PHP Array Comparison using If

Question

I am having a hard time trying to understand why I can't compare the values of two arrays in PHP. If I echo both of these during the loop using "echo $description->ItemDesriptionName;" and "echo $item->ItemName;" the values seem to show as the same, but when I try to compare them using if, nothing works. What am I missing?

<?php

$xml=simplexml_load_file("test.xml") or die("Error: Cannot create object");
$categories = $xml->Menu->Categories;
$items = $xml->Menu->Categories->Items->ItemObject;
$itemdescription = $xml->Menu->Options->Description->DescriptionObject;

foreach($items as $item) {

    echo $item->ItemName . ' - ' . $item->Price . '</br>';

        foreach ($itemdescription as $description) {

            if ($description->ItemDescriptionName == $item->ItemName) {
                echo 'We have a match!';
                //where I would echo $description->ItemDescription;
            }
        } 
}

?>

Here is the XML file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Root>
    <Menu>
        <Categories>
            <Name>Category 1</Name>
            <Items>
                <ItemObject>
                    <ItemName>Item 1</ItemName>
                    <Price>1</Price>
                </ItemObject>
                <ItemObject>
                    <ItemName>Item 2</ItemName>
                    <Price>3</Price>
                </ItemObject>               
            </Items>
        </Categories>
        <Options>
            <Description>
                <DescriptionObject>
                    <ItemDescriptionName>Item 1</ItemDescriptionName>
                    <ItemDescription>A Great item</ItemDescription>
                </DescriptionObject>
                <DescriptionObject>
                    <ItemDescriptionName>Item 2</ItemDescriptionName>
                    <ItemDescription>A Great item as well</ItemDescription>
                </DescriptionObject>                
            </Description>
        </Options>
    </Menu>
</Root>

Your IF has a typo here, does it also have a typo in your source? Description on the ItemDescriptionName property is missing an 'n' — Graeme
– Graeme, Commented Oct 27, 2016 at 0:18

Tomasz P · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-27 00:38:54Z

2

compare as string and you have typo in ItemDescriptioName (ItemDescriptionName)

if ( (string)$description->ItemDescriptionName == (string)$item->ItemName) {

answered Oct 27, 2016 at 0:38

Tomasz P

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Comments

Rajesh Patel · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-27 00:50:25Z

1

Convert to string and then compare

<?php
$xml=simplexml_load_file("test.xml") or die("Error: Cannot create object");
$menu  = $xml->Menu;
$categories = $xml->Menu->Categories;
$items = $xml->Menu->Categories->Items->ItemObject;
$itemdescription = $xml->Menu->Options->Description->DescriptionObject;
foreach($items as $item) {


         $itemname = $item->ItemName;
        foreach ($itemdescription as $description) {
            $descriptionname = $description->ItemDescriptionName ;
            echo $itemname."   ---- ".$descriptionname."<br/>";

            if((string)$itemname === (string)$descriptionname){
                echo "Yes its matched";
            }
        } 
}

?>

Working fine for me

answered Oct 27, 2016 at 0:50

Rajesh Patel

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Comments

ThW · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-27 12:44:09Z

1

The properties like $description->ItemDescriptionName are SimpleXMLElement objects. So you do not compare strings but two objects.

SimpleXMLElement objects implement the magic method __toString(). They can be cast to string automatically, but a compare between to objects will not trigger that. You can force it:

if ((string)$description->ItemDescriptionName === (string)$item->ItemName) {
  ...

answered Oct 27, 2016 at 12:44

ThW

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Comments

WEBjuju · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-27 00:17:44Z

0

Can you access them directly instead using an accordant index?

...

$items = $xml->Menu->Categories->Items->ItemObject;
$itemdescription = $xml->Menu->Options->Description;

$i = 0;
foreach ($items as $item) {
  echo $i.' '.$item->ItemName . ' - ' . $item->Price;
  echo $itemdescription->DescriptionObject[$i]->ItemDescriptionName[0];
  echo ' ';
  echo $itemdescription->DescriptionObject[$i]->ItemDescription[0];
  echo '</br>';
  $i++;
}

answered Oct 27, 2016 at 0:17

WEBjuju

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