Reading XML from PHP

Manat

Hello All

I have an XML file, and I wish to get some information out of it and output it in PHP.

I want the number of votes for each <AN Number tag, and output it in a PHP file.

Would anyone know how to do this?

lobo235

I put your XML into a file called TEST.XML (after fixing a small error where you left out "AN " before the first answer.

Then I ran it through the following code that I had written Previously:

<?php
	global $xmldata;
	global $i;
	$xmldata = array();
	$i = 0;

function startElementHandler($parser, $name, $attribs) {
	global $xmldata;
	global $i;
	$xmldata["$name"]["$i"] = $attribs;
	$i++;
}

function endElementHandler($parser, $name) {
}

function cdataHandler($parser, $data) {
}

$parser = xml_parser_create();

xml_set_element_handler($parser, "startElementHandler", "endElementHandler");

xml_set_character_data_handler($parser, "cdataHandler");

$file="TEST.XML";
if (!($fp = fopen($file, "r"))) {
	die("could not open file for reading!");
}

while ($data = fread($fp, 4096)) {
	if (!xml_parse($parser, $data, feof($fp))) {
		die(sprintf("XML error %d %d", xml_get_current_line_number($parser), xml_get_current_column_number($parser)));
	}
}

echo "<b>\n<pre>\n";
print_r($xmldata);
echo "<b>\n</pre>\n";

?>

This will create a variable called $xmldata where you should be able to access the data you are looking for. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.

www.netlobo.com

Manat

Thanks alot, it works.
But the array contains everything in the XML file!

I would only like to have this type of output:

Firstly, I would like to assign <an number=1 to something more meaningful, like Blue, and output the number of people who voted for blue.

So my output would be:

Color | Votes
Blue 1206

Right now it's outputting pretty much everything, so I would like to put each color in a seperate variable and votes also in a seperate value, in case I would want to export these variables to flash.

Any idea how to do this?

Thanks

lobo235

Well instead of the RGB color code in your XML use the actual name of the color and then change the PHP like so:

<?php
	global $xmldata;

function startElementHandler($parser, $name, $attribs) { 
	global $xmldata; 
	global $i;
	if ($name == "AN") {
		$xmldata[$attribs['NUMBER']]['color'] = $attribs['COLOR'];
		$xmldata[$attribs['NUMBER']]['votes'] = $attribs['VOTES'];
	}
}

function endElementHandler($parser, $name) {
	//echo("&lt;/$name&gt;<BR>");
}

function cdataHandler($parser, $data) {
	//echo("$data<BR>");
}

$parser = xml_parser_create("UTF-8");

xml_set_element_handler($parser, "startElementHandler", "endElementHandler");

xml_set_character_data_handler($parser, "cdataHandler");

$file="TEST.XML";
if (!($fp = fopen($file, "r"))) {
	die("could not open file for reading!");
}

while ($data = fread($fp, 4096)) {
	if (!xml_parse($parser, $data, feof($fp))) {
		die(sprintf("XML error %d %d", xml_get_current_line_number($parser), xml_get_current_column_number($parser)));
	}
}

echo "<b>\n<pre>\n";
print_r($xmldata);
echo "<b>\n</pre>\n";

?>

I hope this helps. Let me know.

Manat

Hey there, yep it works.

However, how would I put the value of each vote into a variable, not an Array though, just one variable per vote. So since there are 5 votes, how to put each value in a seperate variable?

lobo235

Just add this code at the end of the script. It will set individual variables for each array value. You can then use the individual variables in whatever setting you want. You could just access the variables from the array to avoid the extra steps. Example: $xmldata[1]['color'] gives you the color of the first answer. $xmldata[1]['votes'] gives you the number of votes for the first answer. Just change the number 1 to get the values for different answers.

$an1color = $xmldata[1]['color'];
$an1votes = $xmldata[1]['votes'];
$an2color = $xmldata[2]['color'];
$an2votes = $xmldata[2]['votes'];
$an3color = $xmldata[3]['color'];
$an3votes = $xmldata[3]['votes'];
$an4color = $xmldata[4]['color'];
$an4votes = $xmldata[4]['votes'];
$an5color = $xmldata[5]['color'];
$an5votes = $xmldata[5]['votes'];

Let me know if you need more help.

imnu

Hi, Lobo,

Could you look at my problem in this thread? I got an xml and php question slightly different from this.

http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10247875&highlight=xml+php

Thanks a lot.

imnu (I am still new!)