How to extract a distinct value in simple xml in php

Question

SimpleXMLElement Object ( [@attributes] => Array ( [type] => array ) [time-entry] => Array ( [0] SimpleXMLElement Object ( [date] => 2010-06-17 [description] => MGIN0: internal administration [hours] => 7.5 [id] => 26334957 [person-id] => 4912655 [project-id] => 4437844 [todo-item-id] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [@attributes] => Array ( [type] => integer [nil] => true ) ) ) [5] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [date] => 2010-06-18 [description] => MGPJ1:WG'07 Outreach, schedule send [hours] => 0.25 [id] => 26376694 [person-id] => 2962280 [project-id] => 3652412 [todo-item-id] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [@attributes] => Array ( [type] => integer [nil] => true ) ) ) [6] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [date] => 2010-06-18 [description] => TCDM1: WG'07 Outreach, upload list [hours] => 0.25 [id] => 26376680 [person-id] => 2962280 [project-id] => 3652412 [todo-item-id] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [@attributes] => Array ( [type] => integer [nil] => true ) ) ) [7] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [date] => 2010-06-18 [description] => MGPJ1: Class of 2009 Anniversary, q/c, testing [hours] => 0.25 [id] => 26371073 [person-id] => 2962280 [project-id] => 3652412 [todo-item-id] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [@attributes] => Array ( [type] => integer [nil] => true ) ) )

I want to extract distict value from given information.Here there is a sample of 4 entries,out of which 3 are of same person and 1 is of single person.So i want to extract the single distinct entry. Pls help.I am new to php and not knowing the syntax properly.

Answer 1

i don't quite see the structure of your simplexml object, but you'll need to count the entries with unique person-id s...

$entries = array();
foreach ($object->{'time-entry'} as $entry) {
    if (!isset($entries[$entry->{'person-id'}])) {
        $entries[$entry->{'person-id'}] = array();
    }
    $entries[$entry->{'person-id'}][] = $entry;
}

$theEntryYouNeed = null;
foreach ($entries as $personId => $entryArray) {
    if (count($entryArray) == 1) {
        $theEntryYouNeed = array_pop($entryArray);
        break;
    }
}