Event Web Scraper

A full-stack web application that automatically scrapes event information from a Sydney-based events website and displays it in a clean, user-friendly interface.

Overview

This project collects event data from an external website and stores it in a database so users can easily browse and explore upcoming events. The system automatically refreshes the event listings to ensure the information remains up to date.

The application also categorizes events to help track changes, such as newly added events, updated details, or inactive listings.

Features

• Automatic scraping of event information from a public events website
• Scheduled data refresh to keep listings updated
• Event categorization using New, Updated, and Inactive tags
• Responsive frontend interface for browsing events
• Direct link to the original event page for registration or more details
• REST API for retrieving event data

Tech Stack

Frontend

• React
• JavaScript
• HTML
• CSS

Backend

• Node.js
• Express.js

Database

• MongoDB

Other Tools

• Web scraping library (Cheerio / Axios / Puppeteer)
• Git & GitHub
• Postman for API testing

How It Works

1. A backend scraper fetches HTML data from the events website.

2. The scraper extracts relevant event information such as:

   • Event title
   • Date and time
   • Location
   • Event description
   • Event link

3. The extracted data is stored in MongoDB.

4. A scheduled job runs periodically to check for updates.

5. The frontend fetches event data from the backend API and displays it to users.

Project Structure

project-root
│
├── client          # React frontend
│
├── server          # Node.js backend
│   ├── scraper
│   ├── routes
│   ├── models
│
└── README.md

Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/event-web-scraper.git
cd event-web-scraper

2. Install dependencies

Backend

cd server
npm install

Frontend

cd client
npm install

3. Environment variables

Create a .env file in the backend folder.

MONGO_URI=your_mongodb_connection_string
PORT=5000

4. Run the application

Start backend

npm start

Start frontend

npm run dev

Future Improvements

• Add search and filtering for events
• Add event categories (music, sports, workshops)
• Improve scraper performance and error handling
• Add user authentication and event bookmarking
• Add pagination for large event datasets

Links

Live Demo: Open Project

Author

Ragini Kumari