Excel

A nice feature of MicroSoft Excel is the Web Queries.

Under the Data > Get External Data menu.

This is useful for extracting information from Web sites. This is typically used to get live financial information off Web sites, but it works equally well with other tabular data such as lists & data forms. In Excel 2000+, Web Queries have been made easier to use then in earlier versions.

The basic sequence of events when an Excel Web Query is initiated is to follow the hyperlink and extract the table information from the HTML and place the content in the Excel worksheet. Parameters may be predefined, typed in or can be defined as a range of cells in an Excel worksheet. The Web Query can be saved as part of the Excel workbook and refreshed when it is opened.

A sample routine that uses Webqueries to get info from ARIN about IP addresses

is provided below.

Have a look around @ sites you can Extract Data from. Web queries are a very useful and powerful feature. I encourange you to have a play with it as i have below.