FB-Spider

A program which accepts the id of a Facebook page and transforms into a table of the latest 5 posts and the respective latest 5 comments per post. The table will be in .html format

The number of posts and comments can be changed by editing the graph.py file.

Table of contents

• Get Started
• Requirements
• Instructions
• Contribute

Get Started

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You would require a Facebook developer account to get an access token : https://developers.facebook.com/

Register your app and replace the 'YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN' in graph.py by your User Token : https://developers.facebook.com/tools/accesstoken/.

Requirements

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Other than requiring Python3.x , you require the following libraries:

• facepy
  
• json
  
• json2html
  
• webbrowser
  
• PyQt4
  
• SIP
  

Instructions

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Instructions for the CLI Version

1. Clone the repository to your machine.

2. Open your terminal and change directory to your cloned project folder.

3. $ pip3 install --editable . This will install all the requirements listed.

4. Now run the program using $ fbspider.

5. Instructions for using the CLI

$ fbspider

When starting the program for the first time, use: $ fbspider initialise

This will ask for your graph ACCESS TOKEN, which you can find here

You can see your saved values by : $ fbspider show [OPTIONS]

Options:
  --token  Shows the user access token stored.
  --npa    Shows the default no of pages for given input.
  --npo    Shows the default no of top post in the output.
  --help   Show this message and exit.

To edit these values, use : $ fbspider edit [OPTIONS]

Options:
  --token  Edits the user access token stored.
  --npa    Edits the no of pages.
  --npo    Edits the no of top post.
  --help   Show this message and exit.
  

To search for a page, use : $ fbspider search [OPTIONS] <Page name>

Options:
  --npa INTEGER  the no of pages.
  --npo INTEGER  the no of top post.
  --help         Show this message and exit.
  

To see the help message, use: $ fbspider --help

Usage: fbspider [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

Options:
  --help  Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  edit        edits the specified value stored.
  initialise  Initialise with the required info.
  search      Search the page.
  show        Shows the specified value stored.

Please note that this app will only work for public pages and not from profiles of other people.
That would require permission from the user.

6. Enjoy the contents in a table format. A file called 'Table.html' would be made in the folder itself. It is opened automatically after running a valid search.

Instructions for the GUI Version

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For the GUI Version, follow the steps

1. Clone the repository to your local machine, open the terminal and change directory to your cloned project folder.

2. Use a virtual environment virtualenv --python=python3.5 --no-site-packages venv

3. PyQt4 is not supported in Virtual Environment, so you need to setup PyQt manually in the virtualenv.

4. Two dependencies need to be downloaded,PyQt4 and SIP.

5. Download the binaries from the given website - (Choose the Source Packages)

   PYQT4
   SIP

6. In the project folder, make a folder named build, and extract the PyQt4 and SIP, in the build folder.

7. Activate virtualenv using . venv/bin/activate

8. Install some prerequisites

   • sudo apt-get install python2.7-dev libxext-dev python-qt4 qt4-dev-tools build-essential

9. Go to build/SIP directory, and type the following commands: python configure.py sudo make sudo make install

10. Similarily for PyQt4, go to the build/PYQT4 directory and type the commands: python configure.py sudo make sudo make install

11. After the installation, run the following file python3 main.py

12. A GUI will open, enter your Access Code, and press Go.

13. Enter the page you want to search, and at last the choice of page number.

14. Press Generate HTML, to generate the HTML File.

Thanks to the Youtube Tutorial for preparing the instruction manual: How to Install PyQt4 Inside Virtualenv

Contribute

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You can contribute to the repo via this really-simple steps:

• Star and fork this repo.
  
• Join the (slack channel) . Discuss your ideas on how to improve the project with members or ask your doubts regarding the project.
  
• Clone your repo.
  
• Tackle down the issues or add your own innovations.
  
• Pull Request