[RESOLVED] Reading XML file fails?

[Pigmaster]

Hello,

I have been reading an XML every night for 2 years and capturing the data just fine into a MySQL database however the equipment has now been renewed and the format of the XML file has now changed and I have struggled trying to now read it.

I have read extra tutorials and examples but just can not get it to the new format, can anyone help me understand the issue of reading it

First off I shall show the format of the original XML file and the simple code I used to read it and parase. The xml file is call tempdata.xml and is stored on my company server and it is the the output of data from some temperature sensors.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<product>
	<dataseries>
		<init>20111021</init>
		<timepoint>3h</timepoint>
		<temp2m>29</temp2m>
		<prec_type>none</prec_type>
		</data>
	</dataseries>
	<dataseries>
		<init>20111021</init>
		<timepoint>6h</timepoint>
		<temp2m>32</temp2m>
		<prec_type>none</prec_type>
		</data>
	</dataseries>
	<dataseries>
		<init>20111021</init>
		<timepoint>12h</timepoint>
		<temp2m>35</temp2m>
		<prec_type>norm</prec_type>
		</data>
	</dataseries>
</product>

$url = "http://localhost/data/tempdata.xml";
$simple_xml_obj = simplexml_load_file($url);
if ($simple_xml_obj == false) {
	echo "Error on load<br />";
}
foreach($simple_xml_obj->dataseries as $datapoints) {
	echo "Date: {$datapoints->init}" . "<br />";
	echo "Timepoint: {$datapoints->timepoint}" . "<br />";
	echo "2 Minute Temp: {$datapoints->temp2m}" . "<br />";
	echo "Precision: {$datapoints->prec_type}" . "<br />";
}

Now here is the new format of the xml file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<product name="tempy">
	<init>20111021</init>
	<dataseries>
		<data timepoint="3h">
			<temp2m>29</temp2m>
			<prec_type>none</prec_type>
		</data>
		<data timepoint="6h">
			<temp2m>25</temp2m>
			<prec_type>none</prec_type>
		</data>
		<data timepoint="9h">
			<temp2m>23</temp2m>
			<prec_type>none</prec_type>
		</data>
	</dataseries>
</product>

And here is my latest attempt at the coding

$url = "http://localhost/data/tempdata.xml";
$simple_xml_obj = simplexml_load_file($url);
if ($simple_xml_obj == false) {
	echo "Error on load<br />";
}
foreach($simple_xml_obj->dataseries as $datapoints) {
	echo "Timepoint: {$datapoints->timepoint}" . "<br />";
	echo "2 Minute Temp: {$datapoints->temp2m}" . "<br />";
	echo "Precision: {$datapoints->prec_type}" . "<br />";
}

Now I have tried different foreach statements as well but nothing seems to work like
foreach($simple_xml_obj->product->dataseries as $datapoints)
foreach($simple_xml_obj->product->dataseries->data as $datapoints)

I also need to capture the single <init> node to store.

Thank you

[johanafm]

Pigmaster;10989767 wrote:

<product>
	<dataseries>
		<init>20111021</init>
		<timepoint>3h</timepoint>
		<temp2m>29</temp2m>
		<prec_type>none</prec_type>
		</data>
	</dataseries>
	<dataseries />
	<dataseries />
</product>

If you look at this XML file, it's apparent that the root node, product, contains several dataseries elements, which in turn contains the elements containing the data you want.

Pigmaster;10989767 wrote:

foreach($simple_xml_obj->dataseries as $datapoints) {
	$datapoints->init;
	$datapoints->timepoint;

And so you foreach over all dataseries, which are children of the root node, with $simple_xml_obj->dataseries (which points to the dataseries elements, which gives you access to each dataseries element as $datapoints on each iteration. Thus, you access the final data with $datapoints->endDataElement.

Pigmaster;10989767 wrote:

<product name="tempy">
	<init>20111021</init>
	<dataseries>
		<data timepoint="3h">
			<temp2m>29</temp2m>
			<prec_type>none</prec_type>
		</data>
		<data timepoint="6h">
			<temp2m>25</temp2m>
			<prec_type>none</prec_type>
		</data>
	</dataseries>
</product>

But here the root element, which is still product, has only two childnode: dataseries and init. As such, if you want to access init, you'd use $simple_xml_obj->init. Dataseries, however, now has several childnodes, data, which in turn contains the elements containing the actual data. The data element now also has an attribute, timepoint, which you'd need to access if you still want to handle timepooints. So foreach over the data elements rather than the dataseries element.

Pigmaster;10989767 wrote:

foreach($simple_xml_obj->dataseries as $datapoints) {
[/quote]
As seen when analyzing the XML file, this line of code would iterate once over the single element dataseries. Iterating once makes little sense, and I don't even know if simple xml would let you try iterating over a single element. Hint: $simple_xml_obj->dataseries contains several data elements (foreach over these instead).

[QUOTE=Pigmaster;10989767]
Now I have tried different foreach statements as well but nothing seems to work like
[/QUOTE]
The next time you post, rather than stating "nothing seems to work", which is quite probable since you are asking for help, do state what error messages you get, or in what way the code you use doesn't work.

[Pigmaster]

johanafm;10989779 wrote:

The next time you post, rather than stating "nothing seems to work", which is quite probable since you are asking for help, do state what error messages you get, or in what way the code you use doesn't work.

Thanks for the reply. 🙂

I got several syntax errors when trying but when I got no errors all I got was just an empty blank page.

[johanafm]

And the code...?

[Pigmaster]

johanafm;10989825 wrote:

And the code...?

As I had pasted up above with the different foreach statements. I have not tried anything you have suggested yet as I am currently off site

[Pigmaster]

After several hours this is what I now have working

$string = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<product name="tempy">
	<init>20111021</init>
	<dataseries>
		<data timepoint="3h">
			<temp2m>29</temp2m>
			<prec_type>none</prec_type>
		</data>
		<data timepoint="6h">
			<temp2m>25</temp2m>
			<prec_type>none</prec_type>
		</data>
		<data timepoint="9h">
			<temp2m>23</temp2m>
			<prec_type>none</prec_type>
		</data>
	</dataseries>
</product>';

$simple_xml_obj = simplexml_load_string($string);
if ($simple_xml_obj == false) {
    echo "Error on load<br />";
} 
foreach($simple_xml_obj->dataseries->data as $datapoints) {
$dparr = $datapoints->attributes(); 
echo "Timepoint: ".$dparr["timepoint"]."<br>";
	foreach($datapoints as $key =>$datapoint) {
		echo $key." ".$datapoint. "<br>";
	}
}

[Weedpacket]

Note: you're missing an [font=monospace]else[/font] there; otherwise if $simple_xml_obj is false, you'll still try and use it.