docs: Add an example of running PlaywrightCrawler using local Chrome and Firefox profiles.

[Mantisus]

Description

• Add an example of running PlaywrightCrawler using local Chrome and Firefox profiles.

[Pijukatel]

Nice. I learned something new.

One question that came to my mind after reading the docs. Is it safer even for Firefox to copy the profile to temdir? I guess the profile can get changed during crawling? Is that desired side effect, or bad side effect?

[Mantisus]

Is it safer even for Firefox to copy the profile to temdir? I guess the profile can get changed during crawling? Is that desired side effect, or bad side effect?

It depends on the goal. If it should not affect the main profile, then yes, it is safer to use a copy.

But I can imagine a use case where all changes made during scanning must be synchronized with the profile.

[Mantisus]

This doc may also solve issue #1071. Since it shows how to use channel, use the installed Chrome.

@B4nan, what do you think?

[janbuchar]

This is pretty cool, do you think you could make a JS counterpart to the example as well?

[Mantisus]

do you think you could make a JS counterpart to the example as well?

I think I'll try to do that. 🙂

[B4nan]

This doc may also solve issue #1071. Since it shows how to use channel, use the installed Chrome.

In JS version we have useChrome flag under launchContext in browser crawlers, and a default mechanism for inference of the browser executable path:

const crawler = new PlaywrightCrawler({
    launchContext: {
        useChrome: true,
    },
    requestHandler() { ... },
});

https://github.com/apify/crawlee/blob/07cd2c43fcbf21c6917b5bf55cd1af64c4bdcb00/packages/browser-crawler/src/internals/browser-launcher.ts#L202-L204
https://github.com/apify/crawlee/blob/07cd2c43fcbf21c6917b5bf55cd1af64c4bdcb00/packages/browser-crawler/src/internals/browser-launcher.ts#L220

Not saying we need to port this 1:1, but IMO it's very common to use chrome for scraping, so having a bit more native support than just a guide on how to use it with Playwright feels right to me.

And more importantly, we have a ready made docker image with preinstalled chrome:

https://github.com/apify/apify-actor-docker/tree/master/node-playwright-chrome