PHP simplexml_load_file - error handling

Question

I'm loading a XML file from a foreign server which is working. But how do I receive an error message if the file does not exist or something else went wrong while loading it?

This is my code:

$xml = simplexml_load_file('http://api.example.com/2/image/' . $myhash . '.xml');

Also I'ld like to know what's the best practice if something like that happens. Should I just display an error message like "error - please reload page" or should I directly redirect the user like to the "homepage" or a 404 page?

Thanks for tips. (I've only found examples for files on the same server)

phpNutt · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-28 15:30:41Z

4

From looking at the php documentation of the function simplexml_load_file

You can just do this:

$xml = simplexml_load_file('http://api.example.com/2/image/' . $myhash . '.xml');
if ($xml === false) {
      // error so redirect or handle error
      header('location: /404.php');
      exit;
}
else {
     // process xml
}

I dont really know what you're trying to get from this XML, however if it doesnt work first time around and errors, then whats the point of telling the user that its not working, please reload the page.

I'd advise either redirecting to an error page such as 404 or display an error message saying something like "Unexpected error - please try again soon", then get it to either log to an error log or email you telling you of the error

answered Apr 28, 2011 at 15:30

phpNutt

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4 Comments

Kevin Peno Over a year ago

More reason to use curl so that you can tell the difference between an HTTP Status: 500 or Status: 404.

Michael Over a year ago

By using your example I receive this error messages: Warning: simplexml_load_file - failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! and Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent

Narf Over a year ago

@Michael: Prepend simplexml_load_file() with @ to suppress the warnings.

Michael Over a year ago

Thanky you very much! Working fine now.

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