Parsing an XML response using simplexml_load_string

Question

I am using PHP to parse an XML response,

After some debugging, I have found a strange occurrence with my application. This is what I've been doing, I make the request and then I echo the entire response. The response is as-expected XML. When I copy this entire document and paste it into a php script which then runs simplexml_load_string on it, it spits out a Simple XML object like you would expect.

When I run it from the actual request, I print the response, I can see it, looks like normal XML. But then when I load the xml string using simplexml_load_string, it prints nothing at all. I have tried a few variations but every object it returns is just empty. The script is running because I echo "Done" at the end of the script. I have tried each of these:

$xml = simplexml_load_string(htmlspecialchars_decode($response_body));

$xml = simplexml_load_string($response_body);

$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($response_body);

The first one I've tried (with htmlspecialchars_decode) is because, for some reason, the unedited response, prints with < signs instead of '<' signs. Any suggestions, or advice would be hugely helpful!

By the way, I am printing the object like this:

print_r($xml);

rzetterberg · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-05 19:13:59Z

2

Use instead:

var_dump($xml);

It will show you what type the variable is. This way you will know if the variable is false or null, which print_r does not. If the variable is null or false it won't print anything.

So, If you get an SimpleXML object all is fine, if you however get false then the parsing encountered an error. To being able to figure out what went wrong you need to turn on E_WARNING, since simplexml_load_string produces a warning and not a error.

Comments

GitsD · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-05 19:15:22Z

1

You can convert your xml object into array and then use like an array.

Example :

      $xml = simplexml_load_file('path/to/xml');

        function toarray($data) {
        if (is_object($data)) $data = get_object_vars($data);
        return (is_array($data)) ? array_map(__FUNCTION__,$data) : $data;
        }

        $dat = toarray($xml);

Now $dat becomes array and use it like

echo $dat['key_name'];

Hope it may help to get your result. Thank You CHeers...!!

answered Jul 5, 2011 at 19:15

GitsD

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Comments

cwallenpoole · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-05 19:19:38Z

1

You're probably looking for the asXML function.

SimpleXMLElement::asXML — Return a well-formed XML string based on SimpleXML element

EDIT

You mentioned below that the object is returning empty from the pieces of code posted in the question. Have you tried var_dump? I suspect that you're actually getting the return of 'FALSE'. That will print out as nothing and it happens when you have malformed XML and you try to pass it through the code in your question.

Here are a couple of steps you can try:

Hit ctrl+u in your browser -- I'll bet that you've a &tl; where you really want a <. Either that or you have an " when you want ". CTRL-U should show you that.
Copy the output from the browser into a local file and see what simplexml_load_file says about it. It could be that you're missing a closing tag or something.

edited Jul 5, 2011 at 19:19

answered Jul 5, 2011 at 19:07

cwallenpoole

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1 Comment

Doug Molineux Over a year ago

Well thank you for the response, but I am unable to convert the XML response into a SimpleXML element. The object that the xml is converted to is empty when I print_r it

Toon Krijthe · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-04 05:17:47Z

1

The reason that it's not printing with 'echo', is that echo prints a variable.

The simplexml_load_string is a built in function that turns an output of an XML function into an object.

You can not use echo to print an object. print_r() is a better option to print objects.

edited Oct 4, 2012 at 5:17

Toon Krijthe

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answered Oct 4, 2012 at 3:30

Jed Lynch

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1 Comment

IMSoP Over a year ago

print_r is not, however, a good option to print SimpleXML objects, as it doesn't show the full structure. See github.com/IMSoP/simplexml_debug

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