PHP Xml parser

[Anon]

Hello all,

I am trying to parse an XML posted to a website. The xml data is posted via a hidden input field.

I observed a strange behaviour of the php xml parser. If the XML contains:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE chapter SYSTEM "/just/a/test.dtd" [
<!ENTITY plainEntity "FOO entity">
<!ENTITY systemEntity SYSTEM "xmltest2.xml">
]>

The parser throws error "XML error: syntax error at line 1". If the same xml is read from a file (with the xml and doctype tags), the parser works fine.

Can anyone tell me how to get rid of this error when we pass the xml through an input field.

• Vishwa

[Anon]

hi,
I think its a simple problem.
Try printing the XML data on screen and test u will know what you have to do .

:-)

Good Luck
s.r.k.reddy

[Anon]

Well,

Both XMLs (file and the one fed from the input field) are same. I printed them on the screen and compared, no differences.

Any more ideas ?

Vishwa

[Anon]

Resolved at last !!!

I found the fix for the XML parsing problem. When we submit the XML via a input field from a HTML form, PHP escapes the quotes (single and double) within the value of the input field (in our case within the XML). For example the first line <?xml version='1.0'?>, will be submitted to parser as <?xml version=\'1.0\'?>. The parser was throwing an error because the XML has a syntax error. This doesn't happen when the XML is read from a file.

Here is the magical piece of code which resolved the problem by removing the backslashes from the XML.

$data=preg_replace("[\x5c]","",$data);