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Question

Parse a nested xml with PHP to an object

Answer 1

+2 A:

<?php
// The file test.xml contains an XML document with a root element
// and at least an element /[root]/title.

if (file_exists('test.xml')) {
    $xml = simplexml_load_file('test.xml');

    print_r($xml);
} else {
    exit('Failed to open test.xml.');
}
?>

r3zn1k 2009-12-10 13:22:23

be aware that this returns simpleXML elements and not plain objects. simplexml elements behave differently in some contexts. Check the documentation for examples.

Pekka 2009-12-10 13:23:17

I wonder if this really works as i know that simpleXML has a big issue with namespaces.

Peter Lindqvist 2009-12-10 13:53:52

SimpleXML works just fine with namespaces, it's just that it doesn't always behave as you think it would.

Josh Davis 2009-12-11 04:58:15

Well unexepected behaviour is not what i call "works just fine" but that's a matter of opinion. I've never gotten round to making it work.

Peter Lindqvist 2009-12-11 13:56:17

Answer 2

+1 A:

Define an extension to DOMDocument

class MyDOMDocument extends DOMDocument
{
    public function toArray(DOMNode $oDomNode = null)
    {
        // return empty array if dom is blank
        if (is_null($oDomNode) && !$this->hasChildNodes()) {
            return array();
        }
        $oDomNode = (is_null($oDomNode)) ? $this->documentElement : $oDomNode;
        if (!$oDomNode->hasChildNodes()) {
            $mResult = $oDomNode->nodeValue;
        } else {
            $mResult = array();
            foreach ($oDomNode->childNodes as $oChildNode) {
                // how many of these child nodes do we have?
                // this will give us a clue as to what the result structure should be
                $oChildNodeList = $oDomNode->getElementsByTagName($oChildNode->nodeName);
                $iChildCount = 0;
                // there are x number of childs in this node that have the same tag name
                // however, we are only interested in the # of siblings with the same tag name
                foreach ($oChildNodeList as $oNode) {
                    if ($oNode->parentNode->isSameNode($oChildNode->parentNode)) {
                        $iChildCount++;
                    }
                }
                $mValue = $this->toArray($oChildNode);
                $sKey   = ($oChildNode->nodeName{0} == '#') ? 0 : $oChildNode->nodeName;
                $mValue = is_array($mValue) ? $mValue[$oChildNode->nodeName] : $mValue;
                // how many of thse child nodes do we have?
                if ($iChildCount > 1) {  // more than 1 child - make numeric array
                    $mResult[$sKey][] = $mValue;
                } else {
                    $mResult[$sKey] = $mValue;
                }
            }
            // if the child is <foo>bar</foo>, the result will be array(bar)
            // make the result just 'bar'
            if (count($mResult) == 1 && isset($mResult[0]) && !is_array($mResult[0])) {
                $mResult = $mResult[0];
            }
        }
        // get our attributes if we have any
        $arAttributes = array();
        if ($oDomNode->hasAttributes()) {
            foreach ($oDomNode->attributes as $sAttrName=>$oAttrNode) {
                // retain namespace prefixes
                $arAttributes["@{$oAttrNode->nodeName}"] = $oAttrNode->nodeValue;
            }
        }
        // check for namespace attribute - Namespaces will not show up in the attributes list
        if ($oDomNode instanceof DOMElement && $oDomNode->getAttribute('xmlns')) {
            $arAttributes["@xmlns"] = $oDomNode->getAttribute('xmlns');
        }
        if (count($arAttributes)) {
            if (!is_array($mResult)) {
                $mResult = (trim($mResult)) ? array($mResult) : array();
            }
            $mResult = array_merge($mResult, $arAttributes);
        }
        $arResult = array($oDomNode->nodeName=>$mResult);
        return $arResult;
    }
}

Use like this

$mydom = new MyDOMDocument();
$mydom->load('test.xml');

print_r($mydom->toArray());

Peter Lindqvist 2009-12-10 13:58:00

Hi Peter, thank you very very much! That helped me to get started. But I'm not done yet, so maybe I have to ask here again.

MagD 2009-12-11 02:09:43

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Parse a nested xml with PHP to an object

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