=======  ====================================================================
SEP      14
Title    CrawlSpider v2
Author   Insophia Team
Created  2010-01-22
Updated  2010-02-04
Status   Final. Partially implemented but discarded because of lack of use in
         r2632
=======  ====================================================================

========================
SEP-014 - CrawlSpider v2
========================

This SEP proposes a rewrite of Scrapy ``CrawlSpider`` and related components

Current flaws and inconsistencies
=================================

1. Request's callbacks are hard to persist.
2. Link extractors are inflexible and hard to maintain, link
   processing/filtering is tightly coupled. (e.g. canonicalize)
3. Isn't possible to crawl an url directly from command line because the Spider
   does not know which callback use.

These flaws will be corrected by the changes proposed in this SEP.

Proposed API Changes
====================

- Separate the functionality of Rule-LinkExtractor-Callback
- Separate the functionality of LinkExtractor to Request Extractor and Request
  Processor
- Separate the process of determining response callback and the extraction of
  new requests (link extractors)
- The callback will be determine by Matcher Objects on request/response objects

Matcher Objects
---------------

Matcher Objects (aka Matcher) are responsible for determining if given request
or response matches an arbitrary criteria.  The Matcher receives as argument
the request or the response, giving a powerful access to all request/response
attributes.

In the current ``CrawlSpider``, the Rule Object has the responsibility to
determine the callback of given extractor, and the link extractor contains the
url pattern (aka regex). Now the Matcher will contain only the pattern or
criteria to determine which request/response will execute any action. See below
Spider Rules.

Request Extractors
------------------

Request Extractors takes response object and determines which requests follow.

This is an enhancement to ``LinkExtractors`` which returns urls (links),
Request Extractors return Request objects.

Request Processors
------------------

Request Processors takes requests objects and can perform any action to them,
like filtering or modifying on the fly.

The current ``LinkExtractor`` had integrated link processing, like
canonicalize. Request Processors can be reutilized and applied in series.

Request Generator
-----------------

Request Generator is the decoupling of the ``CrawlSpider``'s method
_request_to_follow().  Request Generator takes the response object and applies
the Request Extractors and Request Processors.

Rules Manager
-------------

The Rules are a definition of Rule objects containing Matcher Objects and
callback.

The Legacy Rules were used to perform the link extraction and attach the
callback to the generated Request object.  The proposed new Rules will be used
to determine the callback for given response. This opens a whole of
opportunities, like determine the callback for given url, and persist the queue
of Request objects because the callback is determined the matching the Response
object against the Rules.

Usage Examples
==============

Basic Crawling
--------------

.. code-block:: python

   #!python
   #
   # Basic Crawling
   #
   class SampleSpider(CrawlSpider):
       rules = [
           # The dispatcher uses first-match policy
           Rule(UrlRegexMatch(r"product\.html\?id=\d+"), "parse_item", follow=False),
           # by default, if the first param is string is wrapped into UrlRegexMatch
           Rule(r".+", "parse_page"),
       ]

       request_extractors = [
           # crawl all links looking for products and images
           SgmlRequestExtractor(),
       ]

       request_processors = [
           # canonicalize all requests' urls
           Canonicalize(),
       ]

       def parse_item(self, response):
           # parse and extract items from response
           pass

       def parse_page(self, response):
           # extract images on all pages
           pass

Custom Processor and External Callback
--------------------------------------

.. code-block:: python

   #!python
   #
   # Using external callbacks
   #


   # Custom Processor
   def filter_today_links(requests):
       # only crawl today links
       today = datetime.datetime.today().strftime("%Y-%m-%d")
       return [r for r in requests if today in r.url]


   # Callback defined out of spider
   def my_external_callback(response):
       # process item
       pass


   class SampleSpider(CrawlSpider):
       rules = [
           # The dispatcher uses first-match policy
           Rule(UrlRegexMatch(r"/news/(.+)/"), my_external_callback),
       ]

       request_extractors = [
           RegexRequestExtractor(r"/sections/.+"),
           RegexRequestExtractor(r"/news/.+"),
       ]

       request_processors = [
           # canonicalize all requests' urls
           Canonicalize(),
           filter_today_links,
       ]

Implementation
==============

*Work-in-progress*

Package Structure
-----------------

::

   contrib_exp
       |- crawlspider/
           |- spider.py
               |- CrawlSpider
           |- rules.py
               |- Rule
               |- CompiledRule
               |- RulesManager
           |- reqgen.py
               |- RequestGenerator
           |- reqproc.py
               |- Canonicalize
               |- Unique
               |- ...
           |- reqext.py
               |- SgmlRequestExtractor
               |- RegexRequestExtractor
               |- ...
           |- matchers.py
               |- BaseMatcher
               |- UrlMatcher
               |- UrlRegexMatcher
               |- ...

Request/Response Matchers
-------------------------

.. code-block:: python

   #!python
   """
   Request/Response Matchers

   Perform evaluation to Request or Response attributes
   """


   class BaseMatcher(object):
       """Base matcher. Returns True by default."""

       def matches_request(self, request):
           """Performs Request Matching"""
           return True

       def matches_response(self, response):
           """Performs Response Matching"""
           return True


   class UrlMatcher(BaseMatcher):
       """Matches URL attribute"""

       def __init__(self, url):
           """Initialize url attribute"""
           self._url = url

       def matches_url(self, url):
           """Returns True if given url is equal to matcher's url"""
           return self._url == url

       def matches_request(self, request):
           """Returns True if Request's url matches initial url"""
           return self.matches_url(request.url)

       def matches_response(self, response):
           """REturns True if Response's url matches initial url"""
           return self.matches_url(response.url)


   class UrlRegexMatcher(UrlMatcher):
       """Matches URL using regular expression"""

       def __init__(self, regex, flags=0):
           """Initialize regular expression"""
           self._regex = re.compile(regex, flags)

       def matches_url(self, url):
           """Returns True if url matches regular expression"""
           return self._regex.search(url) is not None

Request Extractor
-----------------

.. code-block:: python

   #!python
   #
   # Requests Extractor
   # Extractors receive response and return list of Requests
   #


   class BaseSgmlRequestExtractor(FixedSGMLParser):
       """Base SGML Request Extractor"""

       def __init__(self, tag="a", attr="href"):
           """Initialize attributes"""
           FixedSGMLParser.__init__(self)

           self.scan_tag = tag if callable(tag) else lambda t: t = tag
           self.scan_attr = attr if callable(attr) else lambda a: a = attr
           self.current_request = None

       def extract_requests(self, response):
           """Returns list of requests extracted from response"""
           return self._extract_requests(response.body, response.url, response.encoding)

       def _extract_requests(self, response_text, response_url, response_encoding):
           """Extract requests with absolute urls"""
           self.reset()
           self.feed(response_text)
           self.close()

           base_url = self.base_url if self.base_url else response_url
           self._make_absolute_urls(base_url, response_encoding)
           self._fix_link_text_encoding(response_encoding)

           return self.requests

       def _make_absolute_urls(self, base_url, encoding):
           """Makes all request's urls absolute"""
           for req in self.requests:
               url = req.url
               # make absolute url
               url = urljoin_rfc(base_url, url, encoding)
               url = safe_url_string(url, encoding)
               # replace in-place request's url
               req.url = url

       def _fix_link_text_encoding(self, encoding):
           """Convert link_text to unicode for each request"""
           for req in self.requests:
               req.meta.setdefault("link_text", "")
               req.meta["link_text"] = str_to_unicode(req.meta["link_text"], encoding)

       def reset(self):
           """Reset state"""
           FixedSGMLParser.reset(self)
           self.requests = []
           self.base_url = None

       def unknown_starttag(self, tag, attrs):
           """Process unknown start tag"""
           if "base" == tag:
               self.base_url = dict(attrs).get("href")

           if self.scan_tag(tag):
               for attr, value in attrs:
                   if self.scan_attr(attr):
                       if value is not None:
                           req = Request(url=value)
                           self.requests.append(req)
                           self.current_request = req

       def unknown_endtag(self, tag):
           """Process unknown end tag"""
           self.current_request = None

       def handle_data(self, data):
           """Process data"""
           current = self.current_request
           if current and not "link_text" in current.meta:
               current.meta["link_text"] = data.strip()


   class SgmlRequestExtractor(BaseSgmlRequestExtractor):
       """SGML Request Extractor"""

       def __init__(self, tags=None, attrs=None):
           """Initialize with custom tag & attribute function checkers"""
           # defaults
           tags = tuple(tags) if tags else ("a", "area")
           attrs = tuple(attrs) if attrs else ("href",)

           tag_func = lambda x: x in tags
           attr_func = lambda x: x in attrs
           BaseSgmlRequestExtractor.__init__(self, tag=tag_func, attr=attr_func)


   class XPathRequestExtractor(SgmlRequestExtractor):
       """SGML Request Extractor with XPath restriction"""

       def __init__(self, restrict_xpaths, tags=None, attrs=None):
           """Initialize XPath restrictions"""
           self.restrict_xpaths = tuple(arg_to_iter(restrict_xpaths))
           SgmlRequestExtractor.__init__(self, tags, attrs)

       def extract_requests(self, response):
           """Restrict to XPath regions"""
           hxs = HtmlXPathSelector(response)
           fragments = (
               "".join(html_frag for html_frag in hxs.select(xpath).extract())
               for xpath in self.restrict_xpaths
           )
           html_slice = "".join(html_frag for html_frag in fragments)
           return self._extract_requests(html_slice, response.url, response.encoding)

Request Processor
-----------------

.. code-block:: python

   #!python
   #
   # Request Processors
   # Processors receive list of requests and return list of requests
   #
   """Request Processors"""


   class Canonicalize(object):
       """Canonicalize Request Processor"""

       def __call__(self, requests):
           """Canonicalize all requests' urls"""
           for req in requests:
               # replace in-place
               req.url = canonicalize_url(req.url)
               yield req


   class Unique(object):
       """Filter duplicate Requests"""

       def __init__(self, *attributes):
           """Initialize comparison attributes"""
           self._attributes = attributes or ["url"]

       def _requests_equal(self, req1, req2):
           """Attribute comparison helper"""
           for attr in self._attributes:
               if getattr(req1, attr) != getattr(req2, attr):
                   return False
           # all attributes equal
           return True

       def _request_in(self, request, requests_seen):
           """Check if request is in given requests seen list"""
           for seen in requests_seen:
               if self._requests_equal(request, seen):
                   return True
           # request not seen
           return False

       def __call__(self, requests):
           """Filter seen requests"""
           # per-call duplicates filter
           requests_seen = set()
           for req in requests:
               if not self._request_in(req, requests_seen):
                   yield req
                   # registry seen request
                   requests_seen.add(req)


   class FilterDomain(object):
       """Filter request's domain"""

       def __init__(self, allow=(), deny=()):
           """Initialize allow/deny attributes"""
           self.allow = tuple(arg_to_iter(allow))
           self.deny = tuple(arg_to_iter(deny))

       def __call__(self, requests):
           """Filter domains"""
           processed = (req for req in requests)

           if self.allow:
               processed = (
                   req for req in requests if url_is_from_any_domain(req.url, self.allow)
               )
           if self.deny:
               processed = (
                   req
                   for req in requests
                   if not url_is_from_any_domain(req.url, self.deny)
               )

           return processed


   class FilterUrl(object):
       """Filter request's url"""

       def __init__(self, allow=(), deny=()):
           """Initialize allow/deny attributes"""
           _re_type = type(re.compile("", 0))

           self.allow_res = [
               x if isinstance(x, _re_type) else re.compile(x) for x in arg_to_iter(allow)
           ]
           self.deny_res = [
               x if isinstance(x, _re_type) else re.compile(x) for x in arg_to_iter(deny)
           ]

       def __call__(self, requests):
           """Filter request's url based on allow/deny rules"""
           # TODO: filter valid urls here?
           processed = (req for req in requests)

           if self.allow_res:
               processed = (
                   req for req in requests if self._matches(req.url, self.allow_res)
               )
           if self.deny_res:
               processed = (
                   req for req in requests if not self._matches(req.url, self.deny_res)
               )

           return processed

       def _matches(self, url, regexs):
           """Returns True if url matches any regex in given list"""
           return any(r.search(url) for r in regexs)

Rule Object
-----------

.. code-block:: python

   #!python
   #
   # Dispatch Rules classes
   # Manage Rules (Matchers + Callbacks)
   #
   class Rule(object):
       """Crawler Rule"""

       def __init__(
           self, matcher, callback=None, cb_args=None, cb_kwargs=None, follow=True
       ):
           """Store attributes"""
           self.matcher = matcher
           self.callback = callback
           self.cb_args = cb_args if cb_args else ()
           self.cb_kwargs = cb_kwargs if cb_kwargs else {}
           self.follow = follow


   #
   # Rules Manager takes list of Rule objects and normalize matcher and callback
   # into CompiledRule
   #
   class CompiledRule(object):
       """Compiled version of Rule"""

       def __init__(self, matcher, callback=None, follow=False):
           """Initialize attributes checking type"""
           assert isinstance(matcher, BaseMatcher)
           assert callback is None or callable(callback)
           assert isinstance(follow, bool)

           self.matcher = matcher
           self.callback = callback
           self.follow = follow

Rules Manager
-------------

.. code-block:: python

   #!python
   #
   # Handles rules matcher/callbacks
   # Resolve rule for given response
   #
   class RulesManager(object):
       """Rules Manager"""

       def __init__(self, rules, spider, default_matcher=UrlRegexMatcher):
           """Initialize rules using spider and default matcher"""
           self._rules = tuple()

           # compile absolute/relative-to-spider callbacks"""
           for rule in rules:
               # prepare matcher
               if isinstance(rule.matcher, BaseMatcher):
                   matcher = rule.matcher
               else:
                   # matcher not BaseMatcher, check for string
                   if isinstance(rule.matcher, basestring):
                       # instance default matcher
                       matcher = default_matcher(rule.matcher)
                   else:
                       raise ValueError(
                           "Not valid matcher given %r in %r" % (rule.matcher, rule)
                       )

               # prepare callback
               if callable(rule.callback):
                   callback = rule.callback
               elif not rule.callback is None:
                   # callback from spider
                   callback = getattr(spider, rule.callback)

                   if not callable(callback):
                       raise AttributeError(
                           "Invalid callback %r can not be resolved" % callback
                       )
               else:
                   callback = None

               if rule.cb_args or rule.cb_kwargs:
                   # build partial callback
                   callback = partial(callback, *rule.cb_args, **rule.cb_kwargs)

               # append compiled rule to rules list
               crule = CompiledRule(matcher, callback, follow=rule.follow)
               self._rules += (crule,)

       def get_rule(self, response):
           """Returns first rule that matches response"""
           for rule in self._rules:
               if rule.matcher.matches_response(response):
                   return rule

Request Generator
-----------------

.. code-block:: python

   #!python
   #
   # Request Generator
   # Takes response and generate requests using extractors and processors
   #
   class RequestGenerator(object):
       def __init__(self, req_extractors, req_processors, callback):
           self._request_extractors = req_extractors
           self._request_processors = req_processors
           self.callback = callback

       def generate_requests(self, response):
           """
           Extract and process new requests from response
           """
           requests = []
           for ext in self._request_extractors:
               requests.extend(ext.extract_requests(response))

           for proc in self._request_processors:
               requests = proc(requests)

           for request in requests:
               yield request.replace(callback=self.callback)

``CrawlSpider``
-----------------

.. code-block:: python

   #!python
   #
   # Spider
   #
   class CrawlSpider(InitSpider):
       """CrawlSpider v2"""

       request_extractors = []
       request_processors = []
       rules = []

       def __init__(self):
           """Initialize dispatcher"""
           super(CrawlSpider, self).__init__()

           # wrap rules
           self._rulesman = RulesManager(self.rules, spider=self)
           # generates new requests with given callback
           self._reqgen = RequestGenerator(
               self.request_extractors, self.request_processors, self.parse
           )

       def parse(self, response):
           """Dispatch callback and generate requests"""
           # get rule for response
           rule = self._rulesman.get_rule(response)
           if rule:
               # dispatch callback if set
               if rule.callback:
                   output = iterate_spider_output(rule.callback(response))
                   for req_or_item in output:
                       yield req_or_item

               if rule.follow:
                   for req in self._reqgen.generate_requests(response):
                       yield req
