Parsing XML data using into PHP array

Question 1

I have some XML files containing hotel data. I need to parse hotel data from these files and save to PHP array. Required fields are brandId, brandName, name, address etc from Hotel node and city, address from Location node. I was using SimpleXML PHP extenstion. But it didn't working for me.

Is there any other good PHP scripts for doing this task. Or how can i update my current script. I have provided my sample XML below.

<s:Envelope xmlns:s="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
<s:Body xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
 <SearchHotelsResponse xmlns="http://example.com/webservices/hotelhds">
 <SearchHotelsResult>
 <Info version="7.123" culture="en-US" serverTime="2017-03-01T05:20:08.9411324-05:00" xmlns="http://schemas.abc.com/webservices/hotelV5rggs"/>
 <HotelList xmlns="http://schemas.abc.com/webservices/hotelrshhslkmnj">
 <Hotel brandId="424" brandName="Independent Managed Hotels" category="Deluxe" PropertySubType="" NumOfRoom="899" minAverPublishPrice="345.16" PropertyType="Hotel" name="Lotte New York Palace - Demo" bestValue="false" hotelId="1040577" provider="localTgsProvider" thumb="http://image1.urlforimages.com/Images/1040577/100x100/1559480295.jpg" currency="USD" minAverPrice="345.16" starsLevel="4.5" desc="Demo - Location&#xD;&#xA;This modern luxury hotel is one of the top addresses in the country. It enjoys a superb midtown location on Madison Avenue, opposite St Patrick's Cathedral and directly at the heart of the city. Countless shops and entertainment venues, b">
 <Location countryCode="US" stateCode="NY" city="New York" searchingState="New York" searchingCity="New York" location="Manhattan - Midtown" address="Demo - 455 Madison Avenue New York New York 10022" longitude="-73.9753354497376" latitude="40.758002144334"/>
 <RoomTypes>
 <RoomType NumOfBathrooms="0" roomTypeCategory="Superior" roomTypeCategoryId="20" nights="7" name="Superior" productId="1040577;2754674;302661" startDate="2017-03-20T00:00:00" hotelRoomTypeId="2754674" roomId="80" isAvailable="true">
 <AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Availability offset="0" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="1" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="2" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="3" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="4" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="5" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="6" status="true"/>
 </AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Occupancies>
 <Occupancy taxPublish="335.05" avrNightPublishPrice="345.16" occupId="1040577;2754674;302661;3;2;0" occupPrice="2416.1" tax="335.05" maxGuests="2" maxChild="0" avrNightPrice="345.16" occupPublishPrice="2416.1" isPublish="false" bedding="2,1">
 <PriceBreakdown>
 <Price offset="0" value="408.38" valuePublish="408.38"/>
 <Price offset="1" value="408.38" valuePublish="408.38"/>
 <Price offset="2" value="408.38" valuePublish="408.38"/>
 <Price offset="3" value="408.38" valuePublish="408.38"/>
 <Price offset="4" value="260.86" valuePublish="260.86"/>
 <Price offset="5" value="260.86" valuePublish="260.86"/>
 <Price offset="6" value="260.86" valuePublish="260.86"/>
 </PriceBreakdown>
 <Rooms>
 <Room seqNum="1">
 <AdultNum>2</AdultNum>
 <ChildNum>0</ChildNum>
 </Room>
 </Rooms>
 <SelctedSupplements/>
 <BoardBases/>
 </Occupancy>
 </Occupancies>
 </RoomType>
 <RoomType NumOfBathrooms="0" roomTypeCategory="Standard" roomTypeCategoryId="17" nights="7" name="Catheral View" productId="1040577;1165849;302661" startDate="2017-03-20T00:00:00" hotelRoomTypeId="1165849" roomId="4768962" isAvailable="true">
 <AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Availability offset="0" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="1" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="2" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="3" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="4" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="5" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="6" status="true"/>
 </AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Occupancies>
 <Occupancy taxPublish="378.77" avrNightPublishPrice="393.71" occupId="1040577;1165849;302661;3;2;0" occupPrice="2755.94" tax="378.77" maxGuests="2" maxChild="0" avrNightPrice="393.71" occupPublishPrice="2755.94" isPublish="false" bedding="2,1">
 <PriceBreakdown>
 <Price offset="0" value="463.7" valuePublish="463.7"/>
 <Price offset="1" value="463.7" valuePublish="463.7"/>
 <Price offset="2" value="463.7" valuePublish="463.7"/>
 <Price offset="3" value="463.7" valuePublish="463.7"/>
 <Price offset="4" value="300.38" valuePublish="300.38"/>
 <Price offset="5" value="300.38" valuePublish="300.38"/>
 <Price offset="6" value="300.38" valuePublish="300.38"/>
 </PriceBreakdown>
 <Rooms>
 <Room seqNum="1">
 <AdultNum>2</AdultNum>
 <ChildNum>0</ChildNum>
 </Room>
 </Rooms>
 <SelctedSupplements/>
 <BoardBases/>
 </Occupancy>
 </Occupancies>
 </RoomType>
 <RoomType NumOfBathrooms="0" roomTypeCategory="Standard" roomTypeCategoryId="17" nights="7" name="Tower King" productId="1040577;4014667;302661" startDate="2017-03-20T00:00:00" hotelRoomTypeId="4014667" roomId="2203455" isAvailable="true">
 <AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Availability offset="0" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="1" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="2" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="3" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="4" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="5" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="6" status="true"/>
 </AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Occupancies>
 <Occupancy taxPublish="553.49" avrNightPublishPrice="587.89" occupId="1040577;4014667;302661;3;2;0" occupPrice="4115.21" tax="553.49" maxGuests="2" maxChild="0" avrNightPrice="587.89" occupPublishPrice="4115.21" isPublish="false" bedding="2,1">
 <PriceBreakdown>
 <Price offset="0" value="684.98" valuePublish="684.98"/>
 <Price offset="1" value="684.98" valuePublish="684.98"/>
 <Price offset="2" value="684.98" valuePublish="684.98"/>
 <Price offset="3" value="684.98" valuePublish="684.98"/>
 <Price offset="4" value="458.43" valuePublish="458.43"/>
 <Price offset="5" value="458.43" valuePublish="458.43"/>
 <Price offset="6" value="458.43" valuePublish="458.43"/>
 </PriceBreakdown>
 <Rooms>
 <Room seqNum="1">
 <AdultNum>2</AdultNum>
 <ChildNum>0</ChildNum>
 </Room>
 </Rooms>
 <SelctedSupplements/>
 <BoardBases/>
 </Occupancy>
 </Occupancies>
 </RoomType>
 <RoomType NumOfBathrooms="0" roomTypeCategory="Suite" roomTypeCategoryId="19" nights="7" name="Tower Executive Suite" productId="1040577;13147974;302661" startDate="2017-03-20T00:00:00" hotelRoomTypeId="13147974" roomId="4830397" isAvailable="true">
 <AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Availability offset="0" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="1" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="2" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="3" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="4" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="5" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="6" status="true"/>
 </AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Occupancies>
 <Occupancy taxPublish="651.49" avrNightPublishPrice="696.84" occupId="1040577;13147974;302661;3;2;0" occupPrice="4877.88" tax="651.49" maxGuests="2" maxChild="0" avrNightPrice="696.84" occupPublishPrice="4877.88" isPublish="false" bedding="2,1">
 <PriceBreakdown>
 <Price offset="0" value="696.84" valuePublish="696.84"/>
 <Price offset="1" value="696.84" valuePublish="696.84"/>
 <Price offset="2" value="696.84" valuePublish="696.84"/>
 <Price offset="3" value="696.84" valuePublish="696.84"/>
 <Price offset="4" value="696.84" valuePublish="696.84"/>
 <Price offset="5" value="696.84" valuePublish="696.84"/>
 <Price offset="6" value="696.84" valuePublish="696.84"/>
 </PriceBreakdown>
 <Rooms>
 <Room seqNum="1">
 <AdultNum>2</AdultNum>
 <ChildNum>0</ChildNum>
 </Room>
 </Rooms>
 <SelctedSupplements/>
 <BoardBases/>
 </Occupancy>
 </Occupancies>
 </RoomType>
 <RoomType NumOfBathrooms="0" roomTypeCategory="Suite" roomTypeCategoryId="19" nights="7" name="Tower Corner Suite" productId="1040577;13147975;302661" startDate="2017-03-20T00:00:00" hotelRoomTypeId="13147975" roomId="4830398" isAvailable="true">
 <AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Availability offset="0" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="1" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="2" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="3" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="4" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="5" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="6" status="true"/>
 </AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Occupancies>
 <Occupancy taxPublish="1004.49" avrNightPublishPrice="1089.16" occupId="1040577;13147975;302661;3;2;0" occupPrice="7624.11" tax="1004.49" maxGuests="2" maxChild="0" avrNightPrice="1089.16" occupPublishPrice="7624.11" isPublish="false" bedding="2,1">
 <PriceBreakdown>
 <Price offset="0" value="1111.74" valuePublish="1111.74"/>
 <Price offset="1" value="1111.74" valuePublish="1111.74"/>
 <Price offset="2" value="1111.74" valuePublish="1111.74"/>
 <Price offset="3" value="1111.74" valuePublish="1111.74"/>
 <Price offset="4" value="1059.05" valuePublish="1059.05"/>
 <Price offset="5" value="1059.05" valuePublish="1059.05"/>
 <Price offset="6" value="1059.05" valuePublish="1059.05"/>
 </PriceBreakdown>
 <Rooms>
 <Room seqNum="1">
 <AdultNum>2</AdultNum>
 <ChildNum>0</ChildNum>
 </Room>
 </Rooms>
 <SelctedSupplements/>
 <BoardBases/>
 </Occupancy>
 </Occupancies>
 </RoomType>
 </RoomTypes>
 </Hotel>
 <Hotel brandId="288" brandName="Holiday Inn" category="First Class" PropertySubType="" NumOfRoom="200" minAverPublishPrice="202.77" PropertyType="Hotel" name="Holiday Inn NYC Times Square - Demo" bestValue="true" hotelId="1437966" provider="localTgsProvider" thumb="http://image1.urlforimages.com/Images/1437966/100x100/8012H66O018.JPG" currency="USD" minAverPrice="202.77" starsLevel="3.5" desc="Demo - ">
 <Location countryCode="US" stateCode="NY" city="New York" searchingState="New York" searchingCity="New York" location="Manhattan - Times Square/Broadway" address="Demo - 585 8th Avenue New York New York 10018" longitude="-73.991712" latitude="40.755229"/>
 <RoomTypes>
 <RoomType NumOfBathrooms="0" roomTypeCategory="Standard" roomTypeCategoryId="17" nights="7" name="Standard 2 Beds" productId="1437966;14787188;12927607" startDate="2017-03-20T00:00:00" hotelRoomTypeId="14787188" roomId="1286" isAvailable="true">
 <AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Availability offset="0" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="1" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="2" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="3" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="4" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="5" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="6" status="true"/>
 </AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Discount xsi:type="ProgressivePromotion" from="2017-03-20T00:00:00" to="2017-03-27T00:00:00" type="Percent" value="10" name="Special Deal"/>
 <Occupancies>
 <Occupancy taxPublish="208.76" avrNightPublishPrice="202.77" occupId="1437966;14787188;12927607;2;2;0;2" occupPrice="1419.4" tax="208.76" maxGuests="4" maxChild="2" avrNightPrice="202.77" occupPublishPrice="1419.4" isPublish="false" bedding="2,2">
 <PriceBreakdown>
 <Price offset="0" value="207.86" valuePublish="207.86"/>
 <Price offset="1" value="220.58" valuePublish="220.58"/>
 <Price offset="2" value="207.86" valuePublish="207.86"/>
 <Price offset="3" value="195.14" valuePublish="195.14"/>
 <Price offset="4" value="195.14" valuePublish="195.14"/>
 <Price offset="5" value="220.58" valuePublish="220.58"/>
 <Price offset="6" value="172.24" valuePublish="172.24"/>
 </PriceBreakdown>
 <Rooms>
 <Room seqNum="1">
 <AdultNum>2</AdultNum>
 <ChildNum>0</ChildNum>
 </Room>
 </Rooms>
 <SelctedSupplements>
 <Supplement xsi:type="PerRoomSupplement" suppId="1200127" suppName="2 tickets for Empire State Building " supptType="1" suppIsMandatory="false" suppChargeType="Addition" price="52.85" publishPrice="52.85"/>
 </SelctedSupplements>
 <BoardBases>
 <Boardbase bbId="1" bbName="Continental Breakfast" bbPrice="356.21" bbPublishPrice="356.21"/>
 </BoardBases>
 </Occupancy>
 </Occupancies>
 </RoomType>
 </RoomTypes>
 </Hotel>
 <Hotel brandId="51" brandName="Embassy Suites Hotels" category="First Class" PropertySubType="" NumOfRoom="189" minAverPublishPrice="198.19" PropertyType="Hotel" name="Embassy Suites Elizabeth - Newark Airport - Demo" bestValue="false" hotelId="1343771" provider="localTgsProvider" thumb="http://image1.urlforimages.com/Images/1343771/100x100/1629572161.jpg" currency="USD" minAverPrice="198.19" starsLevel="3.5" desc="Demo - Our straightforward suites include separate living rooms with pull-out sofas, microwaves, minifridges and coffeemakers, plus 2 flat-screen TVs, and WiFi (fee).&#xD;&#xA;&#xD;&#xA;A free made-to-order breakfast is offered each day">
 <Location countryCode="US" stateCode="NJ" city="Elizabeth" searchingState="New Jersey" searchingCity="Elizabeth" location="Newark Liberty International Airport" address="Demo - 95 International Blvd Elizabeth New Jersey 07201" longitude="-74.1771680963125" latitude="40.6621379134249"/>
 <RoomTypes>
 <RoomType NumOfBathrooms="0" roomTypeCategory="Standard" roomTypeCategoryId="17" nights="7" name="Standard" productId="1343771;13479523;11755505" startDate="2017-03-20T00:00:00" hotelRoomTypeId="13479523" roomId="3" isAvailable="true">
 <AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Availability offset="0" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="1" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="2" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="3" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="4" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="5" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="6" status="true"/>
 </AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Occupancies>
 <Occupancy taxPublish="236.02" avrNightPublishPrice="198.19" occupId="1343771;13479523;11755505;2;2;0;1" occupPrice="1387.31" tax="236.02" maxGuests="4" maxChild="2" avrNightPrice="198.19" occupPublishPrice="1387.31" isPublish="false" bedding="2,1">
 <PriceBreakdown>
 <Price offset="0" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 <Price offset="1" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 <Price offset="2" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 <Price offset="3" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 <Price offset="4" value="178.43" valuePublish="178.43"/>
 <Price offset="5" value="178.43" valuePublish="178.43"/>
 <Price offset="6" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 </PriceBreakdown>
 <Rooms>
 <Room seqNum="1">
 <AdultNum>2</AdultNum>
 <ChildNum>0</ChildNum>
 </Room>
 </Rooms>
 <SelctedSupplements/>
 <BoardBases>
 <Boardbase bbId="4" bbName="Breakfast Buffet" bbPrice="0" bbPublishPrice="0"/>
 </BoardBases>
 </Occupancy>
 </Occupancies>
 </RoomType>
 <RoomType NumOfBathrooms="0" roomTypeCategory="Standard" roomTypeCategoryId="17" nights="7" name="Standard Double" productId="1343771;15050057;11755505" startDate="2017-03-20T00:00:00" hotelRoomTypeId="15050057" roomId="932" isAvailable="true">
 <AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Availability offset="0" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="1" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="2" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="3" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="4" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="5" status="true"/>
 <Availability offset="6" status="true"/>
 </AvailabilityBreakdown>
 <Occupancies>
 <Occupancy taxPublish="236.02" avrNightPublishPrice="198.19" occupId="1343771;15050057;11755505;2;2;0;1" occupPrice="1387.31" tax="236.02" maxGuests="4" maxChild="0" avrNightPrice="198.19" occupPublishPrice="1387.31" isPublish="false" bedding="2,1">
 <PriceBreakdown>
 <Price offset="0" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 <Price offset="1" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 <Price offset="2" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 <Price offset="3" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 <Price offset="4" value="178.43" valuePublish="178.43"/>
 <Price offset="5" value="178.43" valuePublish="178.43"/>
 <Price offset="6" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 </PriceBreakdown>
 <Rooms>
 <Room seqNum="1">
 <AdultNum>2</AdultNum>
 <ChildNum>0</ChildNum>
 </Room>
 </Rooms>
 <SelctedSupplements/>
 <BoardBases>
 <Boardbase bbId="4" bbName="Breakfast Buffet" bbPrice="0" bbPublishPrice="0"/>
 </BoardBases>
 </Occupancy>
 <Occupancy taxPublish="236.02" avrNightPublishPrice="198.19" occupId="1343771;15050057;11755505;2;2;0;2" occupPrice="1387.31" tax="236.02" maxGuests="4" maxChild="0" avrNightPrice="198.19" occupPublishPrice="1387.31" isPublish="false" bedding="2,2">
 <PriceBreakdown>
 <Price offset="0" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 <Price offset="1" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 <Price offset="2" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 <Price offset="3" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 <Price offset="4" value="178.43" valuePublish="178.43"/>
 <Price offset="5" value="178.43" valuePublish="178.43"/>
 <Price offset="6" value="206.09" valuePublish="206.09"/>
 </PriceBreakdown>
 <Rooms>
 <Room seqNum="1">
 <AdultNum>2</AdultNum>
 <ChildNum>0</ChildNum>
 </Room>
 </Rooms>
 <SelctedSupplements/>
 <BoardBases>
 <Boardbase bbId="4" bbName="Breakfast Buffet" bbPrice="0" bbPublishPrice="0"/>
 </BoardBases>
 </Occupancy>
 </Occupancies>
 </RoomType>
 </RoomTypes>
 </Hotel>
</HotelList>
 </SearchHotelsResult>
 </SearchHotelsResponse>
 </s:Body>

My PHP script:

$hotels = simplexml_load_file('newyork.xml') or die("Error: Cannot create object");
echo "<ul id='hotelList'>";
foreach ($hotels->hotel as $hotelinfo)
{
 $title = $hotelinfo['name'];
 $brandId = $hotelinfo['brandId'];
 echo "Test1";
 //$artist=$hotelinfo->artist;
 //$date=$hotelinfo['dateplayed'];
 echo "<li><div class='title'>",$title,"</div><div class='artist'>by ",$brandId,"</div><time>",1111,"</time></li>";
}
echo "</ul>";

This script prodcuing "Error: Cannot create object".

Please help. Thank you.

Question 2

There are several problems in your code:

simplexml_load_file('newyork.xml') or die("Error: Cannot create object") is a kind of Perl syntax but that is wrong in PHP. A way to deal with SimpleXML errors is explained in the PHP manual: http://fr.php.net/manual/en/simplexml.examples-errors.php
$hotels->hotel doesn't describe the path from the root element until the Hotel elements (Hotel elements aren't children of the root element). As an aside, the case matters.
You need to use the method SimpleXMLElement::attributes to have an access to an element attributes.
Additional difficulty, you have to deal with namespaces.

You can rewrite your code this way:

libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
$sxe = simplexml_load_file('newyork.xml', 'SimpleXMLElement', 0, 's', true);
if ($sxe === false) {
 foreach(libxml_get_errors() as $error) {
 echo $error->message, PHP_EOL;
 }
} else {
 $hotels = $sxe -> Body[0] -> children("http://example.com/webservices/hotelhds")
 -> SearchHotelsResponse[0]
 -> SearchHotelsResult[0] -> children("http://schemas.abc.com/webservices/hotelrshhslkmnj")
 -> HotelList[0] -> Hotel;
 $rowF = '<li><div class="title">%s</div><div class="artist">by %s</div></li>'. PHP_EOL;
 foreach ($hotels as $hotel) {
 $attr = $hotel->attributes();
 printf($rowF, $attr['name'], $attr['brandId']);
 } 
}

or using XPath:

libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
$sxe = simplexml_load_file('newyork.xml');
if ($sxe === false) {
 foreach(libxml_get_errors() as $error) {
 echo $error->message . PHP_EOL;
 }
} else {
 $sxe->registerXPathNamespace('h', 'http://schemas.abc.com/webservices/hotelrshhslkmnj');
 $hotels = $sxe->xpath('//h:Hotel');
 foreach ($hotels as $hotel) {
 $attr = $hotel->attributes();
 printf($rowF, $attr['name'], $attr['brandId']);
 } 
}

Note that it is paradoxically less simple to use SimpleXML in this case. Indeed, DOMDocument gives a direct access to Hotel nodes (via DOMDocument::getElementsByTagName) and doesn't care about the namespaces:

$rowF = '<li><div class="title">%s</div><div class="artist">by %s</div></li>'. PHP_EOL;
$dom = new DOMDocument;
$dom->load('newyork.xml');
$hotelNodeList = $dom->getElementsByTagName('Hotel');
foreach ($hotelNodeList as $hotelNode) {
 printf($rowF, $hotelNode->getAttribute('name'), $hotelNode->getAttribute('brandId'));
}

Even XMLReader is more easy to use:

$xml = new XMLReader();
$xml->open('newyork.xml');
while ($xml->read()) {
 if ($xml->nodeType === XMLReader::ELEMENT && $xml->name == 'Hotel') {
 do {
 printf($rowF, $xml->getAttribute('name'), $xml->getAttribute('brandId'));
 } while($xml->next('Hotel'));
 break;
 }
}
$xml->close();

To finish, if you have several XML files with the same format to transform to html, it can be interesting to use XSLT.

Question 3

If we are getting XML as a response how can we use simplexml_load_string($response) here instead of simplexml_load_file?

Question 4

@user1693763: You don't have to change anything, replace only simplexml_load_file with simplexml_load_string with the same parameters except the first that must be this time the string containing your xml.

Question 5

<?php $dom = new DOMDocument();
$dom->loadXML('/path/to/xml.xml');?>

we can use DOMDocument with php like this. And you can $dom as object with all values.

Question 6

I just tried this. But this showing error: Warning: DOMDocument::loadXML(): Start tag expected, '<' not found in Entity, line: 1

Question 7

DOMDocument::loadXML is to load from a string, to load the XML content from a URL, you need DOMDocument::load

score 2 · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-03 18:31:13Z

There are several problems in your code:

simplexml_load_file('newyork.xml') or die("Error: Cannot create object") is a kind of Perl syntax but that is wrong in PHP. A way to deal with SimpleXML errors is explained in the PHP manual: http://fr.php.net/manual/en/simplexml.examples-errors.php
$hotels->hotel doesn't describe the path from the root element until the Hotel elements (Hotel elements aren't children of the root element). As an aside, the case matters.
You need to use the method SimpleXMLElement::attributes to have an access to an element attributes.
Additional difficulty, you have to deal with namespaces.

You can rewrite your code this way:

libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
$sxe = simplexml_load_file('newyork.xml', 'SimpleXMLElement', 0, 's', true);
if ($sxe === false) {
 foreach(libxml_get_errors() as $error) {
 echo $error->message, PHP_EOL;
 }
} else {
 $hotels = $sxe -> Body[0] -> children("http://example.com/webservices/hotelhds")
 -> SearchHotelsResponse[0]
 -> SearchHotelsResult[0] -> children("http://schemas.abc.com/webservices/hotelrshhslkmnj")
 -> HotelList[0] -> Hotel;
 $rowF = '<li><div class="title">%s</div><div class="artist">by %s</div></li>'. PHP_EOL;
 foreach ($hotels as $hotel) {
 $attr = $hotel->attributes();
 printf($rowF, $attr['name'], $attr['brandId']);
 } 
}

or using XPath:

libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
$sxe = simplexml_load_file('newyork.xml');
if ($sxe === false) {
 foreach(libxml_get_errors() as $error) {
 echo $error->message . PHP_EOL;
 }
} else {
 $sxe->registerXPathNamespace('h', 'http://schemas.abc.com/webservices/hotelrshhslkmnj');
 $hotels = $sxe->xpath('//h:Hotel');
 foreach ($hotels as $hotel) {
 $attr = $hotel->attributes();
 printf($rowF, $attr['name'], $attr['brandId']);
 } 
}

Note that it is paradoxically less simple to use SimpleXML in this case. Indeed, DOMDocument gives a direct access to Hotel nodes (via DOMDocument::getElementsByTagName) and doesn't care about the namespaces:

$rowF = '<li><div class="title">%s</div><div class="artist">by %s</div></li>'. PHP_EOL;
$dom = new DOMDocument;
$dom->load('newyork.xml');
$hotelNodeList = $dom->getElementsByTagName('Hotel');
foreach ($hotelNodeList as $hotelNode) {
 printf($rowF, $hotelNode->getAttribute('name'), $hotelNode->getAttribute('brandId'));
}

Even XMLReader is more easy to use:

$xml = new XMLReader();
$xml->open('newyork.xml');
while ($xml->read()) {
 if ($xml->nodeType === XMLReader::ELEMENT && $xml->name == 'Hotel') {
 do {
 printf($rowF, $xml->getAttribute('name'), $xml->getAttribute('brandId'));
 } while($xml->next('Hotel'));
 break;
 }
}
$xml->close();

To finish, if you have several XML files with the same format to transform to html, it can be interesting to use XSLT.

If we are getting XML as a response how can we use simplexml_load_string($response) here instead of simplexml_load_file?
@user1693763: You don't have to change anything, replace only simplexml_load_file with simplexml_load_string with the same parameters except the first that must be this time the string containing your xml.

CollectivesTM on Stack Overflow

Parsing XML data using into PHP array

2 Answers 2

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Post as a guest

Hot Network Questions

CollectivesTM on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Post as a guest

Related