XML and PHP

Week 9 – XML and PHP
Internet Technologies and Web

Services
Aims of the lecture
• At the end of today’s lecture students should
be able to
– Read an XML file saved on server
– Write php code to manipulate xml files
XML file
• Consider the following file which is saved on
server as note.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<note>
<from>Jani</from>
<to>Tove</to>
<message>Remember me this
weekend</message>
</note>
Generating XML using PHP code
• The following code generates the above the xml file
using php:
<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");
echo "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>";
echo "<note>";
echo "<from>Jani</from>";
echo "<to>Tove</to>";
echo "<message>Remember me this
weekend</message>";
echo "</note>";
?>
XML Parsers
• To read and update, create and manipulate an
XML document, you will need an XML parser.
• In PHP there are two major types of XML
parsers:
– Tree-Based Parsers
– Event-Based Parsers
Tree-based parsers
• Tree-based parsers holds the entire document in
Memory and transforms the XML document into
a Tree structure. It analyzes the whole document,
and provides access to the Tree elements (DOM).
• This type of parser is a better option for smaller
XML documents, but not for large XML document
as it causes major performance issues.
• Example of tree-based parsers:
– SimpleXML
– DOM
Event-based parsers
• Event-based parsers do not hold the entire
document in Memory, instead, they read in one
node at a time and allow you to interact with in
real time. Once you move onto the next node,
the old one is thrown away.
• This type of parser is well suited for large XML
documents. It parses faster and consumes less
memory.
• Example of event-based parsers:
– XMLReader
– XML Expat Parser
PHP SimpleXML Parser
• SimpleXML is a PHP extension that allows us to easily
manipulate and get XML data.
• 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.
• Compared to DOM or the Expat parser, SimpleXML
takes a fewer lines of code to read text data from an
element.
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.
• $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>";
Simple_xml_load()
• The example below shows how to use the simplexml_load_string()
function to read XML data from a string:
• <?php
$myXMLData =
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>";
$xml=simplexml_load_string($myXMLData) or die("Error: Cannot
create object");
print_r($xml);
?>
Output
• SimpleXMLElement Object ( [to] => Tove
[from] => Jani [heading] => Reminder [body]
=> Don't forget me this weekend! )
Error Handling
• Use the libxml functionality to retrieve all XML
errors when loading the document and then
iterate over the errors.
Example: Trying to load a broken XML
string
• <?php
libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
$myXMLData =
<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 " ", $error->message;
}
} else {
print_r($xml);
}
?>
Output produced
• 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.
• <?php
$xml=simplexml_load_file("note.xml") or
die("Error: Cannot create object");
print_r($xml);
?>
Output produced
• SimpleXMLElement Object ( [to] => Tove
[from] => Jani [heading] => Reminder [body]
=> Don't forget me this weekend! )
PHP SimpleXML - Get Node Values
• <?php
$xml=simplexml_load_file("note.xml") or
echo $xml->to . " ";
echo $xml->from . " ";
echo $xml->heading . " ";
echo $xml->body;
?>
Output
• Tove
Jani
Reminder
Don't forget me this weekend!
Books.xml
• <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<bookstore>
<book category="COOKING">
<title lang="en">Everyday Italian</title>
<author>Giada De Laurentiis</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>30.00</price>
</book>
<book category="CHILDREN">
<title lang="en">Harry Potter</title>
<author>J K. Rowling</author>
<year>2005</year>
</book>
<book category="WEB">
<title lang="en-us">XQuery Kick Start</title>
<author>James McGovern</author>
<year>2003</year>
</book>
<book category="WEB">
<title lang="en-us">Learning XML</title>
<author>Erik T. Ray</author>
<year>2003</year>
</book>
</bookstore>
PHP SimpleXML - Get Node Values of
Specific Elements
• <?php
$xml=simplexml_load_file("books.xml") or
echo $xml->book[0]->title . " ";
echo $xml->book[1]->title;
?>
Output
• Everyday Italian
Harry Potter
PHP SimpleXML - Get Node Values -
Loop
• The following example loops through all the <book>
elements in the "books.xml" file, and gets the node values
of the <title>, <author>, <year>, and <price> elements:
• <?php
$xml=simplexml_load_file("books.xml") or die("Error:
Cannot create object");
foreach($xml->children() as $books) {
echo $books->title . ", ";
echo $books->author . ", ";
echo $books->year . ", ";
echo $books->price . " ";
}
?>
Output
• Everyday Italian, Giada De Laurentiis, 2005,
30.00
Harry Potter, J K. Rowling, 2005, 29.99
XQuery Kick Start, James McGovern, 2003,
49.99
Learning XML, Erik T. Ray, 2003, 39.95
PHP SimpleXML - Get Attribute Values
• The following example gets the attribute value of
the "category" attribute of the first <book>
element and the attribute value of the "lang"
attribute of the <title> element in the second
<book> element:
• <?php
echo $xml->book[0]['category'] . " ";
echo $xml->book[1]->title['lang'];
?>
Output
• COOKING
en
PHP SimpleXML - Get Attribute Values
- Loop
• The following example gets the attribute values
of the <title> elements in the "books.xml" file:
• <?php
foreach($xml->children() as $books) {
echo $books->title['lang'];
echo " ";
}
?>
Output
• en
en
en-us
en-us
Adding a new child
• Add a child element to the <body> element and a new <footer> element:
• <?php
$note=<<<XML
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</note>
XML;
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($note);
// Add a child element to the body element
$xml->body->addChild("date","2014-01-01");
// Add a child element after the last element inside note
$footer = $xml->addChild("footer","Some footer text");
echo $xml->asXML();
?>
Output
Tove Jani Reminder Don't forget me this
weekend!2014-01-01
Some footer text
Example: count()
• <?php
$xml=<<<XML
<cars>
<car name="Volvo">
<child/>
<child/>
<child/>
<child/>
</car>
<car name="BMW">
<child/>
<child/>
</car>
</cars>
XML;
$elem=new SimpleXMLElement($xml);
foreach ($elem as $car)
{
printf("%s has %d children. ", $car['name'], $car->count());
}
?>
Output
• Volvo has 4 children.
BMW has 2 children.
References
• Examples come from:
http://www.w3schools.com/

XML and PHP

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XML and PHP

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Week 9 – XML and PHP

Internet Technologies and Web

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