parse xmlsimple to array

Question

I have the following :

function Recurse1($xml, $array, $i){
    $a = array();
    foreach($xml - > children() as $key => $child) {
        $array[$key][$i] = $child - > attributes() - > role;
        $i++;
        $a = array_merge($array, Recurse1($child, $array, $i));
    }
    return $a;
}

var_dump(Recurse1($xml, array(), 0));
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement(
'<person>
    <child role="son1">
        <child role="daughter1"/>
    </child>
    <child role="daughter2">
        <child role="son2">
            <child role="son3"/>
        </child>
    </child>
</person>'
);

I get the following:

array(1) { 
  ["child"]=> array(4) { 
    [0]=> object(SimpleXMLElement)#59 (1) { 
      [0]=> string(4) "son1" 
    } 
    [1]=> object(SimpleXMLElement)#71 (1) { 
      [0]=> string(9) "daughter2" 
    } 
    [2]=> object(SimpleXMLElement)#77 (1) { 
      [0]=> string(4) "son2" 
    } 
    [3]=> object(SimpleXMLElement)#83 (1) { 
      [0]=> string(4) "son3" 
    } 
  } 
}

I am trying to get daughter1 but no vail. Any suggestion?I can;t see the error. Thanks in advance!

So what exactly is your desired output? Do you want to maintain the hierarchy of the elements or do you want to have a flattened or semi-flattened array? I'd like to post an answer, but your question is a bit Unclear. — mickmackusa
– mickmackusa ♦, Commented Oct 28, 2018 at 6:21
You are getting daughter1, you're just overwriting it. — mickmackusa
– mickmackusa ♦, Commented Oct 28, 2018 at 6:52

Nigel Ren · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-28 14:52:14Z

2

The problem is that you are storing the attribute element and not the actual value, all you need to do is cast it to a string by adding (string)...

$array[$key][$i] = (string)$child->attributes()->role;

Which gives...

array(1) {
  'child' =>
  array(4) {
    [0] =>
    string(4) "son1"
    [1] =>
    string(9) "daughter2"
    [2] =>
    string(4) "son2"
    [3] =>
    string(4) "son3"
  }
}

Edit:

To get all of the child nodes, I've reworked most of the code to simplify how it works.

function Recurse1($xml)
{
    $array = [(string)$xml['role']];
    foreach ($xml->children() as $child)
    {
        $array = array_merge($array, Recurse1($child));
    }

    return array_filter($array);
}

$xml = new SimpleXMLElement(
    '<person>
<child role="son1">
<child role="daughter1"/>
</child>
<child role="daughter2">
<child role="son2">
<child role="son3"/>
</child>
</child>
</person>');
var_dump(Recurse1($xml));

As you can see, Recurse1() now just takes the XML and first outputs the value attribute, then repeats this for any child nodes. Sometimes nodes don't have a value attribute, which is why there it returns array_filter($array), which just removes any empty values.

Edit 2:

If you want a non recursive solution, using DOMDocument has an easy way of fetching all the <child> elements using $doc->getElementsByTagName("child");, it's best to check if it has a role attribute, but if it has it just adds it to the list...

$doc = new DOMDocument();
$doc->loadXML($xml);

$childE = $doc->getElementsByTagName("child");
$list = [];
foreach ( $childE as $child )   {
    if ( $child->hasAttribute("role") )     {
        $list[] = $child->getAttribute("role");
    }
}

print_r($list);

edited Oct 28, 2018 at 14:52

answered Oct 27, 2018 at 10:32

Nigel Ren

57.3k11 gold badges49 silver badges59 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

Konstantinos Over a year ago

I need to take the daughter1 value

mickmackusa Over a year ago

@Konstantinos More importantly than marking accepted answers is writing a clear question. Please clarify your exact desired output. From your wording some people may think that you ONLY want daughter1. I am more interested in the depth of your data structure.

Nigel Ren Over a year ago

@mickmackusa, the point about accepting the answer is more about the general idea of accepting answers, they have several questions which they seem to have an answer to and left comments to that effect, but they have not accepted any of them (at this point). Also (only a minor thing) but would the request for clarification of the question be better placed on the question itself?

mickmackusa · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-28 10:21:36Z

1

If you are merely looking for a 1-dimensional array containing all of the role values, you can dispense with recursive convolution, and just let DomDocument & Xpath do all the work for you with a single, easy-to-read query (easier for you, and easy for the next developer that wants to look at your code):

Code: (Demo)

$document = new DOMDocument();
$document->loadXml($xml);
$xpath = new DOMXpath($document);
foreach ($xpath->evaluate('//child/@role') as $attr) {
    $result[] = $attr->value;
}
var_export($result);

Output:

array (
  0 => 'son1',
  1 => 'daughter1',
  2 => 'daughter2',
  3 => 'son2',
  4 => 'son3',
)

Alternatively, if you want to maintain hierarchy in the output array, you can use this existing StackOverflow solution like this: Demo

edited Oct 28, 2018 at 10:21

answered Oct 28, 2018 at 8:20

mickmackusa♦

49.2k13 gold badges98 silver badges165 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

parse xmlsimple to array

2 Answers 2

3 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

3 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related