Using xPath to target identify and collect XML node's contents

[stymie]

Greeting all, and thanks to all for putting their time and effort into helping others solve their problems.
That being said, I’m currently one of the latter, and I’m seeking some help with PHP and XML.:queasy:
I have a website I’ve built for a non-profit agency that uses individual coupons written in XML along w/ DreamWeaver’s Spry Javascript to render the on a webpage.
While I’ve got it to a point that it’s not a nightmare to update weekly, it is not a efficient as it could be, so I’m wanting to upgrade the system a bit and use 1 XML document with all the coupons listed in it, and PHP w/ SimpleXML to parse it and output the coupons.
I’ve got that working just fine, but I need a few other capabilities that I think will require xPath, and I’m not sure how to make it happen.
So, take one coupon for example. The business name on the coupon needs to be a link that when clicked will open a new blank page with just that coupon on it for print purposes. This would be one method where the user can print off individual coupons if they like. So, when clicked, I think I would use xPath to identify the complete XML coupon/node, then take that info and using SimpleXML, create a new page on the fly w/ the coupon rendered in it. I can do this now w/ Spry, but it’s convoluted and I want to easy my updating burden.
Also, I want to make a checkbox on each coupon. The user can then check off coupons they like, then hit a submit button, and a page will be created on the fly for print that will have the coupons they chose displayed and ready to print. Same method as the single coupon above, just with multiple XML coupons/nodes passed to the page and SimpleXML rendering them.
My issue is with xPath. I’m not sure how to use it to target the exact XML node and port that info into it’s own document, if that makes sense.
Also, to make things worse, I need to be able to track the coupon. I think the easiest way for me to do this is assign the node number of the coupon as it’s title in the dynamic page, or create a spot for it’s node number to be in. Then, I can refer to a list of coupons, and for this week, I can see that coupon #3 was So&So’s and that coupon go 120 clicks. Something like that. Any suggestions on that would be very welcome.

So, to sum it all up, I need to figure out how to use xPath with the code below in order to get the coupon’s info from the list of coupon nodes, and distribute that info to another page that will either render that coupon, or mulitple ones.

Any and all help and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Stymie

Here’s some sample code of what I have thus far:
XML Coupons:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<coupons>

<coupon id="1">
<expiration>Feb. 26, 2010</expiration>
<category>Fitness</category>
<company>Some Business</company>
<deal>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. </deal>
<deal2>Nullam ut diam eget metus scelerisque pulvinar ut a ipsum. </deal2>
<deal3>Nullam ut sagittis justo. Praesent massa lacus, scelerisque sit amet mollis a, lobortis at dolor.</deal3>
<extra>Some Extra Info will go here if needed</extra>
<address>123 Some Street, Someplace, World, 12345</address>
<address2>123 Some Street, Someplace, World, 12345</address2>
<site>www.somewebsite.org</site>
<phone>123-123-1234</phone>
<legal>Not valid with any other offer or any other location.</legal>
</coupon>

<coupon id="2">
<expiration>March 26, 2010</expiration>
<category>Automotive</category>
<company>Whatchamacallits</company>
<deal>Suspendisse at lectus lectus, at blandit metus.</deal>
<deal2>Cras varius fermentum aliquet. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique 
<address>123 Some Street, Someplace, World, 12345</address>
<site>www.somewebsite.org</site>
<phone>123-123-1234</phone>
<legal>Not valid with any other offer or any other location.</legal>
</coupon>

<coupon id="3">
<expiration>April 26, 2010</expiration>
<category>Health</category>
<company>Jane Doe's</company>
<deal>Sed ullamcorper sodales luctus. Duis ut lacus at ante malesuada ultrices.</deal>
<extra>Some Extra Info will go here if needed</extra>
<address>123 Some Street, Someplace, World, 12345</address>
<site>www.somewebsite.org</site>
<phone>123-123-1234</phone>
<legal>Not valid with any other offer or any other location.</legal>
</coupon>

</coupons>

HTML w/ PHP using SimpleXML to render coupons:

<html>
<head>
<title>Coupons using XML &amp; PHP</title>
<style type="text/css">
#coupon {
	width:500px;
	fontsize: 93.8%;
	margin:0 0 1.5em;
	padding:0.5em;
	border: dotted 1px #000;
	display: block;
	list-style:none inside;
	background-color:#fff!important;
}
 #coupon h5 {width:100%;margin:0;padding:.5em 0;text-align:center;font-size: .75em;border:none; visibility:visible;color:#777;}
 #coupon h4.float {float:right;font-size:.6em;margin: 1em 0 -.75em 1em;text-align:right;padding: 0.75em;background-color: #fff;border: none;color: #666;-webkit-border-radius: 1em;border:solid 1px #222;}

 #coupon h4 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:90%;border: none;}
#coupon h1 {display:block;margin:.25em 0 .5em;padding:.25em 0 .25em .75em;font-size:1.25em;font-family: 'Arial Black',Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#fff;font-weight: 900;border:solid 1px #000;-webkit-border-radius: 1em;-webkit-box-shadow: 0.3em 0.3em 0.3em #888; /* x,y,z coordinages (z is blur/depth)  */
    box-shadow: 0.3em 0.3em 0.3em #888;
	background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, from(#444), to(#000));

}
 #coupon h1 a {color:#336;font-weight: bold;}
 #coupon h1 a:link {color:#ccc;}
 #coupon h1 a:visited {color: #888;}
 #coupon h1 a:hover {color: #fff;text-decoration:blink;}
 #coupon h1 a:active {color:#900;}
 #coupon h1#info {font-family: 'Arial Narrow',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#fff;padding: .8em 1em;font-size:.8em;line-height:1.75;}
 #coupon h2 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0 0 0 1em;font-size:100%;border:none;font-weight: normal;}
 address {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:100%;text-align: center;border:none;}
 #coupon h3 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:95%;text-align: center;border:none;}
 #coupon h6 {display:block;margin:0 auto;padding:0;font-size:85%;text-align: center;border:none;font-weight:light;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
 <?php 
	 if (file_exists('coupons.xml')) {
$coupons = simplexml_load_file('coupons.xml');
$CouponNumber = 1;#Defines the html coupons page starting at 1.

foreach($coupons->coupon as $coupon) {
	$expiration = $coupon->expiration;
	$category = $coupon->category;
	$company = $coupon->company;
	$deal = $coupon->deal;
	$deal2 = $coupon->deal2;
	$deal3 = $coupon->deal3;
	$deal4 = $coupon->deal4;
	$deal5 = $coupon->deal5;
	$extra = $coupon->extra;
	$address = $coupon->address;
	$address2 = $coupon->address2;
	$address3 = $coupon->address3;
	$address4 = $coupon->address4;
	$site = $coupon->site;
	$phone = $coupon->phone;
	$legal = $coupon->legal;


  echo '<div id="coupon">
  		<input name="Select" type="checkbox" value="" />
  		<h4 class="float">'.$expiration.'</h4>
  		<h5>KingsportDeals.com | Click to Save, Click to Win!</h5>
        <h4><'.$category.'</h4>
		<h1><a href="coupon.php" target="_blank">'.$company.'</a></h1>
		<h2>'.$deal.'</h2>
		<h2>'.$deal2.'</h2>
		<h2>'.$deal3.'</h2>
		<h2>'.$deal4.'</h2>
		<h2>'.$deal5.'</h2>
		<h5>'.$extra.'</h5>
		<address>'.$address.'</address>
		<address>'.$address2.'</address>
		<address>'.$address3.'</address>
		<address>'.$address4.'</address>
		<h3><a href="http: '.$site.' " target="_blank"> '.$site.' </a></h3>
		<h5>'.$phone.'</h5>
		<h6>'.$legal.'</h6>
        </div>'; 			

	unset($expiration);
	unset($category);
	unset($company);
	unset($deal);
	unset($deal2);
	unset($deal3);
	unset($deal4);
	unset($deal5);
	unset($address);
	unset($address2);
	unset($address3);
	unset($address4);
	unset($site);
	unset($legal);

$CouponNumber++; // increment by 1	


  } 


}
?>

</body>
</html>

[mrbaseball34]

Ok, this should get you started. Basically, you wanted to be able to get the value of the coupon id and pass that to another script to build the page from the coupon XML, correct?

This shows you how to use the coupon id and add a hidden form field that will be passed to the next script to build the coupon from the XML. It also shows you how to find the node that contains that id using XPATH.

BTW, I shortened you code a bit, too using best practices.

 <?php 
    if (file_exists('coupons.xml')) {
      $coupons = simplexml_load_file('coupons.xml');
      $CouponNumber = 1; #Defines the html coupons page starting at 1.

  foreach($coupons->coupon as $coupon) {
    $id = $coupon->attributes()->id;
    echo "<div id=\"coupon\">
            <input name=\"Select\" type=\"checkbox\" value=\"\" />
            <input type=\"hidden\" value=\"$id\" />
                <h4 class=\"float\">$coupon->expiration</h4>
            <h5>KingsportDeals.com | Click to Save, Click to Win!</h5>
            <h4>$coupon->category</h4>
            <h1><a href=\"coupon.php\" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->company</a></h1>
            <h2>$coupon->deal</h2>
            <h2>$coupon->deal2</h2>
            <h2>$coupon->deal3</h2>
            <h2>$coupon->deal4</h2>
            <h2>$coupon->deal5</h2>
            <h5>$coupon->extra</h5>
            <address>$coupon->address</address>
            <address>$coupon->address2</address>
            <address>$coupon->address3</address>
            <address>$coupon->address4</address>
            <h3><a href=\"http://$coupon->site \" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->site</a></h3>
            <h5>$coupon->phone</h5>
            <h6>$coupon->legal</h6>
          </div>";             
    $CouponNumber++; // increment by 1    
  } 

  // this gets the node with the coupon with id = 3
  $result = $coupons->xpath("//coupon[@id='3']");
  list( , $node) = each($result);
  echo $node->attributes()->id;
  if(isset($node)) {
    echo "CAT:". $node->category."<br>";
  }
} // if (file_exists('coupons.xml'))
?>

Hope this helps you along..

[stymie]

That certainly reduces the code down!
I had thought about using a method like that but stuck w/ what I knew until I could get the other bits and pieces figured out.
Thanks, that appears to work great.
However, I'm not sure how to access and parse the xml node information that's passed along to the coupon.php page.
Also, it appears that xPath is hard-coded for node #3. Is there a way to dynamically get the node id when the Company link is clicked on each coupon?

That being said, I tried the following code on my single coupon.php page that the xml node data is passed to via the hidden form. All I get is a blank coupon template w/ no info.
Can you give me a pointer on how to parse that info and print it on the single coupon page, and how the check box to pass multiple xml nodes to the coupons page?
I also tried echoing $id, but that didn't do anything.

Sorry for my ignorance here. xPath seems great, but at the moment it's over my head.
Hope to change that with your excellent advice and get a grip on it.🙂

Thanks for your help already, I look forward to your response.
Stymie

<html>
<head>
<title>Coupons using XML &amp; PHP</title>
<style type="text/css">
#coupon {
	width:500px;
	fontsize: 93.8%;
	margin:0 0 1.5em;
	padding:0.5em;
	border: dotted 1px #000;
	display: block;
	list-style:none inside;
	background-color:#fff!important;
}
 #coupon h5 {width:100%;margin:0;padding:.5em 0;text-align:center;font-size: .75em;border:none; visibility:visible;color:#777;}
 #coupon h4.float {float:right;font-size:.6em;margin: 1em 0 -.75em 1em;text-align:right;padding: 0.75em;background-color: #fff;border: none;color: #666;-webkit-border-radius: 1em;border:solid 1px #222;}

 #coupon h4 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:90%;border: none;}
#coupon h1 {display:block;margin:.25em 0 .5em;padding:.25em 0 .25em .75em;font-size:1.25em;font-family: 'Arial Black',Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#fff;font-weight: 900;border:solid 1px #000;-webkit-border-radius: 1em;-webkit-box-shadow: 0.3em 0.3em 0.3em #888; /* x,y,z coordinages (z is blur/depth)  */
    box-shadow: 0.3em 0.3em 0.3em #888;
	background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, from(#444), to(#000));

}
 #coupon h1 a {color:#336;font-weight: bold;}
 #coupon h1 a:link {color:#ccc;}
 #coupon h1 a:visited {color: #888;}
 #coupon h1 a:hover {color: #fff;text-decoration:blink;}
 #coupon h1 a:active {color:#900;}
 #coupon h1#info {font-family: 'Arial Narrow',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#fff;padding: .8em 1em;font-size:.8em;line-height:1.75;}
 #coupon h2 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0 0 0 1em;font-size:100%;border:none;font-weight: normal;}
 address {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:100%;text-align: center;border:none;}
 #coupon h3 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:95%;text-align: center;border:none;}
 #coupon h6 {display:block;margin:0 auto;padding:0;font-size:85%;text-align: center;border:none;font-weight:light;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<?php 
        echo "<div id=\"coupon\"> 
                <input name=\"Select\" type=\"checkbox\" value=\"\" /> 
                <input type=\"hidden\" value=\"$id\" /> 
                    <h4 class=\"float\">$coupon->expiration</h4> 
                <h5>KingsportDeals.com | Click to Save, Click to Win!</h5> 
                <h4>$coupon->category</h4> 
                <h1><a href=\"coupon.php\" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->company</a></h1> 
                <h2>$coupon->deal</h2> 
                <h2>$coupon->deal2</h2> 
                <h2>$coupon->deal3</h2> 
                <h2>$coupon->deal4</h2> 
                <h2>$coupon->deal5</h2> 
                <h5>$coupon->extra</h5> 
                <address>$coupon->address</address> 
                <address>$coupon->address2</address> 
                <address>$coupon->address3</address> 
                <address>$coupon->address4</address> 
                <h3><a href=\"http://$coupon->site \" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->site</a></h3> 
                <h5>$coupon->phone</h5> 
                <h6>$coupon->legal</h6> 
              </div>";                

?>

</body>
</html>

[mrbaseball34]

stymie;10965132 wrote:

That certainly reduces the code down!
I had thought about using a method like that but stuck w/ what I knew until I could get the other bits and pieces figured out.
Thanks, that appears to work great.

Yep, it helps to understand how things work, ;-)

stymie;10965132 wrote:

However, I'm not sure how to access and parse the xml node information that's passed along to the coupon.php page.
Also, it appears that xPath is hard-coded for node #3. Is there a way to dynamically get the node id when the Company link is clicked on each coupon?

I showed you how to do that at the bottom when I got the category from the node that was retrieved using xpath.

I used the hidden input with the id to be able to send the data to the script that will be building the coupon pages but now that I think of it, it isn't needed. What needs to be done is the checkboxes need to have the id appended to their name, like checkbox_1, checkbox_2, and so on. This way, you can parse that name in the resulting script and build your coupons from that.

stymie;10965132 wrote:

That being said, I tried the following code on my single coupon.php page that the xml node data is passed to via the hidden form. All I get is a blank coupon template w/ no info.
Can you give me a pointer on how to parse that info and print it on the single coupon page, and how the check box to pass multiple xml nodes to the coupons page?
I also tried echoing $id, but that didn't do anything.

If you can wait until tonight, I will work up a full working sample for you to handle the selection of multiple coupons.

[stymie]

Thanks again MrBaseball34!
I'm not under the gun on this. It's no problem to wait. Thanks again for your expert assistance!
Have a great day.
Stymie

[mrbaseball34]

Just wanted to give you a head's up. I wasn't able to work on it last night, had other work to do for my actual daytime job.

[stymie]

Thanks for the heads up.
I know all about the late night work. I was doing some myself last night.
I can be online and we can collaborate quickly if you like tonite.
I'm in EST (New York) Time, not sure where you're at, but let me know, and I can make it a point to be online at a certain time and we can work more efficiently together.
I'm not a total dummy when it comes to PHP, just xPath, so I may be of assistance.
Thanks again for the heads up. As I said before, things work now, I'm just looking for a much better way.
Stymie

[mrbaseball34]

Ok, I'm CST, in Central Texas.
So do you know how to create an HTML form and make it post to itself in PHP?

[stymie]

I can handle HTML forms and PHP code to handle them.
However, I don't think I've ever made one post to itself.
Once, I made one that was an order form. After filling it out, it went to another page that contained the order for review, plus another form. While probably not the best way, I submitted all values from Form #1 into it's own doc and renamed the values. Then in Form 2 imported the values.
Not sure if that's what we're look for or not.
Stymie

[mrbaseball34]

I've decided against posting the form to itself.

This is the entry page where they select which coupons the want:

<html>
<head>
<title>Coupons using XML &amp; PHP</title>
<style type="text/css">
#coupon {
	width:500px;
	fontsize: 93.8%;
	margin:0 0 1.5em;
	padding:0.5em;
	border: dotted 1px #000;
	display: block;
	list-style:none inside;
	background-color:#fff!important;
}
 #coupon h5 {width:100%;margin:0;padding:.5em 0;text-align:center;font-size: .75em;border:none; visibility:visible;color:#777;}
 #coupon h4.float {float:right;font-size:.6em;margin: 1em 0 -.75em 1em;text-align:right;padding: 0.75em;background-color: #fff;border: none;color: #666;-webkit-border-radius: 1em;border:solid 1px #222;}

 #coupon h4 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:90%;border: none;}
 #coupon h1 {display:block;margin:.25em 0 .5em;padding:.25em 0 .25em .75em;font-size:1.25em;font-family: 'Arial Black',Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#fff;font-weight: 900;border:solid 1px #000;-webkit-border-radius: 1em;-webkit-box-shadow: 0.3em 0.3em 0.3em #888; /* x,y,z coordinages (z is blur/depth)  */
    box-shadow: 0.3em 0.3em 0.3em #888;
	background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, from(#444), to(#000));

}
 #coupon h1 a {color:#336;font-weight: bold;}
 #coupon h1 a:link {color:#ccc;}
 #coupon h1 a:visited {color: #888;}
 #coupon h1 a:hover {color: #cococo;text-decoration:blink;}
 #coupon h1 a:active {color:#900;}
 #coupon h1#info {font-family: 'Arial Narrow',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#fff;padding: .8em 1em;font-size:.8em;line-height:1.75;}
 #coupon h2 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0 0 0 1em;font-size:100%;border:none;font-weight: normal;}
 address {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:100%;text-align: center;border:none;}
 #coupon h3 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:95%;text-align: center;border:none;}
 #coupon h6 {display:block;margin:0 auto;padding:0;font-size:85%;text-align: center;border:none;font-weight:light;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
 <?php 
  if (file_exists('coupons.xml')) {
    $coupons = simplexml_load_file('coupons.xml');
    $CouponNumber = 1; #Defines the html coupons page starting at 1.

foreach($coupons->coupon as $coupon) {
  $id = $coupon->attributes()->id;
  echo "<div id=\"coupon\">
          <form action=\"coupon.php\" method=\"POST\">              
            <input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"coupon_$id\" value=\"\" />
            <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_submit_check\" value=\"1\"/> 
    		    <h4 class=\"float\">$coupon->expiration</h4>
            <h5>KingsportDeals.com | Click to Save, Click to Win!</h5>
            <h4>$coupon->category</h4>
            <h1><a href=\"coupon.php\" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->company</a></h1>
            <h2>$coupon->deal</h2>
            <h2>$coupon->deal2</h2>
            <h2>$coupon->deal3</h2>
            <h2>$coupon->deal4</h2>
            <h2>$coupon->deal5</h2>
            <h5>$coupon->extra</h5>
            <address>$coupon->address</address>
            <address>$coupon->address2</address>
            <address>$coupon->address3</address>
            <address>$coupon->address4</address>
            <h3><a href=\"http://$coupon->site \" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->site</a></h3>
            <h5>$coupon->phone</h5>
            <h6>$coupon->legal</h6>";
  $CouponNumber++; // increment by 1	
} 
echo   "    <input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" />
          </form>
        </div>"; 			
  } // if (file_exists('coupons.xml'))
?>

</body>
</html>

This is the page that the page will submit to and where you will build your coupons based on their input:

<html>
<head>
<title>Coupons using XML &amp; PHP</title>
<style type="text/css">
#coupon {
	width:500px;
	fontsize: 93.8%;
	margin:0 0 1.5em;
	padding:0.5em;
	border: dotted 1px #000;
	display: block;
	list-style:none inside;
	background-color:#fff!important;
}
 #coupon h5 {width:100%;margin:0;padding:.5em 0;text-align:center;font-size: .75em;border:none; visibility:visible;color:#777;}
 #coupon h4.float {float:right;font-size:.6em;margin: 1em 0 -.75em 1em;text-align:right;padding: 0.75em;background-color: #fff;border: none;color: #666;-webkit-border-radius: 1em;border:solid 1px #222;}

 #coupon h4 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:90%;border: none;}
 #coupon h1 {display:block;margin:.25em 0 .5em;padding:.25em 0 .25em .75em;font-size:1.25em;font-family: 'Arial Black',Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#fff;font-weight: 900;border:solid 1px #000;-webkit-border-radius: 1em;-webkit-box-shadow: 0.3em 0.3em 0.3em #888; /* x,y,z coordinages (z is blur/depth)  */
    box-shadow: 0.3em 0.3em 0.3em #888;
	background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, from(#444), to(#000));

}
 #coupon h1 a {color:#336;font-weight: bold;}
 #coupon h1 a:link {color:#ccc;}
 #coupon h1 a:visited {color: #888;}
 #coupon h1 a:hover {color: #cococo;text-decoration:blink;}
 #coupon h1 a:active {color:#900;}
 #coupon h1#info {font-family: 'Arial Narrow',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#fff;padding: .8em 1em;font-size:.8em;line-height:1.75;}
 #coupon h2 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0 0 0 1em;font-size:100%;border:none;font-weight: normal;}
 address {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:100%;text-align: center;border:none;}
 #coupon h3 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:95%;text-align: center;border:none;}
 #coupon h6 {display:block;margin:0 auto;padding:0;font-size:85%;text-align: center;border:none;font-weight:light;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
 <?php 
   if(isset($_POST['_submit_check'])) {
     if (file_exists('coupons.xml')) {
       $coupons = simplexml_load_file('coupons.xml');
       foreach($_POST as $key => $item) {
         if($key != "_submit_check") {
           $x = substr($key, -1);
           $result = $coupons->xpath("//coupon[@id='$x']");
           list( , $node) = each($result);
           echo $node->attributes()->id;
           if(isset($node)) {
             // here's where you want to build the coupon based on the values being passed
             // in the $_POST array
             echo "Building Coupon $x here<br>";
             echo "CAT:". $node->category."<br>";
           } // if(isset($node))         

         } // if($key != "_submit_check")
       } // foreach
     } // if (file_exists('coupons.xml'))
   } // if(isset($_GET['Submit']))
?>
</body>
</html>

[stymie]

Thanks Mr. Baseball34!
This is great! Thank you so much for your assistance.
Everything is working perfectly for producing a page w/ multiple coupons on it for print.

Which leads to the next issue, creating a single coupon for print. This will occur if the user clicks the businessname, which is a link. I contemplated making each coupon a form, and have the business name as an input button so when clicked, it could run the script to produce 1 coupon instead of all of them.
However, this screwed up one that produces all checked coupons. I'm not even sure you can do a form within a form, but there seems to be confusion going on w/ that setup, thus the reason to do it with a link instead.

So, now I have this code:

<?php 
  if (file_exists('coupons.xml')) { 
    $coupons = simplexml_load_file('coupons.xml'); 
    $CouponNumber = 1; #Defines the html coupons page starting at 1. 

   echo "<form action=\"coupons-PHPbuilder-2.php\" method=\"POST\">
   		    <input type=\"submit\" value=\"Print all of my checked coupons\" /> ";

foreach($coupons->coupon as $coupon) { 
  $id = $coupon->attributes()->id; 
  echo "<div id=\"coupon\">
            <input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"coupon_$id\" value=\"coupon_$id\" /> 
            <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_submit_check\" value=\"1\"/> 
                <h4 class=\"float\">$coupon->expiration</h4> 
            <h5>KingsportDeals.com | Click to Save, Click to Win!</h5> 
            <h4>$coupon->category</h4> 
            <h1><a href=\"coupon-PHPbuilder-2.php?coupon_$id\" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->company</a></h1> 
            <h2>$coupon->deal</h2> 
            <h2>$coupon->deal2</h2> 
            <h2>$coupon->deal3</h2> 
            <h2>$coupon->deal4</h2> 
            <h2>$coupon->deal5</h2> 
            <h5>$coupon->extra</h5> 
            <address>$coupon->address</address> 
            <address>$coupon->address2</address> 
            <address>$coupon->address3</address> 
            <address>$coupon->address4</address> 
            <h3><a href=\"http://$coupon->site \" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->site</a></h3> 
            <h5>$coupon->phone</h5> 
            <h6>$coupon->legal</h6>
			</div>";
  $CouponNumber++; // increment by 1     
} 
echo   "</form>";              
  } // if (file_exists('coupons.xml')) 
?> 

It works perfectly for making a page w/ multiple checked off coupons.
However, I'm not sure how to handle the single coupon. Seems like your script would work with it as well, but needs a little work. I'm just not sure what to do to it.
I like the idea of creating a unique page by adding the coupon id to the end of the link. This way, we can identify coupon click rates easily w/ analytics software, based on the file name.
So the question becomes, how can we pass the individual coupon info to your script to just produce that coupon when the link is clicked?
Can it be done w/ the link alone? Or there's the hidden field, could it carry the value(s) we need? I suspect it would need $GET instead of $POST.
Please advise what you think the best way would be to do that?
Honestly, I'd rather do away w/ it all together, but the javascript version of the site has operated like that always, so don't want to pull the rug out from under our users like that.
Thanks again for your wonderful assitance!
stymie

[stymie]

Forgot to tell you. Note in the code I posted that the only difference between the multiple coupons page and the single coupon name is an "s".

Multiple Coupons Found in Form Action
"coupons-PHPbuilder-2.php"

Single Coupon found in <h1> link
"coupon-PHPbuilder-2.php"

Easy to miss, just wanted you to be aware of how that was operating

[mrbaseball34]

Try something like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>Coupons using XML &amp; PHP</title>
<style type="text/css">
#coupon {
	width:500px;
	fontsize: 93.8%;
	margin:0 0 1.5em;
	padding:0.5em;
	border: dotted 1px #000;
	display: block;
	list-style:none inside;
	background-color:#fff!important;
}
 #coupon h5 {width:100%;margin:0;padding:.5em 0;text-align:center;font-size: .75em;border:none; visibility:visible;color:#777;}
 #coupon h4.float {float:right;font-size:.6em;margin: 1em 0 -.75em 1em;text-align:right;padding: 0.75em;background-color: #fff;border: none;color: #666;-webkit-border-radius: 1em;border:solid 1px #222;}

 #coupon h4 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:90%;border: none;}
 #coupon h1 {display:block;margin:.25em 0 .5em;padding:.25em 0 .25em .75em;font-size:1.25em;font-family: 'Arial Black',Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#fff;font-weight: 900;border:solid 1px #000;-webkit-border-radius: 1em;-webkit-box-shadow: 0.3em 0.3em 0.3em #888; /* x,y,z coordinages (z is blur/depth)  */
    box-shadow: 0.3em 0.3em 0.3em #888;
	background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, from(#444), to(#000));

}
 #coupon h1 a {color:#336;font-weight: bold;}
 #coupon h1 a:link {color:#ccc;}
 #coupon h1 a:visited {color: #888;}
 #coupon h1 a:hover {color: #cococo;text-decoration:blink;}
 #coupon h1 a:active {color:#900;}
 #coupon h1#info {font-family: 'Arial Narrow',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#fff;padding: .8em 1em;font-size:.8em;line-height:1.75;}
 #coupon h2 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0 0 0 1em;font-size:100%;border:none;font-weight: normal;}
 address {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:100%;text-align: center;border:none;}
 #coupon h3 {display:block;margin:0;padding:0;font-size:95%;text-align: center;border:none;}
 #coupon h6 {display:block;margin:0 auto;padding:0;font-size:85%;text-align: center;border:none;font-weight:light;}
</style>
<script type="text/javascript">
  function submitThis(link) {
    if(link.id.indexOf('coupon') > -1) {
      var pos = link.id.length-1;
      var coupon_id = link.id.substr(pos, 1);
      var input = document.getElementById("coupon_"+coupon_id);
      input.checked = true;
      document.forms["coupon_form"].submit(); 
    }
  }
</script>
</head>
<body>
 <?php 
  if (file_exists('coupons.xml')) {
    $coupons = simplexml_load_file('coupons.xml');
    $CouponNumber = 1; #Defines the html coupons page starting at 1.

foreach($coupons->coupon as $coupon) {
  $id = $coupon->attributes()->id;
  echo "<div id=\"coupon\">
          <form id=\"coupon_form\" action=\"coupon.php\" method=\"POST\">              
            <input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"coupon_$id\" name=\"coupon_$id\" value=\"\" />
            <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_submit_check\" value=\"1\"/> 
    		    <h4 class=\"float\">$coupon->expiration</h4>
            <h5>KingsportDeals.com | Click to Save, Click to Win!</h5>
            <h4>$coupon->category</h4>
            <h1><a href=\"coupon.php\" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->company</a></h1>
            <h2>$coupon->deal</h2>
            <h2>$coupon->deal2</h2>
            <h2>$coupon->deal3</h2>
            <h2>$coupon->deal4</h2>
            <h2>$coupon->deal5</h2>
            <h5>$coupon->extra</h5>
            <address>$coupon->address</address>
            <address>$coupon->address2</address>
            <address>$coupon->address3</address>
            <address>$coupon->address4</address>
            <h3><a id=\"coupon_$id\" href=\"javascript:{}\" onclick=\"submitThis(this); return false;\" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->site</a></h3>
            <h5>$coupon->phone</h5>
            <h6>$coupon->legal</h6>";
  $CouponNumber++; // increment by 1	
} 
echo   "    <input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" />
          </form>
        </div>"; 			
  } // if (file_exists('coupons.xml'))
?>

</body>
</html>

[stymie]

Getting there. Thanks for the reply back.
However, I want to avoid javascript if at all possible.
So far we have:
1) Coupons Rendering
2) Checkboxes working and producing multi-coupon print page

So all that's left is to make an individual coupon page.
Looking at your new code, I think you misunderstood me. The link/button that will create a page w/ just that coupon in it is the business name link, not the website address.
The business name will be in an h1 tag and the largest thing there.

I've got each coupon on the main page setup to have a checkbox that will produce the multiple coupons for print page.
Then, the h1 tag contains the business name, and it's linked. When clicked, a single coupon page is accessed, with the coupon's id pass via the url:

<h1><a href=\"Print-single.php?coupon=$id\" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->company</a></h1>

In the single coupon page it's linked to, I can pull that node id from the url:

$NodeNumber = $_GET['coupon'];

Which brings me to where I've been struggling the whole time, how to use that Node Number and access that node only in the xml doc, then print out the result.

It seems that it should be simple to do. I just can't get it done. Please lend your expertise one more time. I tried a zillion combinations of ways I thought it could be done w/ your code but no dice. I'm thinking it will look something like this:
Print-Single.php (Single coupon page, same html as the other 2 but w/ the above php)

$NodeNumber = $_GET['coupon'];
$coupons = simplexml_load_file('coupons.xml');
$result= $coupons->xpath("//coupons/coupon[@id='$NodeNumber']");
echo "<div id=\"coupon\">";
echo "<h4 class=\"float\">". $node->expiration . "</h4> ";
echo "<h5>KingsportDeals.com | Click to Save, Click to Win!</h5> ";
echo "<h4>". $node->category . "</h4> ";
echo "<h1><a href=\"coupon-PHPbuilder-2.php?coupon_$id\" target=\"_blank\">". $node->company . "</a></h1> ";
echo "<h2>". $node->deal . "</h2> ";
echo "<h2>". $node->deal2 . "</h2> ";
echo "<h2>". $node->deal3 . "</h2> ";
echo "<h2>". $node->deal4 . "</h2> ";
echo "<h2>". $node->deal5 . "</h2> ";
echo "<h5>". $node->extra . "</h5> ";
echo "<address>". $node->address . "</address> ";
echo "<address>". $node->address2 . "</address> ";
echo "<address>". $node->address3 . "</address> ";
echo "<address>". $node->address4 . "</address> ";
echo "<h3><a href=\"http://". $node->site . " \" target=\"_blank\">". $node->site . "</a></h3> ";
echo "<h5>". $node->phone . "</h5> ";
echo "<h6>". $node->legal . "</h6>";
echo "</div>";

That being said, here's all the working code I have, saved as:
PHPCoupons.php (All coupons)
Print-Multiple.php (user selected coupons print page)
Print-Single.php (Single coupon page, same html as the other 2 but w/ the above php)

PHPCoupons.php (All coupons)
All Coupons Page

<?php 
  if (file_exists('coupons.xml')) { 
    $coupons = simplexml_load_file('coupons.xml'); 
    $CouponNumber = 1; #Defines the html coupons page starting at 1. 

   echo "<form action=\"Print-multiple.php\" method=\"POST\">
   		    <input type=\"submit\" value=\"Print all of my checked coupons\" /> ";

foreach($coupons->coupon as $coupon) { 
  $id = $coupon->attributes()->id; 
  echo "<div id=\"coupon\">
            <input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"coupon_$id\" value=\"coupon_$id\" /> 
            <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_submit_check\" value=\"coupon_$id\"/> 
                <h4 class=\"float\">$coupon->expiration</h4> 
            <h5>KingsportDeals.com | Click to Save, Click to Win!</h5> 
            <h4>$coupon->category</h4> 
            <h1><a href=\"Print-single.php?coupon=$id\" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->company</a></h1> 
            <h2>$coupon->deal</h2> 
            <h2>$coupon->deal2</h2> 
            <h2>$coupon->deal3</h2> 
            <h2>$coupon->deal4</h2> 
            <h2>$coupon->deal5</h2> 
            <h5>$coupon->extra</h5> 
            <address>$coupon->address</address> 
            <address>$coupon->address2</address> 
            <address>$coupon->address3</address> 
            <address>$coupon->address4</address> 
            <h3><a href=\"http://$coupon->site \" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->site</a></h3> 
            <h5>$coupon->phone</h5> 
            <h6>$coupon->legal</h6>
			</div>";
  $CouponNumber++; // increment by 1     
} 
echo   "</form>";              
  } // if (file_exists('coupons.xml')) 
?> 

Print-Multiple.php (user selected coupons print page)

<?php 
   if(isset($_POST['_submit_check'])) { 
     if (file_exists('coupons.xml')) { 
       $coupons = simplexml_load_file('coupons.xml'); 
       foreach($_POST as $key => $item) { 
         if($key != "_submit_check") { 
           $x = substr($key, -1); 
           $result = $coupons->xpath("//coupon[@id='$x']"); 
           list( , $node) = each($result); 
           #echo $node->attributes()->id; 
           if(isset($node)) { 
             // here's where you want to build the coupon based on the values being passed 
             // in the $_POST array  

# MY CODE_________________

echo "<div id=\"coupon\">";
echo "<h4 class=\"float\">". $node->expiration . "</h4> ";
echo "<h5>KingsportDeals.com | Click to Save, Click to Win!</h5> ";
echo "<h4>". $node->category . "</h4> ";
echo "<h1><a href=\"coupon-PHPbuilder-2.php?coupon_$id\" target=\"_blank\">". $node->company . "</a></h1> ";
echo "<h2>". $node->deal . "</h2> ";
echo "<h2>". $node->deal2 . "</h2> ";
echo "<h2>". $node->deal3 . "</h2> ";
echo "<h2>". $node->deal4 . "</h2> ";
echo "<h2>". $node->deal5 . "</h2> ";
echo "<h5>". $node->extra . "</h5> ";
echo "<address>". $node->address . "</address> ";
echo "<address>". $node->address2 . "</address> ";
echo "<address>". $node->address3 . "</address> ";
echo "<address>". $node->address4 . "</address> ";
echo "<h3><a href=\"http://". $node->site . " \" target=\"_blank\">". $node->site . "</a></h3> ";
echo "<h5>". $node->phone . "</h5> ";
echo "<h6>". $node->legal . "</h6>";
echo "</div>";

#END: My code____________________
           } // if(isset($node))          

         } // if($key != "_submit_check") 
       } // foreach 
     } // if (file_exists('coupons.xml')) 
   } // if(isset($_GET['Submit'])) 
?> 

[stymie]

Had to pull off of this project for a bit, but I'm back on it now.
Everything is working now except one odd little thing. When I check off multiple coupons to print, then submit to get a print page of only the coupons I want, the coupons render correctly up to coupon #9. Any coupon after that is looped back to the single digit coupons! For example, if I check off coupon #10 and hit submit, it gives me coupon #1. Coupon #11 = Coupon #2, and so on.
Any ideas on why that's happening?
Thanks in advace!🙂

[mrbaseball34]

Looks like this code gets only the last character:

 $x = substr($key, -1);

Adjust that to get the full number and you'll be going good.

[stymie]

I thought that may have something to do with it! Changed it to -3, and presto, works like a charm.
You're the man Mr. Baseball!
Thanks again!

[stymie]

Okay, got everything working okay. Just have one last issue. I've scoured google and can't really find much help w/ this, though it seems simple enough.
I have an XML document that contains a series of coupons.
My PHP code is using SimpleXML to access and parse the XML, then output as HTML content. It loops through each coupon element and prints out it's contents.
However, some of the coupons have multiple deals, addresses, or other info. For example, while all of them contain the xml element <deal>. . .</deal>, only a few contain the XML element <deal2>. . .</deal2>.
How can I check for this and only print out the needed HTML only if the XML contains the elements necessary?
Currently, I'm printing off multiple deals in the HTML, but they're blank unless the XML contains some info for them. I want to not even print out those elements if nothing is there.
My PHP code looks like this, I'm using the id to pin-point nodes and make stuff happen, so maybe that can be incorporated in the solution?:

foreach($coupons->coupon as $coupon) { 
      $id = $coupon->attributes()->id;

echo "
<div class=\"coupon\">
<a name=\"$id\" id=\"$id\"></a>
<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_submit_check\" value=\"$id\"/>
<h4 class=\"expires\" title=\"Expiration Date\">Expires On:<br />$coupon->expiration</h4> 				

<h4><em title=\"Category\">$coupon->category</em> 
<span title=\"Add to Print Que\">

<input name=\"$id\" type=\"checkbox\" value=\"coupon_$id\" title=\"Add to Print Que\" onClick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('$Company4Analyltics');\" />
Add Coupon #$id  to my print que</span>
</h4> 

<h1><a href=\"Print-single.php?coupon=$id\" onClick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('$Company4Analyltics');\ target=\"_blank\" title=\"Print This Deal\">$coupon->company</a></h1>
<div class=\"deals\">
<img src='../data/assets/h1-black-bigK-small.png' id='KDeals-Left' alt='' />
<img src='../data/assets/h1-black-bigK-small.png' id='KDeals-Right' alt='' /> 
<h2 title=\"What a Deal!\"><strong>$coupon->deal</strong></h2>
<h2>$coupon->deal2</h2>
<h2>$coupon->deal3</h2> 
<h2>$coupon->deal4</h2> 
<h2>$coupon->deal5</h2>
</div>
<h6 title=\"Additonal Info\">$coupon->extra</h6>
<address title=\"Business Location\">$coupon->address</address> 
<address>$coupon->address2</address> 
<address>$coupon->address3</address> 
<address>$coupon->address4</address> 
<h3 title=\"Visit Website\"><a href=\"http://$coupon->site \" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->site</a></h3> 
<h5 title=\"Business Phone Number\">$coupon->phone</h5> 
<small title=\"Disclaimer\">$coupon->legal</small>
<img $coupon->image />
</div>";
      $CouponNumber++; // increment by 1     

    } 
	#Repeat Print Buttons
    echo   "<form action=\"Print-multiple.php\" method=\"POST\">
         <img src=\"../data/assets/print.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"hidden\" /> &nbsp; <input type=\"submit\" value=\"Print all of my checked coupons\" target=\"_blank\" /><br /><hr />
</form>";              

  } // end else

As you can see, every coupon is being printed out w/ multiple h2 & address elements that are un-necessary b/c there's no data to populate them.
Dido for the img tag at the end. Not many contain an image, and IE displays a missing image graphic that's annoying as hell.
I think what I'm asking is simple. I just don't know how to do it in the middle of the loop, and I'm not skilled enough to figure out how to set it up outside the loop to execute in the loop.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance.

[johanafm]

First off, if you have any influence on the creation of the XML, it should be adjusted to

<coupon>
	<address />
	<other_stuff />
	<deals>
		<deal />
		<deal />
		<deal />
	<deals />
</coupon>

I.e., All deal elements should be children of a deals element, and they should NOT be named deal1, deal2 etc, but just deal. And that goes for other things as well like <addresses><address /><address /></addresses>

Once that is adjusted, you foreach over the children of deals and then you know that each one of those is a deal element.

However, if it's not possible for you to have the XML changed, something like

foreach($coupons->coupon as $coupon)
{
	# stuff here like before...

for ($coupon->children() as $el)
{
	# deal element
	if (stpos($el->getName(), 'deal') === 0)
	{

	}
}

# stuff here like before
}

This works, but it's also unnecessary work. You will be looping over all children of coupon, but only access 2-4 of them.

You could also create a for loop (or any other loop construct making use of an increment variable) and keep trying to access deal1, ... dealN until you fail. This however assumes that you will never encounter a document containing <deal1 /><deal2 /><deal4 />, i.e. missing <deal3 /> in this example.
And since the structure, or lack thereof, in the XML document is "insane", I wouldn't be trusting them not to do this as well.

[stymie]

Thanks johanafm!
I created the XML. You're right, it was insane. Still learning the ropes there, and nesting the deals and addresses never even occurred to me.
I've revised that so deals look like this:
<deals>
<deal>. . .</deal>
<deal>. . .</deal>
<deal>. . .</deal>
</deals>

What I don't understand is how to make it work correctly.
I'm new to PHP, and I can't figure out how to add in the needed PHP code during the foreach.
The foreach is running, then I have to terminate it and put in the code to check for more than 1 deal or address, then resume the foreach.
I've got this, but I know it's wrong:

<div class=\"coupon\">
<a name=\"$id\" id=\"$id\"></a>
<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_submit_check\" value=\"$id\"/>
<h4 class=\"expires\" title=\"Expiration Date\">Expires On:<br />$coupon->expiration</h4> 

<!--	*	Email Friends & Family	*	-->
<a href=\"Email.php?coupon=$id\" title=\"Email this Coupon\" class=\"email\" onClick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/UserEmailed/$Company4Analyltics');\">Email it!</a>

<!--	*	FACEBOOK:Like	*	-->
<iframe src=\"http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kingsportdeals.com%2Fpages%2Ftodays.php%23$id&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=50&amp;action=like&amp;font=verdana&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=21\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" class=\"facebook\" allowTransparency=\"true\" title=\"Like it on Facebook!\"></iframe>

<h4><em title=\"Category\">$coupon->category</em> 
<span title=\"Add to Print Que\">

<!--	* Google Analytics Tracked Checkboxes	*	-->
<input name=\"$id\" type=\"checkbox\" value=\"coupon_$id\" title=\"Add to Print Que\" onClick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('$Company4Analyltics');\" />

Add Coupon #$id  to my print que</span>
</h4> 

<h1><a href=\"Print-single.php?coupon=$id\" onClick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('$Company4Analyltics');\ target=\"_blank\" title=\"Print This Deal\">$coupon->company</a></h1>
<div class=\"deals\">
<img src='../data/assets/h1-black-bigK-small.png' id='KDeals-Left' alt='' />
<img src='../data/assets/h1-black-bigK-small.png' id='KDeals-Right' alt='' /> 
<h2 title=\"What a Deal!\"><strong>$coupon->deal</strong></h2>";
foreach($coupons->coupon as $coupon) 
{ 
    # stuff here like before... 

for ($coupon->children() as $el) 
{ 
    # deal element 
    if (stpos($el->getName(), 'deal') === 0) 
    { 

    } 
} 

# stuff here like before 
}
echo " 
<h2>$coupon->deal</h2>
<h2>$coupon->deal</h2> 
<h2>$coupon->deal</h2> 
<h2>$coupon->deal</h2>
</div>
<h6 title=\"Additonal Info\">$coupon->extra</h6>
<address title=\"Business Location\">$coupon->address</address> 
<address>$coupon->address2</address> 
<address>$coupon->address3</address> 
<address>$coupon->address4</address> 
<h3 title=\"Visit Website\"><a href=\"http://$coupon->site \" target=\"_blank\">$coupon->site</a></h3> 
<h5 title=\"Business Phone Number\">$coupon->phone</h5> 
<small title=\"Disclaimer\">$coupon->legal</small>
<img $coupon->image />
</div>";

What kind of statement do I need in the foreach for it to perform an operation? A while statement?
I'm at a loss. But thanks for your help!
I can format the XML as needed too btw.