php get node value from xml based on other node value

Question

I have currently an xml file that is formatted as follows:

    <SKUQuestions>
       <SKUQuestion>
          <Tag>FrontCamaraWorks</Tag>
          <Question>Does the front Camera Work?</Question>
          <Answer>Yes</Answer>
       </SKUQuestion>
       <SKUQuestion>
          <Tag>BackCamaraWorks</Tag>
          <Question>Does the Rear Camera Work?</Question>
          <Answer>No</Answer>
       </SKUQuestion>
    </SKUQuestions>

I am currently getting the info from the "answer" nodes by calling where it occurs in the xml for example:

    $qFrontCameraWorks = $data['skuQuestions']->SKUQuestion[4];
    $data['frontCameraWorks'] = str_replace("'", "\'", $qFrontCameraWorks->Answer);

my problem is the xml files don't always come to me with the questions in the same order.

So, I was wanting to figure a way to query within a "SKUquestion" node if the "tag" is one thing then it would return the value of the "answer" node within that same SKUquestion node.

for example if the tag is "FrontCamaraWorks" then $data['frontCameraWorks'] is yes.

Parfait · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-09 00:21:27Z

1

Simply run an XPath query expression. As information, XPath is a declarative language used to reference parts of XML documents. PHP's SimpleXMLElement class can run XPath queries returned in arrays:

$xmlstr = "<SKUQuestions>
                <SKUQuestion>
                   <Tag>FrontCamaraWorks</Tag>
                   <Question>Does the front Camera Work?</Question>
                   <Answer>Yes</Answer>
                </SKUQuestion>
                <SKUQuestion>
                   <Tag>BackCamaraWorks</Tag>
                   <Question>Does the Rear Camera Work?</Question>
                   <Answer>No</Answer>
                </SKUQuestion>
            </SKUQuestions>";

# LOAD STRING XML
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($xmlstr);

# RUN XPATH QUERY
$queryResult = $xml->xpath('//SKUQuestion[Tag="FrontCamaraWorks"]/Answer');

# OUTPUT VALUE
echo $queryResult[0];
# Yes

Alternatively, you can use PHP's DOMXPath using its query() method which returns a DOMNodelist (not array):

# LOAD STRING XML
$xmldoc = new DOMDocument();
$xmldoc->loadXML($xmlstr);

# INITIALIZE AND RUN QUERY
$xpathvar = new DOMXPath($xmldoc);    
$queryResult = $xpathvar->query('//SKUQuestion[Tag="FrontCamaraWorks"]/Answer');

# ITERATE DOM NODE LIST
foreach($queryResult as $result){
    echo $result->nodeValue;
}
# Yes

answered Jun 9, 2016 at 0:21

Parfait

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2 Comments

ggntc Over a year ago

This is the answer. Thanks so much.

Parfait Over a year ago

Great! Glad I could help. Please accept to confirm resolution.

Aparna · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-08 23:34:53Z

You can refer this link for the details: http://php.net/manual/en/function.simplexml-load-file.php.

I am giving you an example also for your understanding.
Convert the XML string ($buffer) into a simplified array ignore attributes and grouping child-elements with the same names:

    function XML2Array(SimpleXMLElement $parent)
{
    $array = array();

    foreach ($parent as $name => $element) {
        ($node = & $array[$name])
            && (1 === count($node) ? $node = array($node) : 1)
            && $node = & $node[];

        $node = $element->count() ? XML2Array($element) : trim($element);
    }

    return $array;
}

$xml   = simplexml_load_string($buffer);
$array = XML2Array($xml);
$array = array($xml->getName() => $array);

Result:

Array
(
    [SKUQuestions] => Array
        (
            [SKUQuestion] => Array
                (
                        [Tag] => 
                        [Question] => 
                        [Answer] => 

                )

        )

)

Then, you can refer the answer tag irrespective of your skuquestions ordering. I hope it will help.

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