I managed to figure out a technique for saving the entire contact list. While I acknowledge that there may be more efficient methods available, this approach seems to get the job done:
from selenium import webdriver
from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager
import time
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
#navigate to WhatsApp Web and scan QR code
driver = webdriver.Chrome(ChromeDriverManager().install())
driver.get('https://web.whatsapp.com/')
time.sleep(15)
#click on search bar
search_field = driver.find_element_by_xpath('//div[contains(@class,"copyable-text selectable-text")]')
search_field.click()
time.sleep(3)
#scroll down to access contact list
search_field.send_keys(Keys.ARROW_DOWN)
time.sleep(3)
#retrieve elements by class + continue scrolling down
while True:
contacts = []
contact_title = driver.find_elements_by_class_name('_3Dr46')
selected_contact = driver.find_element_by_xpath('//div[@aria-selected="true" and @role="row"]')
for i in contact_title:
contacts.append(i.text)
selected_contact.send_keys(Keys.ARROW_DOWN)
time.sleep(1)
selected_contact.send_keys(Keys.ARROW_DOWN)
time.sleep(1)
selected_contact.send_keys(Keys.ARROW_DOWN)
I utilized send_keys 20 times due to difficulties with using ActionChains
(from selenium.webdriver.common.action_chains import ActionChains)
, as it was operating too quickly without allowing sufficient loading time for the desired data.
Subsequently, I employed print(len(contacts)) and print(contacts), yielding the following results:
16
['num1', 'num2, 'num3','num4'...]
16
['num1', 'num2, 'num4','num5'...]
16
['num2', 'num3, 'num4','num5'...]
This pattern continues until reaching the end of the scroll bar. I will share further updates, as my next objective is to compile this information into a list containing approximately 200 unique contacts.
I trust that this information proves beneficial and welcome any suggestions for optimizing this process.