A simple script to check the Webboard for ECE445 for new posts and replies to all posts, using the cookie provided by the user

test.py

#!/usr/bin/python3

import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
import time

PACE_URL = "https://courses.engr.illinois.edu/ece445/pace/"
BOARD_URL = PACE_URL + "web-board.asp"

old_replies = {}

while True:
    resp = requests.get(BOARD_URL, headers={"cookie": "ASPSESSIONIDAWBRRRQR=$COOKIE"})
    soup = BeautifulSoup(resp.content, 'html.parser')
    rows = soup.select("div#content table tbody tr")
    data = {}
    for row in rows:
        children = [t for t in row.children if t.name]
        title = [t for t in children[1].children if t.name]
        datum = {
            "replies": int(children[3].text),
            "read": bool(children[0].children),
            "type": children[2].text,
            "id": int(title[0].attrs["href"].split("=")[1]),
            "link": PACE_URL + title[0].attrs["href"],
            "author": title[1].text,
            "title": title[0].text,
        }
        data[datum["id"]] = datum
    replies = {d["id"]: d["replies"] for d in data.values()}
    for reply in replies.items():
        detail = data[reply[0]]
        if not detail["read"]:
            if reply[0] in old_replies:
                diff = reply[1] - old_replies[reply[0]]
                if diff > 0:
                    print(f"{diff} new replies for thread \"{detail['title']}\"")
                    print("")
            else:
                print(f"New thread:")
                print(f"\"{detail['title']}\" {detail['link']}")
                print(detail['author'])
                print("")
    old_replies = replies
    time.sleep(60)