USER MANUALS

Denodo Browser Path

The Denodo Browser is a GUI-less browser that embeds an HTTP client and a JavaScript engine. It can perform web navigations over complex web sites as any other browser. The benefits of the Denodo browser over other browsers is that, as it does not have a graphical interface, is much lighter. This improve the response time of the navigation sequences and decreases the CPU load.

To retrieve data from a web site using the Denodo Browser you have to provide a navigation sequence written in ITPilot NSEQL (Navigation SEQuence Language).

You can easily generate a navigation sequence using the ITPilot toolbar for Microsoft Internet Explorer. To do this, do the following:

  1. Open Microsoft Internet Explorer. We assume that the ITPilot toolbar for Internet Explorer is installed.

  2. Click Rec.

  3. In the URL box, enter the URL where you want to start the navigation.

  4. Record the navigation.

  5. Once you finish, click Stop and then, Toolbar State Info.

  6. Copy the content of the text box NSEQL Sequence.

  7. Go back to the administration tool and paste this sequence in the Sequence box of the dialog “Edit Denodo Browser Connection”. Take the following into account:

    • Paste the sequence after the text sequence://. For example:

sequence://Navigate(www.denodo.com,0);
ExtendedWaitPages(-1);
  • You cannot put comments in the sequence. I.e. there can be no lines that start with # or /*.

In the Browser pool list, the available options are:

  • Internal: to execute the navigation sequence, Virtual DataPort will create an instance of the Denodo Browser to execute the navigation sequence.

  • External: to execute the navigation sequence, Virtual DataPort will send a request to the ITPilot browser pool of the current installation (you have to make sure it is started) to execute the navigation sequence.

The benefit of using the internal browser is that you do not have to start the ITPilot Browser Pool. On the other hand, it puts more load on the Virtual DataPort server than if the external browser pool executes the navigation sequence.

Note

Sometimes you have to do minor changes on the navigation sequences recorded from Internet Explorer so they work with the Denodo Browser, especially when dealing with complex websites. If this is the case, you can use the Sequence Debugger of the ITPilot Wrapper Generator Tool to help you debug where the problem is.

The ITPilot User Guide and the ITPilot NSEQL Guide provide more information about the Denodo Browser, NSEQL sequences and how to record sequences using the Internet Explorer toolbar.

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