yadc 0.2.1

Yet Another DVSA Cancellation checker

#+title: YADC: Yet Another DVSA Checker

YADC is yet another checker for driving cancellations in the UK.

- why another? :: Because all the code I found on github doesn't work with the
  latest anti-bot protections on dvsa.  Besides, it was all rather
  spaghettified.  YADC is, I hope a little cleaner and more modular.  It should
  be easier to modify down the line.
- why a bot? :: Because I can't get a driving test.  Note that I /do not think/
  this solution is remotely ideal.  See the appeal below.
- will you maintain this? :: Not if I get a test and pass.  But hopefully it
  should be a better framework for the next generation to come along and do the
  same.

* Features
  YADC is:

  - cleanly written and object-oriented
  - neat.  We use a context manager to handle the browser; I'm pretty proud of
    that.
  - easy to extend
  - easy (hopefully) to get around the next rubbish DVSA put up
  - pretty immune to blocking (thanks to TOR)
  - pretty colourful, too. We have coloured logs (thanks to ~coloredlogs~),
    spinners (thanks to ~Halo~) and well-formatted output. When things go wrong,
    we save a traceback, a screenshot, and the html the browser was seeing.

  YADC is not:

  - my idea.  I started with [[https://github.com/tp223/Driving-Test-Cancellations][this repo]] and extensively rewrote the logic from
    the ground up.  I got the idea of the poisson sleep from [[https://github.com/birdcolour/dvsa-practicals][this repo]], although
    I didn't take any code directly from anything.
  - infallible
  - capable of booking tests for you (thanks to @chrishat34 it will reserve them, though).
  - always going to work
  - properly supported

* Installation

** With pip

~YADC~ is now deployed on PyPi, so you can just

#+begin_src:bash
python3 -m pip install YADC
#+end_src

However, since every individual setup is going to vary somewhat, ~YADC~ /is only
a library/.  You still have to decide how to use it.  A starting point is
provided in the ~main.py~ of this repository: save it somewhere, edit it, and
off you go.  A dummy CLI is provided which will merely direct you to do this ;)

If anyone wishes to write a proper CLI I will happily merge it.

Note that if you want captcha defeating you need to download [[https://github.com/dessant/buster/releases][buster]] and unzip it
somewhere you can get at from your ~main.py~.  Likewise if you want ~tor~, it
needs to be installed and executable as the user running your `main.py`.

** From git (for development).

  - clone the repo
  - run ~poetry install~
  - run ~poetry shell~
  - (optional) to download [[https://github.com/dessant/buster/releases][buster]] and unzip it.
  - (optional) install ~tor~ and ensure it can be run as a user.
  - edit ~main.py~ with your setup.
  - run ~python -m yadc.main~

* Usage
  Currently you have to be at the computer to do anything.  You will see the
  browser moving, which should help.  If you want to interact with it manually,
  hit `Ctrl-z` in the terminal to stop execution of the script, and the browser
  is yours (note that manual interaction increases the chance of being detected
  by some anti-bot measures).  If the script finds a test it will notify you
  with the notify function you set (the default is just `print`, so do set
  something more appropriate!  A nice service is `pushover`, though it does have
  a once-off payment).  If the script does find a test it will block
   

* Roadmap
  - [ ] Currently we don't use ~undetected_chromedriver~ as I couldn't get it
    playing nicely with remote controlling.  This should be easy to fix, but I
    haven't looked into it.  We may not need it anyhow, but it might be a good
    idea to take the default options from uc and use them.  A pr for this would
    be welcome.
  - [ ] We have no cli.  That's probably not an issue, but it would be trivial
    to add one, e.g. with click.
* Appeal to DVSA
  The current situation is a mess.  Because of the pandemic, there are no tests
  for months; that is not your fault.  So we are all forced either to wait for
  months, or to book a last-minute cancellation. But we can't do that, because
  all the companies using bots to find tests snatch them up.  So we all use
  those companies; and then DVSA's website becomes even more useless.  There
  are two *easy* solutions you could adopt:

  - Add an auto-booking with queue feature to the website.  Once a test is
    booked you get to specify criteria for a better test, and enter in a queue.
    When you rise to the top of that queue, you get whatever matches reserved
    for you.  In other words, implement the third-party solution yourself.  I
    would gladly pay a reasonable sum for it.  And the third-party firms will
    go out of business and stop spamming your website.

  - Add an API, and charge for access.  That way the third parties will use the
    API.  You can release tests to the API after x minutes to give humans a
    chance as well.  You can go after anyone who tries to use a bot to get
    round the limit, and providing your API is reasonable, nobody will mind.

  Instead of these, you make the already useless website even harder to use.
  Bot protection is an uphill battle.  So is bot developing.  The only people
  who profit from this are companies like google (via chrome/chromium).