Flow instructions

Recipe are json file, edited with theRecipe IDE, and can also be imported from the template Marketplace.

A Recipe with Flow instruction and calling with API is the principle of Browser Automation.

A recipe example

Wait for the website to load to finish getting the title of the website

[
    {
        "action": "waitload",
        "timeout": 5000
    },
    {
        "action": "text",
        "name": "title",
        "selector": "title"
    }
]

Recipe result example:

{
    "page":1,
    "data":{
        "title":"Example Domain"
    }
}

The results of Flow will be stored in data, which is a JSON Object, that if Flow specifies a name, the running results will be put into data

In the this example, Waitload does not specify a name, then the Flow will be executed, but the execution result will not be stored in data; the second instruction Text provides a name, if the result of the Flow is not undefined, it will be used as a field of data .

Default fileds

• action is a required field, which is the instruction of Flow
• name is optional, if not specified, the Flow run structure will not be saved to data

waitload Wait Load

Result: int, Time spent, in milliseconds

Wait for the page to load, refer to document.readyState (opens new window), The document and all sub-resources have finished loading.

document.readyState == 'complete'

Paging, Open these two instructions will open a new page, it is recommended to add a WaitLoad

Option:

Name	Type	Default	Required	Description
timeout	int	0	YES	Maximum wait timeout, in milliseconds

Example:

{
    "action": "waitload",
    "timeout": "5000"
}

wait Wait Ready

Result: boolean, is element ready

Waiting for Element to appear, usually waiting for the page to change after clicking, such as waiting for data to load after clicking a button

Option:

Name	Type	Default	Required	Description
selector	string	""	YES	CSS/XPath selector
timeout	int	0	NO	Maximum wait timeout, in milliseconds, return immediately when 0
name	string	""	NO	Field name

Example:

{
    "action": "wait",
    "selector": ".table th",
    "timeout":2000,
    "name":"is_table_exist"
}

delay Delay

Result: int, Time spent, in milliseconds

Similar to sleep, blocks until timeout

Option:

Name	Type	Default	Required	Description
timeout	int	0	YES	Maximum wait timeout, in milliseconds

Example:

{
    "action": "delay",
    "timeout":2000
}

input Input

Result: boolean, is element ready

Enter text into form controls that can be entered, such as input, textarea

Option:

Name	Type	Default	Required	Description
selector	string	""	YES	CSS/XPath selector
value	string	""	YES	Value to input
timeout	int	0	NO	Timeout to wait for the control to be available, in milliseconds
name	string	""	NO	Field name

Example:

{
    "action": "input",
    "name":"is_input_exist",
    "selector":"#password",
    "value":"YOUR_PASSWORD_HERE",
    "timeout":2000
}

click Click

Result: boolean, is element ready

Click element

Option:

Name	Type	Default	Required	Description
selector	string	""	YES	CSS/XPath selector
timeout	int	0	NO	Timeout to wait for the control to be available, in milliseconds
name	string	""	NO	Field name

Example:

{
    "action": "click",
    "name":"is_btn_exist",
    "selector":"#login",
    "timeout":2000
}

text Text

Result: string, innerText of element.

Get innerText of element

Option:

Name	Type	Default	Required	Description
selector	string	""	YES	CSS/XPath selector
timeout	int	0	NO	Timeout to wait for the control to be available, in milliseconds
name	string	""	NO	Field name
multiple	boolean	false	NO	Is multiple value, got array when true
limit	int	0	NO	If multiple is true, limit the number of values

Example:

{
    "action": "text",
    "name":"jobtitle",
    "selector":".card .title",
    "multiple":false,
    "limit":2,    
    "timeout":2000
}

attr Property

Result: string, the property value of element

Get element property. If the property does not exist, get the Attribute of the DOM object.

Javascript Code:

let elm = document.querySelector(selector)
if (elm[n]) {
    return elm[n]
}
return elm.getAttribute(n)

Attributes are defined by HTML. Properties are defined by the DOM (Document Object Model). Property vs Attribute (opens new window)

Option:

Name	Type	Default	Required	Description
selector	string	""	YES	CSS/XPath selector
value	string	""	YES	Property/Attribute name
timeout	int	0	NO	Timeout to wait for the control to be available, in milliseconds
name	string	""	NO	Field name
multiple	boolean	false	NO	Is multiple value, got array when true
limit	int	0	NO	If multiple is true, limit the number of values

Example:

{
    "action": "attr",
    "name":"avatar",
    "selector":".avatar img",
    "value":"src",
    "multiple":false,
    "limit":2,    
    "timeout":2000
}

code Code

Result: Object, code execution result

Execute javascript code

Javascript code is an advanced feature that can do complex jobs like text extraction or composing content.

The format of the code, only two formats are supported:

()=> {
    // your code here
}

or asynchronous code:

async ()=> {
    await ...
}

built-in value

The code has two built-in objects: brlify and context. In the code, you can use:

• Ends the current task early

()=> {
    if (some_thing_happend) {
        // stop the flows
        brlify.stop = true
        return
    }
}

• Get the context parameter of the api

()=> {
    // get context from api 
    let elm = document.querySelector(context.keyword);
    //...
}

• Update the value of context and use it in the next code block

()=>{
    //
    // api.contxt.value = 'hello'
    console.log(contxt.value);
    // output : hello
    // update value
    context['value'] = 'nice'
}

// next code
//
()=> {
    console.log(contxt.value);
    // output: nice
}

Option:

Name	Type	Default	Required	Description
value	string	""	YES	Javascript Code
name	string	""	NO	Field name

Example:

{
    "action": "code",
    "name":"getcontact",
    "value":"()=>{return 'contact'}"
}

stop Stop

Result: undefined

Stop the flows.

Example:

{
    "action": "stop"
}

scroll Scroll

Result: int, Time spent, in milliseconds

Scroll to the specified screen position

Option:

Name	Type	Default	Required	Description
value	string	""	YES	Format: "x,y,step" , the default step is 20, the bigger means the more time it takes

Example:

{
    "action": "scroll",
    "value":"800,200,10"
}

download Wait Download

Result: Object

Wait for the file to download after clicking the link that can be downloaded

Option:

Name	Type	Default	Required	Description
selector	Array	[]	YES	Click the element to start the download
name	string	""	YES	Field name, is required
timeout	int	0	NO	Timeout to begin download, in milliseconds

Example:

{
    "action": "download",
    "name:":"report",
    "selector": "#result_file",
    "timeout":10000,
}

Result

The return value is a JSON Object, when the filesize is >= 50KB, the downloaded content will be stored in the object storage, and the url address that can be downloaded will be returned, otherwise the file content will be stored in the data field according to Base64 encoding.

{
    "error":"",           // optional,  When an error occurs, error is the cause
    "name":"hello.xlsx",  // required,  File Name
    "size":"1024",        // required,  File size
    "url":"",             // optional,  The url address where the downloaded content is stored
    "data":""             // optional,  Base64 encoded download content
                          // data and url choose one of the two
}

open Open

Result: undefined

Open a webpage, if it is <A> with selector, open href, otherwise try to open it as url address.

Option:

Name	Type	Default	Required	Description
selector	string	""	YES	It can be the css selector of <a>, or it can be a normal url address
timeout	int	0	NO	Maximum wait page load timeout, in milliseconds, return immediately when 0

Example:

{
    "action": "open",
    "selector":".search_next_btn",
    "timeout":5000
}

{
    "action": "open",
    "selector":"https://next_url.com/",
    "timeout":5000
}

paging Paging

Result: Array

It is a very powerful function to obtain the content of multiple consecutive pages, for example, after the query results, paging to obtain the query results.

Option:

Name	Type	Default	Required	Description
selector	string	""	YES	CSS/XPath Selector for the next page
flows	Array	[]	YES	Instructions for getting paginated content
timeout	int	0	NO	Maximum wait page load timeout, in milliseconds, return immediately when 0
limit	int	0	NO	Limit the number of paging, 0 not limit.

Example:

{
    "action": "paging",
    "selector":".search_next_btn:not(.disable)",
    "name":"users",
    "flows": [
        {
            "action":"text",
            "name":"nickname",
            "selector":".nick"
        }
    ],
    "limit":10,
    "timeout":5000
}

array Array

Result: Array

Get the contents of an array, such as each row in a table

Option:

Name	Type	Default	Required	Description
selector	string	""	YES	CSS/XPath Selector for element
flows	Array	[]	YES	Instructions for getting array content
timeout	int	0	NO	Maximum wait element ready timeout, in milliseconds, return immediately when 0
limit	int	0	NO	Limit the number of array, 0 not limit.

Example:

{
    "action": "array",
    "selector":".table tr",
    "name":"users",
    "flows": [
        {
            "action":"text",
            "name":"nickname",
            "selector":".nickname"
        }
    ],
    "limit":10,
    "timeout":5000
}

flows Flows

Result: Object

Sub flows

Option:

Name	Type	Default	Required	Description
flows	Array	[]	YES	Instructions for sub flows

Example:

{
    "action": "flows",
    "flows": [
        {
            "action":"text",
            "name":"nickname",
            "selector":".nickname"
        }
    ],
}