The data from yahoo is JSON so it is basically structured data within unstructured data. If you scrape based on exact delimiters and their location then you will constantly need to rewrite your code like you said. If you treat the HTML like one big "string" then there is usually a keyword marker that can act as your "start of data". This is a way to keep your code more nimble. I don't deny that this is a headache and a possible waste of time. We are not on a "time management" message board. If you want to spend your free time doing it then yes it is possible regardless of what api services yahoo shuts down.
Scraping Yahoo looks like a mess to me. Just tried. Then I tried google and this is the string you would look for: ["SB","Safe Bulkers, Inc.","3.42" ["SB" - is only there once - an unique entry. So, you would look for ["your symbol" Good Luck !
Anyways, to answer this question from the OP of the OP... Get a broker with an included data feed. Or just pay a small fee for a dedicated data feed. End of line.
Yup, just a pain in the ass. I only need about 50 tickers (stocks and ETF's) on an EOD basis, but this drives my portfolio, a couple of Wealthlab trading scripts (which are now dead in the water, since it's WL 4.0 - unless I convert from native WL to ASCII upload), and my semi-annual 401K re-balancing. Work that I wasn't planning on doing, but I guess this day of reckoning was about to come sooner or later. How much did Verizon (over)pay for this company?
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best......great idea. I was going to build a DDE-based spreadsheet to use with my IB feed, but I like your idea; thanks for that! Didn't know that their portfolio feature was exportable like that. This solves a couple of my problems right away. Unfortunately, my Wealthlab issue is much larger, but not as urgent. Thanks again!