Show HN: Gargl – Create an API for any website, without writing a line of code
1–10 of 44 posts
Re: Show HN: Gargl – Create an API for any website, without writing a line of code
#2IANAL et al., but unless I'm mistaken, generating an API by analyzing requests and responses would be fine (under the purview of "research purposes"), unless you then subsequently use the generated API to access the service.
Also, it seems like authenticated sites would be difficult to scrape with this, i.e. ones that require login and possibly some logic (like sending a hash of request parameters) with every request.
Re: Show HN: Gargl – Create an API for any website, without writing a line of code
#3Just as a matter of record you risk getting your IP blacklisted by using something like this without the web sites permission. Perhaps the poster child for web sites that go apeshit is CraigsList but most sites respond in one way or another. One of my favorites are the Markov generated search results that Bing sends back to robots.
Re: Show HN: Gargl – Create an API for any website, without writing a line of code
#4FYI Gargl vs Kimono - mentioned at the bottom original article.
http://jodoglevy.com/jobloglevy/?p=146
Re: Show HN: Gargl – Create an API for any website, without writing a line of code
#5this is a clever idea - i've had a similar idea many many years ago infact but never followed through because i strongly disagree with making it easy to e.g. abuse google or yahoo by spamming their search engine. as much as i disagree with keeping proprietary secrets i agree more that people should have freedom of choice to do that...
in that regard its nice to see the big warning at the top of the page about ease of misuse (and a refreshing slap in the face - i was thinking 'pfft some hipster forgot common sense again' and expecting not to see anything of the kind)
there is something off here and i can't quite put my finger on it though... as a low level programmer I cringe when I hear web people using API to describe some weird little subset of APIs anyway. Here I feel almost like what this does is takes an existing 'API' (http - the internet) and refactors the interface in highly specific ways to make it easier to use...
At any rate. Its a clever idea and nice to see such a well thought through implementation - but its also far too open to misuse imo. I wish the creator the best of luck... hopefully no takedown requests too soon.
Re: Show HN: Gargl – Create an API for any website, without writing a line of code
#6IANAL et al., but unless I'm mistaken, generating an API by analyzing requests and responses would be fine (under the purview of "research purposes"), unless you then subsequently use the generated API to access the service. Also, it seems like authenticated sites would be difficult to scrape with this, i.e. ones that require login and possibly some logic (like sending a hash of request parameters) with every request…
OP here.
Yes, using the generated API is the issue, not generating one.
As for authenticated sites, as long as the underlying generated module keeps track of cookies received in responses and sends those cookies on subsequent API calls, just like a browser would, it should work fine for "normal" websites that use regular cookies for remembering if user is logged in. Gargl modules generated as PowerShell, or as Javascript (and used in a WinJS project) do this "cookie remembering" today. It could also of course be possible for the user to remember the cookie themselves in their code (after it gets the raw response from the API call), and then pass that cookie into any subsequent API calls manually.
Re: Show HN: Gargl – Create an API for any website, without writing a line of code
#7so the usage of the data is where the legality is concerned. if your users scrape a site and you host it through accessible means, you can get sued but not if you provide a flat csv file?
Armchair lawyers please advise, we need more details.
Re: Show HN: Gargl – Create an API for any website, without writing a line of code
#8I think a better business model would be creating a service that identifies scrapers, and then blocks them. I think one might already exist, though I can't remember its name.
Re: Show HN: Gargl – Create an API for any website, without writing a line of code
#9I wish all tools were presented with this level of clarity and depth. Really great introduction ion contrast to the usual technobabble.
Re: Show HN: Gargl – Create an API for any website, without writing a line of code
#10Just as a matter of record you risk getting your IP blacklisted by using something like this without the web sites permission. Perhaps the poster child for web sites that go apeshit is CraigsList but most sites respond in one way or another. One of my favorites are the Markov generated search results that Bing sends back to robots.
You raise interesting and valid points. Notably, there is naturally a rather ubiquitous route around getting blocked: use Tor (it will work in many cases, though not all).
The most intriguing thing about this Gargl thing imo is that it is a free version of for-profit SaaS website-to-api offerings such as kimonolabs[0]. I love the nobleness of taking something which is only available as a paid service and creating a free open-source form of it. These kinds of projects help reveal SaaS services which don't actually have strong value-adds despite vendors' claims to the contrary.
[0] hxxp://www.kimonolabs.com/