how to distinguish similar nested XML tags??

[acidbox]

I use this script to parse my XML and display its results: http://www.zend.com/codex.php?id=380&single=1

The problem I am having is that the XML I am parsing uses a LOT of the same tags and I cannot distinguish which tags are for which.

Example:

<birth-date>
     <year></year>
     <month></month>
     <day></day>
</birth-date>

<start-date>
     <year></year>
     <month></month>
     <day></day>
</start-date>

<end-date>
     <year></year>
     <month></month>
     <day></day>
</end-date>

From this example, I am able to figure out how many total rows of each tag there are, but I cannot figure out how to specifically determine which tags are under which parent tags. I could count them if they were always there, but in some instances I may not have an end date for a specific result and this would skew my results.

So basically, how can i tell php to display the <year> tag from underneath <start-date> etc... ???

[cgraz]

Try this

<?

$tags = "

<birth-date>
     <year></year>
     <month></month>
     <day></day>
</birth-date>

<start-date>
     <year></year>
     <month></month>
     <day></day>
</start-date>

<end-date>
     <year></year>
     <month></month>
     <day></day>
</end-date>";

$start = strpos($tags, "<start-date>");
$end = strpos($tags, "</start-date>");
$length = strlen("<start-date>");

$start += $length;


$new_tags = trim(substr($tags, ($start), ($end - $start)));

/*

will return (for example)

<year></year>
<month></month>
<day></day>

*/

// check for year tag

if(strpos($new_tags, "year")) {
   echo "year tag exists<Br>";
} else {
   echo "year tag doesn't exist<br>";
}

// check for month tag

if(strpos($new_tags, "month")) {
   echo "month tag exists<Br>";
} else {
   echo "month tag doesn't exist<br>";
}


// check for day tag

if(strpos($new_tags, "day")) {
   echo "day tag exists<Br>";
} else {
   echo "day tag doesn't exist<br>";
}



?>

Cgraz

[tomhath]

The xml parser is your friend, let it parse the xml and handle the tokens as they appear. This just builds an array of the tags, but you can modify the element handlers or do whatever you want with the array when it's finished:

<?php
// do this when a start token is found by the parser
//
function startElement($parser, $tag, $attrs) {
    global $parent, $inParent;
    switch ($tag) {
      case "BIRTH-DATE":
      case "START-DATE":
      case "END-DATE":
         $parent[$tag] = array();
         $inParent = $tag;
         break;

  case "YEAR":
  case "MONTH":
  case "DAY":
     if (isset($inParent) ) {
       $parent[$inParent][$tag] = true;
     }
     break;
}
return 0;
}

// do this when an end token is found by the parser
//
function endElement($parser, $tag) {
  global $parent, $inParent;
  switch ($tag) {
      case "BIRTH-DATE":
      case "START-DATE":
      case "END-DATE":
        $inParent = null;
        break;
  }
}


// these handlers are not used for anything in this example
//
function characterData($parser, $data) {
  return 0;
}

function PIHandler($parser, $data) {
  return 0;
}

function defaultHandler($parser, $data) {
  return 0;
}


// set up the parser object and feed it the xml 
//
function parse_date($xml) {
  $xml_parser = xml_parser_create();

  xml_set_element_handler($xml_parser, "startElement", "endElement");
  xml_set_character_data_handler($xml_parser, "characterData");
  xml_set_processing_instruction_handler($xml_parser, "PIHandler");
  xml_set_default_handler($xml_parser, "defaultHandler");

  if (!xml_parse($xml_parser, $xml, false)) {
        die(sprintf("XML error: %s at line %d",
                    xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($xml_parser)),
                    xml_get_current_line_number($xml_parser)));
  }

  xml_parser_free($xml_parser);
}

// start with an empty array, not inside any parent tag

$parent = array();
$inParent = null;

$theXML = "<dates>
<birth-date>
     <year></year>
     <month></month>
     <day></day>
</birth-date>

<start-date>
     <year></year>
     <month></month>
     <day></day>
</start-date>

<end-date>
     <year></year>
     <month></month>
     <day></day>
</end-date>
</dates>";

// parse the tokens

parse_date($theXML);

// display results
echo "<pre>";
print_r($parent);
echo "</pre>";
?>