Accessing SimpleXMLElements within an array

Question

I've had a look round similar articles such as this one and I can't quite get it to work, quite possible I'm just misunderstanding.

I've got a simple script which parses a bit of xml and prints out specific fields - what I'm having trouble doing is accessing the data of SimpleXMLElement Objects.

XML (simplified for clarity)

<channel>
  <item> 
    <title><![CDATA[Title is in here ...]]></title> 
    <description>Our description is in here!</description>
  </item>
</channel>

PHP

$url = "file.xml";
$xml = simplexml_load_file($url, 'SimpleXMLElement', LIBXML_NOCDATA);

foreach ($xml->channel->item as $item) {
$articles = array();
$articles['title'] = $item->title;
$articles['description'] = $item->description;
}

Up to this point, everything seems ok. I end up with an array of content which I can confirm with print_r, this is what I get back:

Array
(
    [title] => SimpleXMLElement Object
        (
            [0] => Title is in here ...
        )

    [description] => SimpleXMLElement Object
        (
            [0] => Our description is in here!
        )
)

The key question

How do I then access [title][0] or [description][0]?

I've tried a couple of variations with no success, most likely a rookie error somewhere!

foreach ($articles as $article) {
        echo $article->title;
    }

and

foreach ($articles as $article) {
        echo $article['title'][0];
    }

and

foreach ($articles as $article) {
        echo $article['title'];
    }

Is there a special reason why you want to stuff each $item->title and $item->description in an array? I.e. why can't you simply use the simplexmlelement where you need it? — VolkerK
– VolkerK, Commented Aug 19, 2010 at 12:27
There are likely to be numerous sets of title/descriptions - I want to gather them together then iterate through them with another process ... if that sounds like the wrong process though I would love other suggestions :) — suitedupgeek
– suitedupgeek, Commented Aug 19, 2010 at 12:35

VolkerK · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-19 12:39:37Z

1

If you really don't want to simply pass the SimpleXMLelement but put the values in an array first....

<?php
// $xml = simplexml_load_file($url, 'SimpleXMLElement', LIBXML_NOCDATA);
$xlm = getData();

$articles = array();
foreach ($xml->channel->item as $item) {
  // with (string)$item->title you get rid of the SimpleXMLElements and store plain strings
  // but you could also keep the SimpleXMLElements here - the output is still the same.
  $articles[] = array(
    'title'=>(string)$item->title, 
    'description'=>(string)$item->description
  );
}

// ....
foreach( $articles as $a ) {
  echo $a['title'], ' - ', $a['description'], "\n";
}

function getData() {
  return new SimpleXMLElement('<foo><channel>
    <item> 
      <title><![CDATA[Title1 is in here ...]]></title> 
      <description>Our description1 is in here!</description>
    </item>
    <item> 
      <title><![CDATA[Title2 is in here ...]]></title> 
      <description>Our description2 is in here!</description>
    </item>
  </channel></foo>');
}

prints

Title1 is in here ... - Our description1 is in here!
Title2 is in here ... - Our description2 is in here!

edited Aug 19, 2010 at 12:39

answered Aug 19, 2010 at 12:34

VolkerK

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1 Comment

suitedupgeek Over a year ago

Nailed it. Didn't know about (string)$object->value ... very helpful.

Tornike · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-19 12:27:43Z

0

I think you have an error when you assign value to to array:

foreach ($xml->channel->item as $item) {
    $articles = array();
    $articles['title'] = $item->title;
    $articles['description'] = $item->description;
}

if you have foreach why are your creating on every step new array $articles = array();

$articles = array();
foreach ($xml->channel->item as $item) {
        $articles['title'] = $item->title;
        $articles['description'] = $item->description;
}

answered Aug 19, 2010 at 12:27

Tornike

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2 Comments

VolkerK Over a year ago

Even then you only get a maximum of one article since the next iteration overwrites the old values.

suitedupgeek Over a year ago

Quite right, I've only been testing with one set of values so far - the main question still stands despite my crappy code :)

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