edit/add to XML with SimpleXML

[scrupul0us]

lets say i have a very basic XML file

<products>
<item>
<name>Test 1</name>
</item>
<item>
<name>Test 2</name>
</item>

</products>

what i would like todo:

1) parse the products tree and output a drop down on each <item>
--I can do that myself easily--

2) when an item is chosen you can click edit and it will bring up each of the values within the item into a form that u can edit
-- knowing the structure im pretty sure i can handle this too--

3) when you are done editting you submit and it updates the XML <item>
--this i will definitely need help on this or a good example to get a start with--

4) at the same spot where you get a drop down of items I'd like to offer the ability to add a item to the XML... i've seen the addChildren and addAttribute but the help file is rather vague to the specifics... again, a good example here would be great

any direction, links, code snippets would be greatly appreciated... thanks alot

[scrupul0us]

ok... first off the product dump

<?php

$xml_file = file_get_contents("products.xml");

$xml = simplexml_load_string($xml_file);

$i = 0;
echo '<form name="products" action="">';
echo '<select>';
foreach ($xml->item as $product)
{
echo "<option>$i: ".$product->name."</option>";
$i++;
}
echo '</select>';
echo '</form>';

?>

i would like to sort the list alphabetically but i cannot seem to figure that out... i tried to assign in another foreach the names into another array but anytime i tried assigning

$products[] = $product->name;

all it did was assign the simplexml object to the array and not just the name

also, does the xml node numbering scheme start at 0 or 1?

[NogDog]

For the select options, I would probably just create an array of values and then sort it:

$options = array();
foreach($xml->item as $product)
{
   $options[] = $product;
}
// now use sort() or other array function(s) as desired

[scrupul0us]

i did try that, but as stated when i loop out that array it contains a bunch of simplexml objects and not just the name

[scrupul0us]

foreach ($xml->item as $product)
{
$products[] = $product->name;
}
print_r($products);

gives:

Array
(
    [0] => SimpleXMLElement Object
        (
            [0] => Name 1
        )

[1] => SimpleXMLElement Object
    (
        [0] =>  Name 2
    )

[2] => SimpleXMLElement Object
    (
        [0] =>  Name 3
    )

[3] => SimpleXMLElement Object
    (
        [0] =>  Name 4
    )

[4] => SimpleXMLElement Object
    (
        [0] =>  Name 5
    )
)

but if i go:

foreach ($xml->item as $product)
{
echo $product->name;
}

i get a list of just the names... WTH is that? lol

[scrupul0us]

hrm... i had to request a string object

$products[] = (string) $product->name;

[scrupul0us]

ok... im all set except that i have no idea how to edit/create nodes in the existing xml structure

im not having much success finding examples online either... if anyone can help guide me Id really appreciate it!

[NogDog]

Assume $xml is your SimpleXMLElement object:

// add a new element at the top level:
$child = $xml->addChild('element_name', 'element value goes here');
// add an attribute to that new child element:
$child->addAttribute('attribute_name', 'attribute value');

// add a "grandchild" to that new element:
$grandchild = $child->addElement('element_name', 'element value');

[scrupul0us]

well i got that... but i cant seem to actually write that out to the XML file... just the screen

[NogDog]

To write to an XML file:

$xml->asXML('path/to/file.xml');