Introduce a few-seconds delay to avoid overwhelming the server.
- need_to_delay
- Controls whether we do the delay or not.
- preprocess_results_page
- Grabs the eBay Official Time so that when we parse the DTG from the HTML,
we can convert / return exactly what eBay means for each one.
- result_as_HTML
- Given a WWW::SearchResult object representing an auction, formats it
human-readably with HTML.
An optional second argument is the date format, a string as specified for
Date::Manip::UnixDate. Default is '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'
my $sHTML = $oSearch->result_as_HTML($oSearchResult, '%H:%M %b %E');
METHODS TO BE OVERRIDDEN IN SUBCLASSING¶
You only need to read about these if you are subclassing this module (i.e.
making a backend for another flavor of eBay search).
- _get_result_count_elements
- Given an HTML::TreeBuilder object, return a list of HTML::Element objects
therein which could possibly contain the approximate result count
verbiage.
- _get_itemtitle_tds
- Given an HTML::TreeBuilder object, return a list of HTML::Element objects
therein representing <TD> elements which could possibly contain the
HTML for result title and hotlink.
- _parse_category_list
- Parses the Category list from the left side of the results page. So far,
this method can handle every type of eBay search currently implemented. If
you find that it doesn't suit your needs, please contact the author
because it's probably just a tiny tweak that's needed.
- _process_date_abbrevs
- Given a date string, converts common abbreviations to their full words (so
that the string can be unambiguously parsed by Date::Manip). For example,
in the default English, 'd' becomes 'days'.
- _next_text
- The text of the "Next" button, localized for a specific type of
eBay backend.
- whitespace_pattern
- Return a qr// pattern to match whitespace your webpage's language.
- _currency_pattern
- Return a qr// pattern to match mentions of money in your webpage's
language. Include the digits in the pattern.
- _title_pattern
- Return a qr// pattern to match the webpage title in your webpage's
language. Add grouping parenthesis so that $1 becomes the auction title,
$2 becomes the eBay item number, and $3 becomes the end date.
- _result_count_pattern
- Return a qr// pattern to match the result count in your webpage's
language. Include parentheses so that $1 becomes the number (with commas
is OK).
- _columns
- Specify the order in which data columns appear in the search results
table.
SEE ALSO¶
To make new back-ends, see WWW::Search.
BUGS¶
Please tell the author if you find any!
AUTHOR¶
Martin 'Kingpin' Thurn, "mthurn at cpan.org",
<
http://tinyurl.com/nn67z>.
Some fixes along the way contributed by Troy Davis.
LEGALESE¶
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
LICENSE¶
Copyright (C) 1998-2009 Martin 'Kingpin' Thurn
This software is released under the same license as Perl itself.