PHP dynamically creating associative array from XML

Question

So I have this XML that I'm strolling through and I'm able to move through it fine. What I want to dynamically create is an associative array in this way:

$keyName => $valName

Here's how the XML looks like:

<dict>
    <key>Major Version</key><integer>1</integer>
    <key>Minor Version</key><integer>1</integer>
    <key>Application Version</key><string>7.6.1</string>
    <key>Tracks</key>
    <dict>
      <key>0</key>
      <dict>
        <key>Track ID</key><integer>0</integer>
        <key>Name</key><string>American Idol 2013</string>
        <key>Artist</key><string>Amber Holcomb</string>
        <key>Album Artist</key><string>Amber Holcomb</string>
        <key>Album</key><string>Unknown Album</string>
        <key>Kind</key><string>MPEG audio file</string>
        <key>Size</key><integer>3645</integer>
        <key>Total Time</key><integer>233000</integer>
        <key>Date Modified</key><date>Thu Mar 14 12:11:12 2013</date>
        <key>Date Added</key><date>Thu Apr 04 16:10:15 2013</date>
        <key>Bitrate</key><integer>128</integer>
        <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/Z:%5Canthony%5CMusic%5CiTunes%5CiTunes%20Media%5CMusic%5CUnknown%20Artist%5CUnknown%20Album%5CAmber%20Holcomb%20-%20A%20Moment%20Like%20This%20-%20Studio%20Version%20-%20American%20Idol%202013.mp3</string>
        <key>File Folder Count</key><integer>-1</integer>
        <key>Library Folder Count</key><integer>-1</integer>
      </dict>

and here's what I got for my code so far:

$xml = simplexml_load_file(base_url().'uploads/xmlbackup2.xml');
        $varKey = $xml->dict[0]->dict[0]->dict[0]->children();

        $keyName ="";
        $valName ="";



foreach($xml->dict[0]->dict[0]->dict as $dict1){

            foreach($dict1->children() as $dictChild){

                if($dictChild->getName() == "key"){
                    $keyName = $dictChild;
                } else {
                    $valName = $dictChild;
                }



            }

        }

I've tried a few things like creating two arrays and try to merge them...but it just fails for me, most likely I have the code incorrectly done.

Essentially what I'm going to do after the 2nd foreach loop completes is to drop the data into SQL. However I need to create the associative first to make it work in codeigniter.

php.net/manual/en/function.simplexml-load-string.php#102277 Try this .. it may help you — Svetoslav
– Svetoslav, Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 5:10
@Svetlio - Thanks, I saw that, but I don't know how that would work with the XML I have, its layout is weird looking to me and I don't know how it would associate the values in the KEY tags with the neighboring tags. For example: <key>Track ID</key><integer>0</integer> <key>Name</key><string>blah</string> Track ID => 0 Name => blah — Anthony Honciano
– Anthony Honciano, Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 5:14

DSlagle · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-09 05:23:18Z

2

Is this something like what you are looking for?

$myArray = Array();
$currentKey;    
foreach($xml->dict[0] as $dict1){
    foreach($dict1->children() as $dictChild){
        if($dictChild->getName() == "key"){
            $currentKey = $dictChild;
        } else {
            $myArray[(string)$currentKey] = (string)$dictChild;
        }
    }
}

UPDATE I tested out the code and I was getting the warning that you were getting. Casting to strings seems to fix that. Below is the example file I made and the output I am getting.

<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', '1');

$myArray = Array();
$currentKey;

$xml;
if (file_exists('test.xml'))
    $xml = simplexml_load_file('test.xml');

foreach($xml->dict[0] as $dict1){
    foreach($dict1->children() as $dictChild){
        if($dictChild->getName() == "key"){
            $currentKey = $dictChild;
        } else {
            $myArray[(string)$currentKey] = (string)$dictChild;
        }
    }
}

print '<pre>';
print_r($myArray);
print '</pre>';

?>

Array
(
    [Track ID] => 0
    [Name] => American Idol 2013
    [Artist] => Amber Holcomb
    [Album Artist] => Amber Holcomb
    [Album] => Unknown Album
    [Kind] => MPEG audio file
    [Size] => 3645
    [Total Time] => 233000
    [Date Modified] => Thu Mar 14 12:11:12 2013
    [Date Added] => Thu Apr 04 16:10:15 2013
    [Bitrate] => 128
    [Location] => file://localhost/Z:%5Canthony%5CMusic%5CiTunes%5CiTunes%20Media%5CMusic%5CUnknown%20Artist%5CUnknown%20Album%5CAmber%20Holcomb%20-%20A%20Moment%20Like%20This%20-%20Studio%20Version%20-%20American%20Idol%202013.mp3
    [File Folder Count] => -1
    [Library Folder Count] => -1
)

edited Apr 9, 2013 at 5:23

answered Apr 9, 2013 at 5:06

DSlagle

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3 Comments

Anthony Honciano Over a year ago

Maybe this is it. Trying it now...brb

Anthony Honciano Over a year ago

So I tried this, and I get: A PHP Error was encountered Severity: Warning Message: Illegal offset type Filename: controllers/xml.php Line Number: 22 -------- Line Number 22 is pointing to the $myArray[$currentKey] = $dictChild;

Anthony Honciano Over a year ago

YUP YUP! Thank you very much for your help, that so worked! I tried this before, but never tried (string). thanks again! :)

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