how can I parse xml data in php

Question

I am trying to find out how this would work

For testing purposes, I have made two websites.

One is calling a REST service from the other

I pull the xml data with file_get_contents

if I echo it, I can see a string off data.

But how can I use simpelxml on it, extract data from the nodes themselves?

If I use simplexml_load_file($url), I get some error saying xml declaration only allowed at the start off the document?

I have this in my testfile

<?php

$url='http://www.woonbel.nl/gps/setgpsloc';
//not working
$xml =simplexml_load_file($url);   

print_r($xml);

//just a string
$xml=file_get_contents($url);
echo "<h3>$xml</h3><br>";

?>

this was the xml I send.

I send this from a class file that I included in the top off my php file if I am sure the webservice is called, maybe that has someting to do with the declaration error?

header('Content-type: text/xml');
echo "<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>\n";
echo "<response>\n";
echo "\t<status>$status_code</status>\n";
echo "\t<fout>Geen</fout>\n";
echo "</response>";

Thanks, Richard

Without seeing the particular file, it's hard to tell what the error might be. — Andrew Moore
– Andrew Moore, Commented Jul 23, 2009 at 18:50
The xml looks ok. Check what the file_get_contents returns and check for anything before the start of <?xml — koen
– koen, Commented Jul 23, 2009 at 22:38
file_get_contents returns the data contained in the xml tags in a string. I can see, because I have echo'd it to the page. — Richard
– Richard, Commented Jul 24, 2009 at 2:47

Peter Di Cecco · Accepted Answer · 2009-08-15 06:12:43Z

3

Sounds like there is a blank line at the top of the file, when it should start with the xml declaration. For example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

edited Aug 15, 2009 at 6:12

answered Jul 23, 2009 at 18:58

Peter Di Cecco

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5 Comments

Richard Over a year ago

that is the part I don't understand If I want to pull xml data in, then the whole file has to be an xml file. So, then it is no longer an html file?

Richard Over a year ago

then, exactly how does it work when you want to display the data from the xml?

koen Over a year ago

Richard, you have to check the string you are getting and make sure it is valid xml. Then you'll be able to use simpleXML.

Richard Over a year ago

how do you check if it is valid xml? is file_get_contents still an option to get the xml, because I have that from other tutorials. Maybe I have to put file_get_contents into simplexml_load_string?

Peter Di Cecco Over a year ago

Well formed HTML is usually XHTML which is in fact also XML.

koen · Accepted Answer · 2009-07-23 18:57:14Z

0

Have you got empty lines before the declaration?

answered Jul 23, 2009 at 18:57

koen

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Comments

ceejayoz · Accepted Answer · 2009-07-23 20:01:39Z

0

Your REST service should be returning XML contents, something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<results>
  <result>
    <value awesome="true">LOLCATS</value>
  </result>
</results>

You'd then do something along these lines to consume that REST service on the other site:

$xml = simplexml_load_string(file_get_contents('http://example.com/rest.xml'));

foreach($xml->result as $result) {
  $value = $result->value;
  $awesome = $result->attributes()->awesome;
  // do something here with our values and attributes
}

The PHP docs for SimpleXML contain more complicated/real-world examples.

For your specific XML:

$xml = simplexml_load_string(file_get_contents('http://example.com/rest.xml'));

$status = $xml->status;
$fout = $xml->fout;

edited Jul 23, 2009 at 20:01

answered Jul 23, 2009 at 19:28

ceejayoz

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4 Comments

Richard Over a year ago

yes, I just thought off that, only my enclosing tags are named response and the url does not contain any xml extension, just nouns.

ceejayoz Over a year ago

Added in code for your specific XML. SimpleXML does a good job of making a usable PHP data structure out of an XML file.

Richard Over a year ago

thanks for editing my question. I am still missing something because I get that declaration error? I have exactly two lines in my testfile, namely these ones $url=the_url; $xml = simplexml_load_string(file_get_contents($url));

Richard Over a year ago

the solution was, that I needed a space between xml version 1.0 and encoding... That little thing was causing it.

jussist · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-27 12:26:24Z

0

The error message clearly states that there is a blank, line or character, at the beginning of the xml-data. That could be file-encoding -issue.

answered Jan 27, 2012 at 12:26

jussist

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