Create XML from an array

Question

I have this array

array(2) {
  [0] =>
  array(3) {
    ['name'] => string(4) "John"
    ['lastname'] => string(3) "Don"
    ['pesel'] => string(6) "987987"
  }
  [1] =>
  array(3) {
    ['name'] => string(4) "Mike"
    ['lastname'] => string(5) "Evans"
    ['pesel'] => string(5) "89779"
  }
}

And I want create a xml file from array above, I use this code to create a xml file

$student_info = array($resultant_array);

// creating object of SimpleXMLElement
$xml_student_info = new SimpleXMLElement("<?xml version=\"1.0\"?><student_info></student_info>");

// function call to convert array to xml
array_to_xml($student_info,$xml_student_info);

//saving generated xml file
$xml_student_info->asXML('inxfo.xml');



// function defination to convert array to xml
function array_to_xml($student_info, $xml_student_info) {
    foreach($student_info as $key => $value) {
            var_dump($value);
            echo '<br />';
        if(is_array($value)) {


            if(!is_numeric($key)){

                $subnode = $xml_student_info->addChild("$key");
                array_to_xml($value, $subnode);

            }
            else{

                array_to_xml($value, $xml_student_info);
            }
        }
        else { 

            $xml_student_info->addChild("$key","$value");

        }
    }
}

This code give mi solution like this

<student_info>
  <name>John</name>
  <lastname>Dozzn</lastname>
  <pesel>987987</pesel>
  <nme>Mike</name>
  <lastname>Evans</lastname>
  <pesel>89779</pesel>
</student_info>

But I want result like this

 <student_info>
      <person>
         <name>John</name>
         <lastname>Dozzn</lastname>
         <pesel>987987</pesel>   
      </person>
      <person>
         <name>Mike</name>         
         <lastname>Evans</lastname>
         <pesel>89779</pesel>
    </person>
 </student_info>

How can I add additional child to my xml code ?

Just wrap your elements at the array_to_xml function with <person/> inside the foreach loop. — simplyray
– simplyray, Commented Mar 11, 2013 at 9:55

Scott Yang · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-11 11:06:07Z

3

In your case, change the else part:

if(!is_numeric($key)){
     $subnode = $xml_student_info->addChild("$key");
     array_to_xml($value, $subnode);
}
else{
     $subnode = $xml_student_info->addChild("person");
     array_to_xml($value, $subnode);
}

But as Andrej suggested, you probably want to look at more general functions.

EDIT: My version that works:

$student_info = array(
    array(
        'name' => "John",
        'lastname' => "Don",
        'pesel' => "987987",
    ),
    array(
        'name' => "Mike",
        'lastname' => "Evans",
        'pesel' => "89779",
    )
);

$xml_student_info = new SimpleXMLElement("<?xml version=\"1.0\"?><student_info></student_info>");

function array_to_xml($student_info, $xml_student_info) {
    foreach($student_info as $key => $value) {
        if(is_array($value)) {
            if(!is_numeric($key)){
                $subnode = $xml_student_info->addChild("$key");
                array_to_xml($value, $subnode);
            }
            else{
                $subnode = $xml_student_info->addChild("person");
                array_to_xml($value, $subnode);
            }
        }
        else { 
            $xml_student_info->addChild("$key","$value");
        }
    }
}

array_to_xml($student_info, $xml_student_info);

var_dump( $xml_student_info->asXML() );

Outputs:

string '<?xml version="1.0"?>
<student_info><person><name>John</name><lastname>Don</lastname><pesel>987987</pesel></person><person><name>Mike</name><lastname>Evans</lastname><pesel>89779</pesel></person></student_info>

' (length=211)

edited Mar 11, 2013 at 11:06

answered Mar 11, 2013 at 10:06

Scott Yang

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3 Comments

konadrian Over a year ago

I tried something like this but I get this result <student_info><person/><person/><name>John</name>

Scott Yang Over a year ago

I think I'll need to see your edited code. I tried the edit and it worked (see edit).

cwal Over a year ago

Thank you! I searched hi and low for something like this before settling with writing my own code using array_walk and others. After a few hours, although i had something mostly working, there was still too many things to fix. Whatever my next search term was it led me to this which worked within 30 mins of applying it to my needs! Much appreciated. I posted another answer with a slightly modified version for generalization of the code.

cwal · Accepted Answer · 2023-02-22 01:34:30Z

To contribute to this answer by Scott Yang I edited their code to allow for generalization of the subnode name instead of the currently hardcoded option.

// Recursive looping of nested array into xml object using SimpleXMLElement
function buildXml($array, $toXml, $subnodeName = null) {
    foreach($array as $key => $value) {
            if(is_array($value)) {
                    if(!is_numeric($key)){
                            // remove the last char from the string
                            // presumably removing the trailing `s` and converting from plural to single
                            // can be replaced with a more robust conversion if necessary
                            $subnodeName = substr($key, 0, -1);
                            $subnode = $toXml->addChild("$key");
                            buildXml($value, $subnode, $subnodeName);
                    }
                    else{
                            $subnode = $toXml->addChild("$subnodeName");
                            buildXml($value, $subnode);
                    }
            }
            else {
                $toXml->addChild("$key","$value");
            }
        }
}

$toXml = new SimpleXMLElement('<root/>'); // init the xml object
buildXml($data_array, $toXml); // walk the array and build xml object
$xmlOutput = $toXml->asXML(); // convert to string
print_r($xmlOutput);

Now with an array such as

$data_array = array(
    'users' => array (
        array(
            'name' => "John",
            'lastname' => "Doe",
            'artworks' => array (
                array (
                    'title' => 'Artwork 1',
                    'filename' => 'artwork1.jpg',
                ),
                array (
                    'title' => 'Artwork 2',
                    'filename' => 'artwork2.jpg',
                )
            )
        ),
        array(
            'name' => "Jane",
            'lastname' => "Smith",
            'colors' => array (
                array ('name' => 'green'),
                array ('name' => 'yellow'),
            )
        )
    )
);

the xml output would be

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
    <users>
        <user>
            <name>John</name>
            <lastname>Doe</lastname>
            <artworks>
                <artwork>
                    <title>Artwork 1</title>
                    <filename>artwork1.jpg</filename>
                </artwork>
                <artwork>
                    <title>Artwork 2</title>
                    <filename>artwork2.jpg</filename>
                </artwork>
            </artworks>
        </user>
        <user>
            <name>Jane</name>
            <lastname>Smith</lastname>
            <colors>
                <color>
                    <name>green</name>
                </color>
                <color>
                    <name>yellow</name>
                </color>
            </colors>
        </user>
    </users>
</root>

Of course, this is a simple assumption of s being tacked on to the end of a word to make it plural. This won't work with geese being the keyname where the subnode name should be goose.

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