ImageShack Scraper

Overview

This actor scrapes data from ImageShack, providing an alternative to its limited free API. It extracts images and metadata from various sections of the site, such as featured galleries, user profiles, and the discover page.

Key Features

• Scrapes images from multiple ImageShack sources: featured pages, specific image pages, user profiles, and the discover page.
• Extracts image details including ID, URL, tags, and associated usernames.
• Optionally fetches related images for each primary image.
• Allows limiting the total number of scraped items.
• Supports custom data extraction functions.

How to Use

Configure the actor using a JSON input object. The scraper runs on the Apify platform and requires a proxy configuration to operate.

Input Parameters

Provide input as a JSON object with the following fields:

• startUrls (Optional, Array): List of ImageShack URLs to scrape. Provide URLs for featured pages, specific images, user pages, or the discover page.
• includeRelatedImages (Optional, Boolean): When true, adds all ImageShack-provided related images to each image object. Increases run time and resource usage.
• maxItems (Optional, Number): Limit the total number of items to scrape. Useful for large lists or search results.
• proxy (Required, Object): Proxy configuration. Use {"useApifyProxy": true} for Apify Proxy, or your own proxy settings.
• extendOutputFunction (Optional, String): A custom JavaScript function that takes a JQuery handle ($) and returns an object with additional data.
• customMapFunction (Optional, String): A custom JavaScript function that processes each scraped object.

Note: This actor requires proxy servers. You can use Apify Proxy or your own.

Compute Unit Consumption

The actor is optimized for speed. Under normal conditions (without frequent blocking), it can scrape approximately 100 listings per minute, consuming about 0.01-0.03 compute units.

Input Example

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://imageshack.com/featured",
    "https://imageshack.com/i/f0e2aa72j",
    "https://imageshack.com/user/AndrewMcCall",
    "https://imageshack.com/discover"
  ],
  "includeRelatedImages": false,
  "maxItems": 20,
  "proxy": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}

Output

During the run, the actor outputs log messages indicating its progress and the current page being processed.

Results are stored in the actor's dataset. Each scraped image is a separate item containing the extracted fields (ID, links, tags, username, etc.). If includeRelatedImages is enabled, related images will be included in the output object.

Development & Support

This scraper is under active development. For bug reports or feature requests, create an issue on the GitHub repository.