Cannot parse XML using simplexml_load_string

Question

I have tried various methods as seen in here and in here and many more.

I even tried the function in here.

The XML looks something like this:

<s:Envelope xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope" xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/2005/08/addressing"><s:Header><a:Action s:mustUnderstand="1">http://tempuri.org/IFooEntryOperation/SaveFooStatusResponse</a:Action></s:Header><s:Body><SaveFooStatusResponse xmlns="http://htempuri.org/"><SaveFooStatusResult xmlns:b="http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/FooAPI.Entities.Foo" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"><b:AWBNumber>999999999</b:AWBNumber><b:IsError>true</b:IsError><b:Status><b:FooEntryStatus><b:StatusCode>Foo_ENTRY_FAILURE</b:StatusCode><b:StatusInformation>InvalidEmployeeCode</b:StatusInformation></b:FooEntryStatus></b:Status></SaveFooStatusResult></SaveFooStatusResponse></s:Body></s:Envelope>

And here's one example of my code (I have a dozen variations):

$ReturnData = $row["ReturnData"]; // string frm a database
if (strpos($ReturnData, "s:Envelope") !== false){
    $ReturnXML = new SimpleXMLElement($ReturnData);
    $xml = simplexml_load_string($ReturnXML);
    $StatusCode = $xml["b:StatusCode"];
    echo "<br>StatusCode: " . $StatusCode;
    $IsError = $xml["b:IsError"];
    echo "<br>IsError: " . $IsError;
}

Another option I tried:

$test = json_decode(json_encode($xml, 1); //this didn't work either

I either get an empty array or I get errors like:

"Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Exception' with message 'String could not be parsed as XML"

I have tried so many things, I may lost track of where my code is right now. Please help - I am really stuck...

I also tried:

$ReturnXML = new SimpleXMLElement($ReturnData);
    foreach( $ReturnXML->children('b', true)->entry as $entries ) {
        echo (string) 'Summary: ' . simplexml_load_string($entries->StatusCode->children()->asXML(), null, LIBXML_NOCDATA) . "<br />\n";
    }

@u_mulder yes, I tried declaring a namespace, but that didn't help. — Chiwda
– Chiwda, Commented Apr 29, 2019 at 7:58

Rakesh Jakhar · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-29 08:03:00Z

Method 1.

You can try the below code snippet to parse it an array

$p = xml_parser_create();
xml_parse_into_struct($p, $xml, $values, $indexes);// $xml containing the XML
xml_parser_free($p);
echo "Index array\n";
print_r($indexes);
echo "\nVals array\n";
print_r($values);

Method 2.

function XMLtoArray($xml) {
  $previous_value = libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
  $dom = new DOMDocument('1.0', 'UTF-8');
  $dom->preserveWhiteSpace = false; 
  $dom->loadXml($xml);
  libxml_use_internal_errors($previous_value);
  if (libxml_get_errors()) {
    return [];
  }
  return DOMtoArray($dom);
}
function DOMtoArray($root) {
  $result = array();
  if ($root->hasAttributes()) {
     $attrs = $root->attributes;
     foreach ($attrs as $attr) {
         $result['@attributes'][$attr->name] = $attr->value;
     }
  }
  if ($root->hasChildNodes()) {
    $children = $root->childNodes;
    if ($children->length == 1) {
        $child = $children->item(0);
        if (in_array($child->nodeType,[XML_TEXT_NODE,XML_CDATA_SECTION_NODE])) 
        {
            $result['_value'] = $child->nodeValue;
            return count($result) == 1
                ? $result['_value']
                : $result;
        }
    }
    $groups = array();
    foreach ($children as $child) {
        if (!isset($result[$child->nodeName])) {
            $result[$child->nodeName] = DOMtoArray($child);
        } else {
            if (!isset($groups[$child->nodeName])) {
                $result[$child->nodeName] = array($result[$child->nodeName]);
                $groups[$child->nodeName] = 1;
            }
            $result[$child->nodeName][] = DOMtoArray($child);
        }
    }
}
  return $result;
}

You can get an array using print_r(XMLtoArray($xml));

Method 1 worked for me and because I like simple and short and I associate that with elegant code (or perhaps because I'm lazy), I didn't go beyond that. Thanx!

Professor Abronsius · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-29 07:47:44Z

I don't know how you would do this using SimpleXMLElement but judging by the fact you have tried so many things I trust that the actual method employed is not important so you should therefore find the following, which uses DOMDocument and DOMXPath, of interest.

        /* The SOAP response */
        $strxml='<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<s:Envelope xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope" xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/2005/08/addressing">
    <s:Header>
        <a:Action s:mustUnderstand="1">http://tempuri.org/IFooEntryOperation/SaveFooStatusResponse</a:Action>
    </s:Header>
    <s:Body>
        <SaveFooStatusResponse xmlns="http://htempuri.org/">
            <SaveFooStatusResult xmlns:b="http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/FooAPI.Entities.Foo" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
                <b:AWBNumber>999999999</b:AWBNumber>
                <b:IsError>true</b:IsError>
                <b:Status>
                    <b:FooEntryStatus>
                        <b:StatusCode>Foo_ENTRY_FAILURE</b:StatusCode>
                        <b:StatusInformation>InvalidEmployeeCode</b:StatusInformation>
                    </b:FooEntryStatus>
                </b:Status>
            </SaveFooStatusResult>
        </SaveFooStatusResponse>
    </s:Body>
</s:Envelope>';

        /* create the DOMDocument and manually control errors */
        libxml_use_internal_errors( true );
        $dom=new DOMDocument;
        $dom->validateOnParse=true;
        $dom->recover=true;
        $dom->strictErrorChecking=true;
        $dom->loadXML( $strxml );
        libxml_clear_errors();

        /* Create the XPath object */
        $xp=new DOMXPath( $dom );
        /* Register the various namespaces found in the XML response */
        $xp->registerNamespace('b','http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/FooAPI.Entities.Foo');
        $xp->registerNamespace('i','http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance');
        $xp->registerNamespace('s','http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope');
        $xp->registerNamespace('a','http://www.w3.org/2005/08/addressing');

        /* make XPath queries for whatever pieces of information you need */
        $Action=$xp->query( '//a:Action' )->item(0)->nodeValue;
        $StatusCode=$xp->query( '//b:StatusCode' )->item(0)->nodeValue;
        $StatusInformation=$xp->query( '//b:StatusInformation' )->item(0)->nodeValue;


        printf(
            "<pre>
            %s
            %s
            %s
            </pre>",
            $Action,
            $StatusCode,
            $StatusInformation
        );

The output from the above:

    http://tempuri.org/IFooEntryOperation/SaveFooStatusResponse
    Foo_ENTRY_FAILURE
    InvalidEmployeeCode

This looks interesting but I chose Method 1 by @rakesh-jakkar since it is the shortest. Still, you got an upvote. :-)

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