pbd¶

The ProBoards Scraper Database command line tool pbd can be used to perform simple queries on the database generated from scraping the site via the pbs command line tool.

Usage¶

usage: pbd [-h] [-d <path>]
(--board [board_id] | --user [user_id] | --thread [thread_id])

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -d <path>, --database <path>
                        Path to database file; default ./site/forum.db
  --board [board_id], -b [board_id]
                        Board id; if omitted, list all boards
  --user [user_id], -u [user_id]
                        User id; if omitted, list all users
  --thread [thread_id], -t [thread_id]
                        Thread id; if omitted, list all threads

Optional arguments¶

-d/--database: Path to the SQLite database file (./site/forum.db by default). See the --output option of pbs for more on writing the site files to a different directory.
-b/--board: If this option is selected without providing a board id, a list of all boards is printed. If a board id is provided, information about the given board, including a list of all its threads, is printed.
-u/--user: If this option is selected without providing a user id, a list of all users is printed. If a user id is provided, information about the given user is printed.
-t/--thread: If this option is selected without providing a thread id, a list of all threads on the forum is printed. If a thread id is provided, information about the given thread, including a list of all its posts, is printed.

Note

One of --board, --user, or --thread is required.

Examples¶

Display a list of all boards¶

Sample command:

pbd -b

Sample output:

Media
Announcements
Lounge
Writer's Room

Display information about a specific board¶

Sample command:

pbd -b 3

Sample output:

{'category_id': 1,
 'description': 'A place to talk about anything',
 'id': 3,
 'moderators': ['SnakeShake', 'Tom'],
 'name': 'Lounge',
 'num_threads': 4,
 'parent_id': None,
 'password_protected': None,
 'posts': 50,
 'sub_boards': [1],
 'threads': [{'num_posts': 2, 'thread_id': 1, 'title': 'Welcome!'},
             {'num_posts': 31, 'thread_id': 5, 'title': 'Hobbies'},
             {'num_posts': 3, 'thread_id': 6, 'title': 'Favorite sports'},
             {'num_posts': 4, 'thread_id': 8, 'title': 'Podcasts'}],
 'url': 'https://yoursite.proboards.com/board/3/lounge'}

Display a list of all users¶

Sample command:

pbd -u

Sample output:

-2: bob
-1: guest1
1: SnakeShake
2: Tom
3: patrick_jane

Note

Guests receive negative user ids in the database. Refer to proboards_scraper.database.Database.insert_guest() for more information.

Display information about a specific user¶

Sample command:

pbd -u 1

Sample output:

{'age': 30,
 'avatar': {'filename': '5adac452f7eedc7e1abcec513750a139.jpg',
            'url': 'http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v10/snake/vegeta.jpg'},
 'birthdate': 'January 1, 1991',
 'date_registered': 1090902497000,
 'email': 'snake@snakemail.com',
 'gender': 'Male',
 'group': 'Administrator',
 'id': 1,
 'instant_messengers': 'AIM:snak3_p1i55k3n',
 'last_online': 1625547390000,
 'latest_status': '',
 'location': 'LA',
 'name': 'SnakeShake',
 'post_count': 250,
 'signature': None,
 'url': 'https://yoursite.proboards.com/user/1',
 'username': 'snakep123',
 'website': None,
 'website_url': None}

Display a list of all threads¶

Sample command:

pbd -t

Sample output:

['1: Welcome!',
 '2: worst tv show',
 '3: ABC game',
 '4: Short story practice',
 '5: Hobbies',
 '6: Favorite sports',
 '7: Forum Rules',
 '8: Podcasts']

Display all posts in a specific thread¶

Sample command:

pbd -t 2

Sample output:

{'announcement': False,
 'board_id': 1,
 'id': 2,
 'locked': False,
 'posts': [{'date': 1089681705000,
            'edit_user_id': None,
            'id': 402,
            'last_edited': None,
            'message': "What's the worst TV show? IMO it's the bachelor",
            'thread_id': 2,
            'url': 'https://yoursite.proboards.com/post/12',
            'user_id': 1},
           {'date': 1089697194000,
            'edit_user_id': None,
            'id': 403,
            'last_edited': None,
            'message': 'No way, I love the bachelor!',
            'thread_id': 2,
            'url': 'https://yoursite.proboards.com/post/13',
            'user_id': 3},
 'sticky': False,
 'title': 'worst tv show',
 'url': 'https://yoursite.proboards.com/thread/2/worst-tv-show',
 'user_id': 1,
 'views': 310}