PHP - Trying to display xml tag(tags with same name) nodevalue

Question

I am trying to display information from a XML file. I am using PHP and its DOMDocument class. I am attaching the xml file and the php code that i have tried.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<services>
<service>
    <type>Wash</type>
    <title>Wash1</title>
    <content>Full Exterior Hand Wash</content>
    <content>Chamois dry, Pressure Clean Wheels, All Door Jambs</content>   
    <content>Plus Free Typre Gloss</content>
    <price>Hatch/Sedan:$15</price>
    <price>Others:$20</price>
</service>

<service>
    <type>Wash</type>
    <title>Wash2</title>
    <content>Wash1</content>
    <content>Plus Vacuum</content>   
    <content>Glass Cleaned(IN/OUT)</content>
    <content>Plus Free Interior Wipe</content>
    <price>Hatch/Sedan:$30</price>
    <price>Others:$38</price>
 </service>
 </services>

The php code...

    <?php
    header('Content-Type: text/html;charset=utf8');

    $xmlfile = new DOMDocument();
    $xmlfile->load('services.xml');

    $services = $xmlfile->getElementsByTagName('service');

    foreach($services as $service){
         $titles = $service->getElementsByTagName('title');
         $title = $titles->item(0)->nodeValue;
         echo "<h1>$title</h1>";

         $prices = $xmlfile->getElementsByTagName('price');

         foreach($prices as $price){
             $price = $prices->item(0)->nodeValue;
             echo "<h1>$price</h1>";
         }

     }
?>

I am only trying to output price tag values, since if that works displaying content shouldn't be a problem. Eventually i will be displaying these values in HTML structure, one by one.

Thanks for your help.

Edit: This code at the moment outputs

Wash1
Hatch/Sedan:$15
Hatch/Sedan:$15
Hatch/Sedan:$15
Hatch/Sedan:$15
Wash2
Hatch/Sedan:$15 
Hatch/Sedan:$15
Hatch/Sedan:$15
Hatch/Sedan:$15

simpleigh · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-01 08:49:04Z

2

You've got two bugs here. As pointed out in another answer, you're getting $prices from the wrong element:

$prices = $xmlfile->getElementsByTagName('price');

... should be:

$prices = $service->getElementsByTagName('price');

This doesn't fix the problem completely, however, as there's another problem. You're looping through the prices but then always returning the first <price>. You need to change this:

$price = $prices->item(0)->nodeValue;

... to this:

$price = $price->nodeValue;

The corrected code then becomes:

<?php
header('Content-Type: text/html;charset=utf8');

$xmlfile = new DOMDocument();
$xmlfile->load('services.xml');

$services = $xmlfile->getElementsByTagName('service');

foreach($services as $service){
     $titles = $service->getElementsByTagName('title');
     $title = $titles->item(0)->nodeValue;
     echo "<h1>$title</h1>";

    $prices = $service->getElementsByTagName('price');

    foreach($prices as $price){
        $price = $price->nodeValue;
        echo "<h1>$price</h1>";
    }

}

... which outputs:

Wash1

Hatch/Sedan:$15

Others:$20

Wash2

Hatch/Sedan:$30

Others:$38

You've asked when it's necessary to use item(). This basically depends on whether you're dealing with a set of nodes (a DOMNodeList) or a single node (DOMNode). getElementsByTagName returns a DOMNodeList (there might be lots of elements) so you need to select a single one, e.g.:

 $titles = $service->getElementsByTagName('title'); // Returns a `DOMNodeList` with all the titles
 $title = $titles->item(0)->nodeValue;              // Grabs just the first title

You can iterate through a DOMNodeList (it implements the Traversable) interface. When you iterate you get a DOMNode back:

$prices = $service->getElementsByTagName('price'); // Returns a `DOMNodeList`
foreach ($prices as $price) { // $price is a `DOMNode`
    // ...
}

edited Aug 1, 2014 at 8:49

answered Aug 1, 2014 at 8:34

simpleigh

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5 Comments

M_J Over a year ago

I changed it to the way you have done it, but it doesn't show anything. I am trying this on Microsoft Azure, could that matter in any way.

M_J Over a year ago

sweet it worked, the server was down for some reason and it works. I really cannot get my head around when to use item() and when not to. Could to explain a bit or perhaps an online tutorial

M_J Over a year ago

To clear it if i had used for($i=0, i<= $prices, $i++) and then $price=$prices->item(i)->nodeValue; would this have worked?

simpleigh Over a year ago

I've added some more explanation. Iterating by index as you suggested would also work, although you need to change the loop termination from $i <= $prices to $i < $prices->length. I'd recommend sticking to foreach though, as it's cleaner.

M_J Over a year ago

That helped a lot, its completely clear. Thanks!! and yup i think i will stick with foreach

exussum · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-01 08:28:53Z

1

 $prices = $xmlfile->getElementsByTagName('price');

is wrong - you should be gettung theElements of $service

$prices = $service->getElementsByTagName('price');

answered Aug 1, 2014 at 8:28

exussum

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1 Comment

M_J Over a year ago

Yes this reduced the number of times Hatch/Sedan is displayed and now displays exactly 2 times, but it only displays the firs <price> tag hence only Hatch/Sedan:%15. Thanks

anaconda · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-01 08:36:16Z

1

I'm not going to leave some code, but for xml manipulation I prefer SimpleXML

And a basic exmaple can be found at php site

I put some code:

$xmlstr = <<<XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<services>
<service>
    <type>Wash</type>
    <title>Wash1</title>
    <content>Full Exterior Hand Wash</content>
    <content>Chamois dry, Pressure Clean Wheels, All Door Jambs</content>   
    <content>Plus Free Typre Gloss</content>
    <price>Hatch/Sedan:$15</price>
    <price>Others:$20</price>
</service>

<service>
    <type>Wash</type>
    <title>Wash2</title>
    <content>Wash1</content>
    <content>Plus Vacuum</content>   
    <content>Glass Cleaned(IN/OUT)</content>
    <content>Plus Free Interior Wipe</content>
    <price>Hatch/Sedan:$30</price>
    <price>Others:$38</price>
 </service>
 </services>
XML;

$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($xmlstr);

foreach ($xml->service as $key) {
    echo $key->title, "\n";
    foreach ($key->price as $price) {
        echo $price, "\n";
    }
}

The output is:

Wash1
Hatch/Sedan:$15
Others:$20
Wash2
Hatch/Sedan:$30
Others:$38

edited Aug 1, 2014 at 8:36

answered Aug 1, 2014 at 8:27

anaconda

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1 Comment

M_J Over a year ago

hey thanks for that, could you explain what $xmlstr = <<<XML means; and why do they include <?php ?> in the xml file.

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PHP - Trying to display xml tag(tags with same name) nodevalue

3 Answers 3

Wash1

Hatch/Sedan:$15

Others:$20

Wash2

Hatch/Sedan:$30

Others:$38

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Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

Wash1

Hatch/Sedan:$15

Others:$20

Wash2

Hatch/Sedan:$30

Others:$38

5 Comments

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