from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
screen scraper
<tool> A piece of software used to automate interaction
between two computer systems through the terminal interface
(designed for human use) of one of those systems.
Typically, the screen scraper interacts with {terminal
emulation} software to generate input to and process output
from the "host" system through terminal screens. Screen
scrapers are advantageous when modifications to the host
system are undesireable, when it is desireable to make use of
the existing business and data integrity logic on the host,
and when no other (peer-to-peer) interface method is
available.
Some products employ screen scraping combined with additional
functionality which provides a {DBMS}-like or other
specialised interface to the host. The host system is often
called a "{legacy} system" because it usually the older of the
systems involved and based on older technology.
(1995-04-19)