Connect Octoparse API step by step

For users who have a coding background and have the need to automate the way to export data or control tasks, we have Octoparse API open for them.

In this tutorial, we will demonstrate how to connect Octoparse API step by step.

*Please note that this tutorial is only for showing some basic settings when you connect to our API and you can follow to see if API works for you. But the steps demonstrated here cannot be automated. If you want an automated way to export the data, you need to code yourself.

To start with, you might need to know that Octoparse provides Standard and Professional plans with different API services. For more detail, please refer to these two documents, standard API service and Advance API service.

Here are the main steps in this tutorial.

1. Get a Token code
2. Get API Connect

1) Get connected API

• Copy this URL: https://dataapi.octoparse.com/token

You can find this request link in the https://dataapi.octoparse.com/help.

For version 7

• Paste the URL to start a new task with the Advanced mode
• Click “Extracted from JSON”
• Click “JSON request options”
• Select “POST” - “BODY”- “RAW”

• Copy and Paste this code into the RAW: username={userName}&password={password}&grant_type=password
• Replacing {userName} with your Octoparse account user name (don't keep the “{}“)
• Replacing {password} with your Octoparse account password (don't keep the “{}“)
• Click OK to save
• Now the “Tree” will give you feedback. If your token is successfully requested, you will see a return like this:

• Click “Text” nearby the "Tree" and find the Token code

Please note: 

• The correct token code should be between "access_token" and "token_type" and without quotation marks.
• The token you've been given will only be valid for 24 hours.

For version 8

• Paste the URL to start a new task with the Advanced mode
• Click “Extracted from JSON”
• Click “JSON request options”
• Select “POST” - “BODY”- “x-www-form-urlencoded”

• Input the key-value pairs

username - your username, password - your password, grant_type - password

• Click OK to save

2) Get API connected

• Open a new task in Octoparse
• Input this link: https://dataapi.octoparse.com/api/TaskGroup to start a new task and click “Save URL”

• Copy “Authorization” to “Input the key”
• Copy “bearer {access_token}” to "Input the Value":
• Replace {access_token} with the token code you get in the last step.

If the response is “success”, meaning that you have connected to Octoparse API successfully.

Please note that when you paste the token code in the "Value" column, leave a space between the "bearer" and the token.

Check here to find 5 Most Common API Requests on Octoparse.