Replace value in XML feed with php xpath

Question

I (conceptually) understand which steps i have to take, but i can't translate it to a working code.

I have a XML feed with a structure like this:

<item id="1">
    <properties>
        <property name="region">
            <value>Cote d'azur</value>
        </property>
    </properties>
</item>
<item id="2">
    <properties>
        <property name="region">
            <value>Côte d'Azur</value>
        </property>
    </properties>
</item>

What i need is the feed to use consequent names, so i have to loop through each property with the name attribute and replace the value, but how?

So far i'm here, but this doesn't work

$xml_src = 'feed.xml';
$document = new DOMDocument();
$document->load($xml_src);
$xpath = new DOMXpath($document);

$regions = $xpath->evaluate('//property[@name = "region"]');
foreach($regions as $region){
    $newregion = $document->createElement('value', str_replace("Cote d'azur","Côte d'Azur",$region->nodeValue));
    $region->parentNode->replaceChild($newregion, $region);
}
echo $document->saveXml();

I get this error:

Warning: DOMDocument::createElement(): unterminated entity reference YllÃ¤s in .. on line 17
Line 17:
$newregion = $document->createElement('value', str_replace("Cote d'azur","Côte d'Azur",$region->nodeValue));

To make it even more complicated, i sometimes have three value elements in each property with the name city. In that case i need to select the third element.

I hope anybody can help me out

Could you give a bit more details about "doesn't work" Do you get an error (if so what is the exact error message)? Or do you get a result that's not what you want (if so, what is the wanted result, and what is the actual)? — IMSoP
– IMSoP, Commented Oct 15, 2015 at 13:08
Sorry, forgot to copy the error message. I've added it to the question — Maurice
– Maurice, Commented Oct 15, 2015 at 13:10
Aha, I might be wrong, but I think you need to pass the value for your new element through htmlspecialchars(); for some reason, various of the XML functions in PHP expect you to pass valid XML fragments rather than text content. — IMSoP
– IMSoP, Commented Oct 15, 2015 at 13:24
I'm no PHP expert, but I am sharp with XPath. It looks like your $regions variable corresponds to the <property> tag, when it should in fact correspond to the <value> tag within the <property> tag — gtlambert
– gtlambert, Commented Oct 15, 2015 at 13:25
It doesn't have to do anything with htmlspecialchars(), tried that but still errors. I understand, @lambo477, what you mean, but i can't find out how to select the value element, To make it even more complicated, i sometimes have three value elements in each property with the name city. In that case i need to select the third element. — Maurice
– Maurice, Commented Oct 15, 2015 at 13:46

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:27:07Z

1

The error message is from a bug in PHP. Do not use the second argument for DOMDocument::createElement(). Create and append a text node to make sure that special characters are escaped into entities.

https://stackoverflow.com/a/27225157/2265374

Anything in a DOM is a node. Not only the element, but attribute and texts, too. You can work on the text nodes inside the value elements directly:

$document = new DOMDocument();
$document->loadXml($xml);
$xpath = new DOMXpath($document);

foreach ($xpath->evaluate('//property[@name = "region"]/value/text()') as $text) {
  $text->data = str_replace("Cote d'azur","Côte d'Azur", $text->data);
}

echo $document->saveXml();

edited May 23, 2017 at 10:27

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Oct 15, 2015 at 13:44

ThW

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user109764 · Accepted Answer · 2021-07-13 22:35:23Z

0

Simple:

$regions = $xpath->query('//property[@name = "region"]/value');
foreach($regions as $region){
    $region->nodeValue = str_replace("Cote d'azur","Côte d'Azur",$region->nodeValue);
}
echo $document->saveXml();

answered Jul 13, 2021 at 22:35

user109764

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