Getting XML with PHP: how to get attributes from 2 nodes with same name

Question

I am getting attributes from XML nodes and saving them to variables with a for loop as such:

for ($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++){
    $group = $xml->Competition->Round[0]->Event[$i][Group];
    if($group == "MTCH"){
        $eventid = $xml->Competition->Round[0]->Event[$i][EventID];
        $eventname = $xml->Competition->Round[0]->Event[$i][EventName];
        $teamaname = $xml->Competition->Round[0]->Event[$i]->EventSelections[0][EventSelectionName];
        $teambname = $xml->Competition->Round[0]->Event[$i]->EventSelections[1][EventSelectionName];
        echo "<br/>" . $eventid . ": " . $eventname . ", " .  $teamaname . "VS" . $teambname;
    }//IF
}//FOR

I can save each Event[EventID] and each Event[EventName] but I cannot get the EventSelections[EventSelectionNames] to save.

I am guessing this is because there are multiple (2) <EventSelection>s for each <Event>, this is why I tried to get them individually uising [0] and [1].

The part of the XML file in question looks like:

<Event EventID="1008782" EventName="Collingwood v Fremantle" Venue="" EventDate="2014-03-14T18:20:00" Group="MTCH">
  <Market Type="Head to Head" EachWayPlaces="0">
    <EventSelections BetSelectionID="88029974" EventSelectionName="Collingwood">
      <Bet Odds="2.10" Line=""/>
    </EventSelections>
    <EventSelections BetSelectionID="88029975" EventSelectionName="Fremantle">
      <Bet Odds="1.70" Line=""/>
    </EventSelections>
  </Market>
</Event>

Can anyone point me in the right direction to save the EventSelectionNames to variables?

michi · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-25 22:23:43Z

Rather than looping and checking for $group, use xpath to select data directly:

$xml = simplexml_load_string($x); // assume XML in $x
$group = $xml->xpath("/Event[@Group = 'MTCH']")[0];
echo "ID: $group[EventID], name: $group[EventName]" . PHP_EOL;

If there are always two <EventSelections>, you can:

echo "Team A: " . $group->Market->EventSelections[0]['EventSelectionName']" . PHP_EOL;
echo "Team B: " . $group->Market->EventSelections[1]['EventSelectionName']" . PHP_EOL;

Otherwise, use foreach:

foreach ($group->Market->EventSelections as $es)
    $teamnames[] = $es['EventSelectionName'];

echo "There are " . count($teamnames) . "Teams:" . PHP_EOL;
foreach ($teamname as $teamname) echo $teamname . PHP_EOL;

see it in action: https://eval.in/105642

Note:

The [0] at the end of the code-line starting with $group = $xml->xpath...requires PHP >= 5.4. If you are on a lower version, update PHP or use:

$group = $xml->xpath("/Event[@Group = 'MTCH']");
$group = $group[0];

MeltingDog · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-26 05:28:15Z

0

Michi's answer is more correct and better coded but I also found the adding the node 'Market' to my code worked as well:

$teamaname = $xml->Competition->Round[0]->Event[$i]->Market->EventSelections[0][EventSelectionName];
$teambname = $xml->Competition->Round[0]->Event[$i]->Market->EventSelections[1][EventSelectionName];

answered Feb 26, 2014 at 5:28

MeltingDog

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1 Comment

michi Over a year ago

That's what I struggled with, too! I had simply not realized the <Market>-node and wondered why I wasn't getting the expected result - until it finally hit me ;-)

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