php json_encode changed behaviour in php 5.4

Question

I have the following xml:

$resultXML=<<<XML

<Mapper ProviderCode="" ProviderName="" SessionID="" Supplier="" ProviderSupplier="">
<ProviderSupplierName/>
</Mapper>

XML;

When I issue:

$sxml = simplexml_load_string($resultXML);
echo json_encode($sxml);

in PHP Version 5.3.3-7+squeeze15, I get:

"Mapper": {
    "@attributes": {
        "ProviderCode": "",
        "ProviderName": "",
        "SessionID": "",
        "Supplier": "",
        "ProviderSupplier": ""
    },
    "ProviderSupplierName": {}
}

while in PHP Version 5.4.4-14+deb7u8, I get:

"Mapper": {
    "0": {},
    "@attributes": {
        "ProviderCode": "",
        "ProviderName": "",
        "SessionID": "",
        "Supplier": "",
        "ProviderSupplier": ""
    }
}

I want to use PHP Version 5.4.4-14+deb7u8 and get same result as PHP Version 5.3.3-7+squeeze15.

Actually this xml is part of a very long xml. When I extract it as in this case, i get similar results on both versions of php.

The full xml can be found at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9zOzk6voXHKQ3N1ZklfVFVITFU/edit?usp=sharing

Another thing I noticed is that if I use the xml as given in link, I get the json as in the second example, but if I use an xml formatter and format the xml, then I get the json in the first example.

Any help?

The behaviour of json_encode did not change. But perhaps that of simplexml_load_string did. — Jon
– Jon, Commented Apr 11, 2014 at 11:27
This seems like a classic X/Y Problem to me: regardless of why this is behaving differently in different environments, converting an XML document blindly into JSON like this seems like a rather pointless exercise. What are you actually trying to achieve? — IMSoP
– IMSoP, Commented Apr 11, 2014 at 11:42
"Actually this xml is part of a very long xml. When I extract it as in this case, i get similar results on both version of php." <- So, the example you gave us doesn't actually reproduce the problem? That's not particularly helpful for debugging it. — IMSoP
– IMSoP, Commented Apr 11, 2014 at 11:44
@IMSoP I have edited the question and included the full xml. — Ketan
– Ketan, Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 6:23

Álvaro González · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-15 07:20:25Z

3

You just need the <ProviderSupplierName/> tag to reproduce the issue and, as you already mention, the different output happens when you reformat the source XML and add white space around it:

<Hotels>
    <Hotel>
        <Mapper><ProviderSupplierName/></Mapper>
    </Hotel>
</Hotels>

{"Hotel":{"Mapper":{"0":{}}}}

<Hotels>
    <Hotel>
        <Mapper>
            <ProviderSupplierName/>
        </Mapper>
    </Hotel>
</Hotels>

{"Hotel":{"Mapper":{"ProviderSupplierName":{}}}}

To get coherent pre-PHP/5.4 automated parsing you can provide the LIBXML_NOBLANKS flag («Remove blank nodes»):

$sxml = simplexml_load_string($resultXML, 'SimpleXMLElement', LIBXML_NOBLANKS);

(It's hard to say whether the change is intentional but a vanishing tag name feels like a bug.)

edited Apr 15, 2014 at 7:20

answered Apr 14, 2014 at 8:28

Álvaro González

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1 Comment

Ketan Over a year ago

Thanks for finding the way to easily reproduce the issue and giving a solution. It does seem like a bug. I will check on bugs.php.net/report.php to see if similar issues have been reported and do the necessary.

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