PHP Simple HTML DOM Parser: Accessing custom attributes

Question

I want to access a custom attribute that I added to some elements in an HTML file, here's an example of the littleBox="somevalue" attribute

<div id="someId" littleBox="someValue">inner text</div>

The Following doesn't work:

foreach($html->find('div') as $element){
 echo $element;
 if(isset($element->type)){
 echo $element->littleBox;
   }
}

I saw an article with a similar problem, but I couldn't replicate it for some reason. Here is what I tried:

function retrieveValue($str){
if (stripos($str, 'littleBox')){//check if element has it
$var=preg_split("/littleBox=\"/",$str);
//echo $var[1];
$var1=preg_split("/\"/",$var[1]);
echo $var1[0];
}
else
return false;
}

When ever I call the retrieveValue() function, nothing happens. Is $element (in the first PHP example above) not a string? I don't know if I missed something but it's not returning anything.

Here's the script in it's entirety:

<?php
require("../../simplehtmldom/simple_html_dom.php");

if (isset($_POST['submit'])){

$html = file_get_html($_POST['webURL']);

// Find all images 
foreach($html->find('div') as $element){
    echo $element;
   if(isset($element->type)!= false){
    echo retrieveValue($element);
   }
}
}


function retrieveValue($str){
if (stripos($str, 'littleBox')){//check if element has it
$var=preg_split("/littleBox=\"/",$str);
//echo $var[1];
$var1=preg_split("/\"/",$var[1]);
return $var1[0];
}
else
return false;
}

?>

<form method="post">
Website URL<input type="text" name="webURL">
<br />
<input type="submit" name="submit">
</form>

Why exactly can't you use DOM?

Vyktor
– Vyktor

2012-03-05 00:13:29 +00:00
Commented Mar 5, 2012 at 0:13 — Vyktor
– Vyktor, Commented Mar 5, 2012 at 0:13

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:15:03Z

4

Have you tried:

$html->getElementById("someId")->getAttribute('littleBox');

You could also use SimpleXML:

$html = '<div id="someId" littleBox="someValue">inner text</div>';
$dom = new DOMDocument;
$dom->loadXML($html);
$div = simplexml_import_dom($dom);
echo $div->attributes()->littleBox;

I would advice against using regex to parse html but shouldn't this part be like this:

$str = $html->getElementById("someId")->outertext;
$var = preg_split('/littleBox=\"/', $str);
$var1 = preg_split('/\"/',$var[1]);
echo $var1[0];

Also see this answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/8851091/1059001

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:15

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Mar 4, 2012 at 23:44

P. Galbraith

2,54722 silver badges25 bronze badges

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8 Comments

Philll_t Over a year ago

Thank you for your answer, that is the one that I'm confused on (link you provided). I tried the same thing, but it doesn't return the value of the custom attribute. I'll try the id suggestion, but the id is something that may vary and I won't know the specific id.

P. Galbraith Over a year ago

See above $html->getElementById("someId")->outertext;

Philll_t Over a year ago

this is what I'm trying:

// Find all divs  foreach($html->find('div') as $element){ $str = $element->outertext; $var = preg_split('/littleBox=\"/', $str); $var1 = preg_split('/\"/',$var[1]); echo $var1[0]; }

P. Galbraith Over a year ago

You can do it with SimpleXML see my revised answer. I just tested it and it works. That way you don't need any external libraries.

Philll_t Over a year ago

Wow that's cool, just one more thing... I'm using an external file, file_get_xml('file.ext'), how how would you do it with the external file? The file is HTML.

|

v.tsurka · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-04 23:21:35Z

0

See that http://code.google.com/p/phpquery/ it's like jQuery but on php. Very strong library.

answered Mar 4, 2012 at 23:21

v.tsurka

4526 silver badges18 bronze badges

2 Comments

P. Galbraith Over a year ago

If you use phpquery you should know that it is pretty a dead project now. Since there haven't been updates for a few years.

Philll_t Over a year ago

does anyone know how to access custom attributes using the above stuff? Or a workaround?

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