convert xml data structure into php array

st3lla

Hi all,

I'm so glad there's a forum for the php builder.I helps me so much to solve problems in php.Anyway, i have a problem to convert XML data structure into php arays with the concept of SAX. I realized this has to be done using xml_parse_into_struct.But, I'm confused about the usage of this function.

Here is the xml document:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<bookmarks category="News">
<link id="15696">
<title>CNN</title>
<url>http://www.cnn.com/</url>
<last_access>2000-09-08</last_access>
</link>
<link id="3763">
<title>Freshmeat</title>
<url>http://www.freshmeat.net/</url>
<last_access>2001-04-23</last_access>
</link>
<link id="84574">
<title>Slashdot</title>
<url>http://www.slashdot.com/</url>
<last_access>2001-12-30</last_access>
</link>
</bookmarks>

I want to change it into something like:

First Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[tag] => BOOKMARKS
[type] => open
[level] => 1
[attributes] => Array
(
[CATEGORY] => News
)
)

[1] => Array
(
[tag] => LINK
[type] => open
[level] => 2
[attributes] => Array
(
[ID] => 15696
)
)

And so on.
And second array should print :

Second Array
(
[BOOKMARKS] => Array
(
[0] => 0
[1] => 16
)
[LINK] => Array
(
[0] => 1
[1] => 5
[2] => 6
[3] => 10
[4] => 11
[5] => 15
)
[TITLE] => Array
(
[0] => 2
[1] => 7
[2] => 12
)
And so on.

Thus the first array prints all the elements or attributes it encounters and
second array prints the occurrence indicator and frequency of occurrence
of the elements. There is a function in php that prints an array exactly as
above,but i don't know what it is.

Could someone help me please.I really really appreciate it.

Thank you very much

tekky

from php.net's help on this function.... this might work for ya....

A small and simple php code to convert the raw array returned by xml_parse_into_struct into a proper data structure ..

<?php
$file = "data.xml";
$xml_parser = xml_parser_create();

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

$data = fread($fp, filesize($file));
fclose($fp);
xml_parse_into_struct($xml_parser, $data, $vals, $index);
xml_parser_free($xml_parser);

$params = array();
$level = array();
foreach ($vals as $xml_elem) {
  if ($xml_elem['type'] == 'open') {
   if (array_key_exists('attributes',$xml_elem)) {
     list($level[$xml_elem['level']],$extra) = array_values($xml_elem['attributes']);
   } else {
     $level[$xml_elem['level']] = $xml_elem['tag'];
   }
  }
  if ($xml_elem['type'] == 'complete') {
   $start_level = 1;
   $php_stmt = '$params';
   while($start_level < $xml_elem['level']) {
     $php_stmt .= '[$level['.$start_level.']]';
     $start_level++;
   }
   $php_stmt .= '[$xml_elem[\'tag\']] = $xml_elem[\'value\'];';
   eval($php_stmt);
  }
}

echo "<pre>";
print_r ($params);
echo "</pre>";
?>

Converts an XML document like ..

<country id="ZZ">
<name>My Land</name>
<location>15E</location>
<area>40000</area>
<state1>
<name>Hi State</name>
<area>1000</area>
<population>2000</population>
<city1>
<location>13E</location>
<population>500</population>
<area>500</area>
</city1>
<city2>
<location>13E</location>
<population>500</population>
<area>5000</area>
</city2>
</state1>
<state2>
<name>Low State</name>
<area>3000</area>
<population>20000</population>
<city1>
<location>15E</location>
<population>5000</population>
<area>1500</area>
</city1>
</state2>
</country>

To a php datastructure like ..

Array
(
   [ZZ] => Array
       (
           [NAME] => My Land
           [LOCATION] => 15E
           [AREA] => 40000
           [STATE1] => Array
               (
                   [NAME] => Hi State
                   [AREA] => 1000
                   [POPULATION] => 2000
                   [CITY1] => Array
                       (
                           [LOCATION] => 13E
                           [POPULATION] => 500
                           [AREA] => 500
                       )

               [CITY2] => Array
                   (
                       [LOCATION] => 13E
                       [POPULATION] => 500
                       [AREA] => 5000
                   )

           )

       [STATE2] => Array
           (
               [NAME] => Low State
               [AREA] => 3000
               [POPULATION] => 20000
               [CITY1] => Array
                   (
                       [LOCATION] => 15E
                       [POPULATION] => 5000
                       [AREA] => 1500
                   )

           )

   )

)

st3lla

Thank you so much

st3lla

Hi Karl or anyone,

How if i want to enhance that program to create a third array that
contains only the URLs from each link?Will i use the same function?could you give me some examples?

Also what concept of SAX applied?I'm sorry because i'm a bit of lost with SAX concept.

Thank you

Regards,
Stella

tekky

I couldnt offer anything beyond that snippet ( i just happened to find it while looking up the XML stuff on php.net's site )

if I have time later I'll break it down and see what I can discern from it... XML isnt my forte... but I'll see

laserlight

This explains a little on SAX's concept, against the DOM:

http://www.saxproject.org/?selected=event

Though you'll have to understand what is meant by a "tree" and by "event-driven".

st3lla

Hi,

How about the third array which contains only the urls of each link?do i have to use string manipulation function to capture them (like substr)?Or is there any php method related to xml parser function to do that?

Thank you

Regards,

Stella