convert array, keep xml tags

spacestout

I'm getting an XML feed back by doing this:

$xmlfeed= file($request), where $request is a urlencoded URL. It appears that file($request) sends a search query to a search engine and $xmlfeed ends up being an array with the query results.

I want $xmlfeed to be a "well-formed" xml document. Typing $request's contents in the browser displays such an xml document. About the only way to have $xmlfeed look like an xml document is to do a foreach () and write out each line. At least the XML tags are there. The XSLT processor I'm trying to use to combine XSL with XML requires that the xml document be a string, and not the array that file() returns.

All the examples I can find show file.xml already being created. I guess I'm trying to figure out how to pass my URL request ($request) to the search engine and get the results into a .xml file.

Anyone know?

drew010

[man]file[/man] returns the contents of the file in an array, where each line is an index, [man]file_get_contents[/man] does the same, except it puts the entire contents of the file in a string, not an array.
basically,
$xmlfeed = file_get_contents($request);
is what you are looking for.

spacestout

Thanks Drew,

I've tried the file_get_contents. But when doing a print or echo to the screen, I don't see any tag information. Lot's of data, but none of it in an xml format with tags, etc. Is there something I need to do to the string to get it into an xml format?

cahva

Browser parses the tags out. If you want to just print it in browser, use

echo '<pre>'.htmlspecialchars($xmlfeed).'</pre>';

<pre></pre> tags are mandatory but it shows the code with tabs etc.

spacestout

Great. That snippet displayed a "well formed" XML page in my browser. What are the dots for before and after, ie .htmlspecialchars($xmlfeed). ?

Now, is $xmlfeed a variable containing my xml file to use in the xslt processor to display search results? Or do I need to save $xmlfeed as an xml file?

drew010

the dots before and after are just the concatenation operator, which is how you put multiple string outputs together.
the $xmlfeed variable will contain the whole feed ready to be processed. if the library you use can load it from a string, then its fine. if it requires a file, then you can save it if necessary.