How to Store Images in a CSV While Using Scrapy for Web Scraping

Learn how to correctly capture and store images from websites into a CSV file using `Scrapy`. Discover the best practices for handling image URLs and avoid common pitfalls.
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How to Store Images in a CSV While Using Scrapy for Web Scraping

Storing images in a CSV file when scraping websites can seem tricky, especially when you find yourself retrieving image data in a base64 format instead of the direct image URLs. This guide will guide you through resolving this issue so that you can store images in a CSV properly.

The Problem

You might encounter a situation where, upon executing your web scraping code, the image returned is formatted like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Instead of the expected absolute URL. This usually means the URL you are trying to capture is not being processed correctly in your scraping logic.

Understanding the Limitations

When using Scrapy to scrape images, there are a few common mistakes you could be making:

Using the Wrong XPath: Selecting the @src attribute instead of @data-src may lead you to get a base64 image instead of the direct URL.

Handling Absolute URLs: If the image URL is already absolute, there's no need to modify it using the urljoin() method, which can sometimes lead to incorrect URL outputs.

The Solution

Here are steps to rectify the issues and store images in CSV correctly:

1. Update Your XPath

Ensure that your XPath expression targets the correct attribute. Instead of using @src, use @data-src:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

2. Remove Unnecessary Absolute URL Conversion

Since the @data-src already provides an absolute URL, you can skip using the urljoin() method.

3. Updated Scrapy Code

Here’s the revised code that captures images properly:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

4. Writing to CSV

Once you have the correct Feature_Image URL, continue extracting your other desired fields (like publication date and article content) and store all this information into a CSV file smoothly.

Output Example

When successfully executed, you can expect an output like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Conclusion

By making minor adjustments such as correcting your XPath and simplifying your URL extraction process, you can effectively store images in a CSV file using Scrapy.

Make sure to pay attention to the data attributes you're selecting; this will save you from a lot of hassle related to data formatting!

If you have any questions or need further clarification, feel free to reach out in the comments!