What is screen scraping? - Definition from Whatis.com

Screen scraping is programming that translates between legacy application programs (written to communicate with now generally obsolete input/output devices and user interfaces) and new user interfaces so that the logic and data associated with the legacy programs can continue to be used. Screen scraping is sometimes called advanced terminal emulation. A program that does screen scraping must take the data coming from the legacy program that is formatted for the screen of an older type of terminal such as an IBM 3270 display or a Digital Equipment Corporation VT100 and reformat it for a Windows 98 user or someone using a Web browser. The program must also reformat user input from the newer user interfaces (such as a Windows graphical user interface or a Web browser) so that the request can be handled by the legacy application as if it came from the user of the older device and user interface.

This was last updated in September 1999

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