Using SimpleXML to create an XML object from scratch

Question

Is it possible to use PHP's SimpleXML functions to create an XML object from scratch? Looking through the function list, there's ways to import an existing XML string into an object that you can then manipulate, but if I just want to generate an XML object programmatically from scratch, what's the best way to do that?

I figured out that you can use simplexml_load_string() and pass in the root string that you want, and then you've got an object you can manipulate by adding children... although this seems like kind of a hack, since I have to actually hardcode some XML into the string before it can be loaded.

I've done it using the DOMDocument functions, although it's a little confusing because I'm not sure what the DOM has to do with creating a pure XML document... so maybe it's just badly named :-)

Joran Den Houting · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-09 07:54:23Z

152

Sure you can. Eg.

<?php
$newsXML = new SimpleXMLElement("<news></news>");
$newsXML->addAttribute('newsPagePrefix', 'value goes here');
$newsIntro = $newsXML->addChild('content');
$newsIntro->addAttribute('type', 'latest');
Header('Content-type: text/xml');
echo $newsXML->asXML();
?>

Output

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<news newsPagePrefix="value goes here">
    <content type="latest"/>
</news>

Have fun.

edited Jan 9, 2014 at 7:54

Joran Den Houting

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answered Sep 27, 2008 at 7:42

DreamWerx

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6 Comments

Camilo Martin Over a year ago

Between this and @Stefan's and @PhiLho's answers, this seems the most simple and straightforward. At the same time, I wonder if the performance is different. The other two smell like fast code.

shababhsiddique Over a year ago

How do i save this as a xml file in the server? to make it available to my actionscript code?

Shackrock Over a year ago

@dreamwerx Maybe I'm missing something why isn't your content tag closed with </content>?

Michel Over a year ago

@Shackrock:it is closed, look at the "/" before the ">" of <content type="latest"/>

harishannam Over a year ago

How to add some text between content tags. Say <content> Wow it works! </content>

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Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-17 20:42:18Z

22

In PHP5, you should use the Document Object Model class instead. Example:

$domDoc = new DOMDocument;
$rootElt = $domDoc->createElement('root');
$rootNode = $domDoc->appendChild($rootElt);

$subElt = $domDoc->createElement('foo');
$attr = $domDoc->createAttribute('ah');
$attrVal = $domDoc->createTextNode('OK');
$attr->appendChild($attrVal);
$subElt->appendChild($attr);
$subNode = $rootNode->appendChild($subElt);

$textNode = $domDoc->createTextNode('Wow, it works!');
$subNode->appendChild($textNode);

echo htmlentities($domDoc->saveXML());

edited Nov 17, 2023 at 20:42

CommunityBot

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answered Sep 27, 2008 at 8:50

PhiLho

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2 Comments

thomasrutter Over a year ago

DOM API is so verbose! I'd love to be able to do something like $elem->append($doc->p('This is a paragraph')); Even appending text is a two line chore. I'd love something like $elem->append('Some text');

Stephan Weinhold Over a year ago

In my opinion it depends a lot on what you are planing to do. If you want basic and fast functionality, SimpleXML is perfect! But anyways: the question was "Using SimpleXML to create an XML object from scratch" - so off-topic, sorry.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:18:15Z

16

Please see my answer here. As dreamwerx.myopenid.com points out, it is possible to do this with SimpleXML, but the DOM extension would be the better and more flexible way. Additionally there is a third way: using XMLWriter. It's much more simple to use than the DOM and therefore it's my preferred way of writing XML documents from scratch.

$w=new XMLWriter();
$w->openMemory();
$w->startDocument('1.0','UTF-8');
$w->startElement("root");
    $w->writeAttribute("ah", "OK");
    $w->text('Wow, it works!');
$w->endElement();
echo htmlentities($w->outputMemory(true));

By the way: DOM stands for Document Object Model; this is the standardized API into XML documents.

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:18

CommunityBot

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answered Sep 27, 2008 at 10:01

Stefan Gehrig

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2 Comments

thomasrutter Over a year ago

XMLwriter is good if you are intending to output directly to XML code without any manipulation. Further manipulation (moving elements around, inserting elements) is not really possible.

chris85 Over a year ago

Updated links (I think) php.net/manual/en/intro.xmlwriter.php, php.net/manual/en/book.dom.php

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