How to read and write the XML DOM with PHP

[neovantage]

Hey,
I am working on reading and writing the XML DOM File using PHP.
My XML File is In this Format

[code=xml]portfolio category="Categ ory1">
<item thumbimg="http://bytes.com/images/thumb1.jpg" largeimg1="http ://bytes.com/images/large1_1.jpg" largeimg2="http ://bytes.com/images/large1_2.jpg" largeimg3="http ://bytes.com/images/large1_3.jpg" title="Item 1" type="Item 1 type" detail="Item 1 description" company="Invent Solution" year="2002-03" />
<item thumbimg="http://bytes.com/images/thumb1.jpg" largeimg1="http ://bytes.com/images/large1_1.jpg" largeimg2="http ://bytes.com/images/large1_2.jpg" largeimg3="http ://bytes.com/images/large1_3.jpg" title="Item 2" type="Item 2 type" detail="Item 2 description" company="Invent Solution 2" year="2007-08" />
</portfolio>[/code]

Now i am unable to read and write data in this XML Format. Can any one help me out that how to write, read, edit and delete the data from this XML file using PHP. I will be very grateful who will help me in this regard. I am badly stuck. Kindly help me please.

Best regards,
Mohsin Rafique

[code green]

What problem are you having?

[Dormilich]

option 1 – PHP: DOMDocument - Manual
(esp. the loadXML() and save() methods, XML manipulation is done with the standard DOM functions)

option 2 – PHP: SimpleXML - Manual
(good for reading simple xml documents)

option 3 – PHP: XSL - Manual
(applying all changes in one go, XSLT knowledge (some) required)

regards

[neovantage]

My Problem is that how can i read and write the above formatted XML file using PHP, edit the specific existing record and delete.

[Dormilich]

that depends on you specific task. there might be situations when it's better to do XSLT (xml structure changes) and some where a simple DOM method will do.

as for loading, changing and saving your xml, read the manuals. they explain it pretty straightforward .

regards

[neovantage]

The thing is my XML is not in the format as the examples given using SimpleXML or the examples given in PHP: DOMDocument. Can you write a sample code for me that how can i read this formatted document and add a new record or edit existing record using PHP.

[Dormilich]

have you actually tried to load your xml? (the samples are samples after all.... my own xml files are different too, they even have namespace, but they work)

if it doesn't work, what error message do you get?

[neovantage]

Yeh i have tried but it shows nothing, here is my code
[code=php]
$doc = new DOMDocument();
$doc->load('../xml/1.xml');
$portfolio = $doc->getElementsByT agName( "portfolio" );
foreach( $portfolio as $row ){
$items = $row->getElementsByT agName( "item" );
$item = $items->item(0)->nodeValue;
echo $item;
}
[/code]

My loaded XML document is in this format
[code=xml]
<portfolio category="Categ ory1">
<item thumbimg="http://bytes.com/images/thumb1.jpg" largeimg1="http ://bytes.com/images/large1_1.jpg" largeimg2="http ://bytes.com/images/large1_2.jpg" largeimg3="http ://bytes.com/images/large1_3.jpg" title="Item 1" type="Item 1 type" detail="Item 1 description" company="Invent Solution" year="2002-03" />
<item thumbimg="http://bytes.com/images/thumb1.jpg" largeimg1="http ://bytes.com/images/large1_1.jpg" largeimg2="http ://bytes.com/images/large1_2.jpg" largeimg3="http ://bytes.com/images/large1_3.jpg" title="Item 2" type="Item 2 type" detail="Item 2 description" company="Invent Solution 2" year="2007-08" />
</portfolio>
[/code]

[Dormilich]

ok, that's something to work with.

do you know if you actually enter the foreach loop? (i.e. if you have a non-empty result set)

why using getElementsByTa gName() on <portfolio>? that seems unnecessary to me.

regards

PS: what do you expect item(0)->nodeValue to be? you're requesting the value of the element node (which in DOM is strictly speaking non-existant) you could get the value of the text node (which would be $node->firstChild->nodeValue). I think you get the text node's value.......... ...... of an empty element!

try

var_dump($item);

[neovantage]

ok, that's something to work with.

do you know if you actually enter the foreach loop? (i.e. if you have a non-empty result set)

why using getElementsByTa gName() on <portfolio>? that seems unnecessary to me.

regards

i am using getElementsByTa gName() on <portfolio> because i need to read the category name and as you can see the tag <item> has element title and title value but i am unable to read it. How can i read the title, type, detail, company, year, thumbimg, largeimg1, largeimg2, largeimg3 values? and how can i add a new record which append at the end of my alredy exisiting record

[Dormilich]

How can i read the title, type, detail, company, year, thumbimg, largeimg1, largeimg2, largeimg3 values?

DOMElement::get Attribute();

and how can i add a new record which append at the end of my alredy exisiting record

DOMDocument::cr eateElement();
DOMNode::append Child();

basicly, standard DOM procedures, only they are splitted over several DOM XML classes

[neovantage]

i am unable to use that function as i need an example script which use DOMElement::get Attribute(); because i am not that much professional to get the picture of just having the function and performed further operations. Kindly help me out i really need to know about it.

[Dormilich]

let's make an example.

get the category value (tested and working):

$doc = new DOMDocument();
$doc->load($xml); // $xml is your xml file
$portfolio = $doc->getElementsByTagName( "portfolio" );
$item = $portfolio->item(0)->getAttribute('category');
// prints: Category1
echo $item;

PS: if you know how to use DOM in Javascript, this is pretty much the same

regards

[neovantage]

ok, that's something to work with.

do you know if you actually enter the foreach loop? (i.e. if you have a non-empty result set)

why using getElementsByTa gName() on <portfolio>? that seems unnecessary to me.

regards

PS: what do you expect item(0)->nodeValue to be? you're requesting the value of the element node (which in DOM is strictly speaking non-existant) you could get the value of the text node (which would be $node->firstChild->nodeValue). I think you get the text node's value.......... ...... of an empty element!

try

var_dump($item);

Thank you very very very muchhhhhhhhhhh.
It works now i done the same thing with the inner tag and it is working that's cool

My Next question is that " How can i traverse whole recodes so that i can show e.g. when we write the db query then we can fetch array by using while condition with mysql_fetch_arr ay(records) and it automatically terminates once it will be at last record. So is there any method here in XML that i can fetch all the records and it terminate automatically once the last record found.

[Dormilich]

So is there any method here in XML that i can fetch all the records and it terminate automatically once the last record found.

foreach (DOMNodeList $list as DOMNode $node)
{
    // code comes here
}

note that I put in the class names to make clear, what types $list & $node are, of course you call foreach as you usually do.

in some cases you can also use the while loop, depending on the exit definition.

regards