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🌟 Day 21: Instagram Bot - Advanced Automation & Database Integration 🌟

Welcome to Day 21! 🎉 Today, we’ll move beyond basic Instagram automation and integrate a database to store important data like login details, user interactions, and stories viewed. You’ll also learn how to use environment variables securely and run your bot more efficiently.

✅ What You’ll Learn Today:

Using SQLite for local storage in your bot.
Storing login credentials and stories viewed in a database.
Securing your bot using environment variables.
Making your bot more efficient by reducing redundant logins.

🏷️ 1. Using SQLite for Local Storage

We’ll use SQLite, a lightweight database, to store:

Login credentials
Profiles visited
Stories viewed

✅ Setting Up SQLite Database:


import sqlite3

# Connect to the SQLite database
conn = sqlite3.connect('instagram_bot.db')
cursor = conn.cursor()

# Create a table for login credentials
cursor.execute('''
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS credentials (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
    username TEXT NOT NULL,
    password TEXT NOT NULL
)
''')

# Create a table for viewed stories
cursor.execute('''
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS viewed_stories (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
    profile_name TEXT NOT NULL,
    story_time TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
)
''')

# Commit and close
conn.commit()
conn.close()

🖥️ 2. Inserting Data into the Database

After setting up the database, let’s create a function to insert credentials and log viewed stories.

✅ Updating database.py to Insert Data:


import sqlite3

# Function to add login credentials
def add_credentials(username, password):
    conn = sqlite3.connect('instagram_bot.db')
    cursor = conn.cursor()
    cursor.execute('INSERT INTO credentials (username, password) VALUES (?, ?)', (username, password))
    conn.commit()
    conn.close()

# Function to log viewed stories
def log_viewed_story(profile_name):
    conn = sqlite3.connect('instagram_bot.db')
    cursor = conn.cursor()
    cursor.execute('INSERT INTO viewed_stories (profile_name) VALUES (?)', (profile_name,))
    conn.commit()
    conn.close()

🗝️ 3. Securing Credentials with Environment Variables

Instead of hardcoding login details, store them in environment variables using dotenv.

✅ Installing dotenv:

pip install python-dotenv

✅ Using dotenv in Your Bot:


import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
import time

# Load environment variables
load_dotenv()
username = os.getenv('IG_USERNAME')
password = os.getenv('IG_PASSWORD')

# Function to view stories
def view_stories(profile):
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(executable_path="path/to/chromedriver")
    driver.get("https://www.instagram.com/accounts/login/")
    time.sleep(5)

    # Log in
    driver.find_element(By.NAME, "username").send_keys(username)
    driver.find_element(By.NAME, "password").send_keys(password)
    driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//*[@id="loginForm"]/div/div[3]/button').click()
    time.sleep(5)

    # Navigate to the profile
    driver.get(f"https://www.instagram.com/{profile}/")
    time.sleep(5)

    # Log the story viewed
    from database import log_viewed_story
    log_viewed_story(profile)

    driver.quit()

📊 4. Viewing the Database Contents

You can view your database contents using SQLite CLI or a tool like DB Browser for SQLite.

✅ Viewing the Database via CLI:

sqlite3 instagram_bot.db

SELECT * FROM credentials;

SELECT * FROM viewed_stories;

🤖 5. Efficient Login Handling

Instead of logging in every time, you can:

Check if the bot is already logged in.
Skip the login if already authenticated.

✅ Checking Login Status:


# Function to check if the bot is already logged in
def is_logged_in(driver):
    driver.get("https://www.instagram.com/")
    time.sleep(3)
    try:
        driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//span[@aria-label="Profile"]')
        return True
    except:
        return False

🏆 Bonus: Full Code with Database Integration

Here’s the full code with story viewing, environment variables, and database logging:


import os
import time
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from database import log_viewed_story

# Load environment variables
load_dotenv()
username = os.getenv('IG_USERNAME')
password = os.getenv('IG_PASSWORD')

# Function to view stories
def view_stories(profile):
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(executable_path="path/to/chromedriver")
    driver.get("https://www.instagram.com/accounts/login/")
    time.sleep(5)

    # Check if logged in
    if not is_logged_in(driver):
        driver.find_element(By.NAME, "username").send_keys(username)
        driver.find_element(By.NAME, "password").send_keys(password)
        driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//*[@id="loginForm"]/div/div[3]/button').click()
        time.sleep(5)

    # Navigate to the profile
    driver.get(f"https://www.instagram.com/{profile}/")
    time.sleep(5)

    # Log the story viewed
    log_viewed_story(profile)

    driver.quit()

# Function to check if the bot is already logged in
def is_logged_in(driver):
    driver.get("https://www.instagram.com/")
    time.sleep(3)
    try:
        driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//span[@aria-label="Profile"]')
        return True
    except:
        return False

# Run the bot
if __name__ == "__main__":
    profile = input("Enter the profile to view stories: ")
    view_stories(profile)

🎯 Day 21 Task:

Set up a SQLite database for your bot.
Store credentials and viewed stories in the database.
Use environment variables to secure your credentials.
Optimize the bot to skip login if already authenticated.

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