Parsing xml elements within elements using PHP

Question

I'm trying to parse an xml file that has the contents of a simple order form. I'm comfortable with parsing an XML file which would have the contents of such:

<list>
    <item>
    <id>1</id>
    <quantity>14</quantity>
    </item>

    <item>
    <id>2</id>
    <quantity>3</quantity>
    </item>
</list>

Now I would like to be able to parse an xml file that is structured like so. This file is named "order.xml" for future reference.

<main>
<user>
    <address>123 Fake Street, City, STATE, ZIP</address>
    <list>
        <item>
            <id>1</id>
            <quantity>3</quantity>
        </item>
        <item>
            <id>3</id>
            <quantity>4</quantity>
        </item>
    </list>
</user>

<user>
    <address>246 Fake Street, City, STATE, ZIP</address>
    <list>
        <item>
            <id>2</id>
            <quantity>4</quantity>
        </item>
        <item>
            <id>3</id>
            <quantity>4</quantity>
        </item>
    </list>
</user>

</main>

The PHP code for which I'm using to parse the file is as so:

<?php
    // load SimpleXML
    $main = new SimpleXMLElement('order.xml', null, true);
    $list = $main;
    print("<table border = '1'>
    <tr>
        <th>Address</th>
        <th>Item_id</th>
        <th>Quantity</th>
    </tr> ");
    foreach($main as $user) // Loops through the users
    {
        print ("<tr>
            <td>{$user->address}</td>");
        foreach($list as $item)
        {
            print ("<td>{$item->id}</td>
        <td>{$item->quantity}</td></tr>");
        }
    }
    echo '</table>';
?>

so for an output I would like the PHP script to create a table something like the following, but properly formatted in an HTML table for easy viewing.:

       Address   Item_id    Quantity
      Address 1    2          3
      Address 1    3          4
      Address 2    1          1

Thank you very much in advance!

So relieved to open this question and see that you're using the right tool for the job. — Lightness Races in Orbit
– Lightness Races in Orbit, Commented May 12, 2011 at 23:22

James C · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-12 23:21:58Z

1

<?php
    // load SimpleXML
    $main = new SimpleXMLElement('order.xml', null, true);
    print("<table border = '1'>
    <tr>
        <th>Address</th>
        <th>Item_id</th>
        <th>Quantity</th>
    </tr> ");
    foreach($main->user as $user) // Loops through the users
    {
        print ("<tr>
            <td>{$user->address}</td>");
        foreach($user->item as $item)
        {
            print ("<td>{$item->id}</td>
        <td>{$item->quantity}</td></tr>");
        }
    }
    echo '</table>';
?>

answered May 12, 2011 at 23:21

James C

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4 Comments

JR90 Over a year ago

For some reason the script will display the address of each row but it will refuses to display neither the item id nor the quantity. I'm a bit stumped on this

Kibbee Over a year ago

It should probably be $user->list->item instead of $user->item

Steve Mallory Over a year ago

James has it right, but there is just a small oversight. $user does not have an item property, only a list property. So before the inner for, you need $list = $user->list. Then the for becomes foreach($list->item as $item) ...

JR90 Over a year ago

Aye I wasn't following the path all the way. Also had the change the list tags to something else since list is a reserved word in PHP. Thank you very much!

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