PHP SimpleXML Parser
SimpleXML is a PHP extension that allows us to easily manipulate and get XML data.
The SimpleXML Parser
SimpleXML is a tree-based parser.SimpleXML provides an easy way of getting an element's name, attributes and textual content if you know the XML document's structure or layout.
SimpleXML turns an XML document into a data structure you can iterate through like a collection of arrays and objects.
Installation
As of PHP 5, the SimpleXML functions are part of the PHP core. No installation is required to use these functions.PHP SimpleXML - Read From String
The PHP simplexml_load_string() function is used to read XML data from a string.Assume we have a variable that contains XML data, like this:
$myXMLData =
"<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>"; The example below shows how to use the simplexml_load_string() function to read XML data from a string:Example
<?php
$myXMLData =
"<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>";
$xml=simplexml_load_string($myXMLData) or die("Error: Cannot create object");
print_r($xml);
?> SimpleXMLElement Object ( [to] => Tove [from] => Jani [heading] => Reminder [body] => Don't forget me this weekend! ) Error Handling Tip: Use the libxml functionality to retrieve all XML errors when loading the document and then iterate over the errors. The following example tries to load a broken XML string:Example
<?php
libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
$myXMLData =
"<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<document>
<user>John Doe</wronguser>
<email>john@example.com</wrongemail>
</document>";
$xml = simplexml_load_string($myXMLData);
if ($xml === false) {
echo "Failed loading XML: ";
foreach(libxml_get_errors() as $error) {
echo "<br>", $error->message;
}
} else {
print_r($xml);
}
?> Failed loading XML:
Opening and ending tag mismatch: user line 3 and wronguser
Opening and ending tag mismatch: email line 4 and wrongemail PHP SimpleXML - Read From File
The PHP simplexml_load_file() function is used to read XML data from a file.Assume we have an XML file called "note.xml", that looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note> The example below shows how to use the simplexml_load_file() function to read XML data from a file:Example
<?php
$xml=simplexml_load_file("note.xml") or die("Error: Cannot create object");
print_r($xml);
?> SimpleXMLElement Object ( [to] => Tove [from] => Jani [heading] => Reminder [body] => Don't forget me this weekend! ) Tip: The next chapter shows how to get/retrieve node values from an XML file with SimpleXML!
