Php – Prettifying/Formatting output in SimpleXML

formattingPHPsimplexml

I have this simplexml script i'm using to post data entered from a form.

$xml = simplexml_load_file("links.xml");

$sxe = new SimpleXMLElement($xml->asXML()); 

$person = $sxe->addChild("link");
$person->addChild("title", "Q: ".$x_title);
$person->addChild("url", "questions_layout.php#Question$id");

$sxe->asXML("links.xml");

and when it comes out it looks like this on one line:

<link><title>Alabama State</title><url>questions_layout.php#Question37</url></link><link><title>Michigan State</title><url>questions_layout.php#Question37</url></link></pages>

But i've tried the method found HERE and THIS AS WELL but neither format the XML correctly in the lines as they should be like

<link>
<title></title>
<url></url>
</link>

In the first reference link I even changed loadXML to load, because loadXML expects a string as XML. Can somebody help me find a solution to this please?

Best Answer

AFAIK simpleXML can't do it on its own.

However, DOMDocument can.

$dom = dom_import_simplexml($sxe)->ownerDocument;
$dom->formatOutput = TRUE;
$formatted = $dom->saveXML();

Related Solutions

PHP simpleXML how to save the file in a formatted way

You could use the DOMDocument class to reformat your code:

$dom = new DOMDocument('1.0');
$dom->preserveWhiteSpace = false;
$dom->formatOutput = true;
$dom->loadXML($simpleXml->asXML());
echo $dom->saveXML();

Php – How to convert array to SimpleXML

Here is php 5.2 code which will convert array of any depth to xml document:

Array
(
    ['total_stud']=> 500
    [0] => Array
        (
            [student] => Array
                (
                    [id] => 1
                    [name] => abc
                    [address] => Array
                        (
                            [city]=>Pune
                            [zip]=>411006
                        )                       
                )
        )
    [1] => Array
        (
            [student] => Array
                (
                    [id] => 2
                    [name] => xyz
                    [address] => Array
                        (
                            [city]=>Mumbai
                            [zip]=>400906
                        )   
                )

        )
)

generated XML would be as:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<student_info>
    <total_stud>500</total_stud>
    <student>
        <id>1</id>
        <name>abc</name>
        <address>
            <city>Pune</city>
            <zip>411006</zip>
        </address>
    </student>
    <student>
        <id>1</id>
        <name>abc</name>
        <address>
            <city>Mumbai</city>
            <zip>400906</zip>
        </address>
    </student>
</student_info>

PHP snippet

<?php
// function defination to convert array to xml
function array_to_xml( $data, &$xml_data ) {
    foreach( $data as $key => $value ) {
        if( is_array($value) ) {
            if( is_numeric($key) ){
                $key = 'item'.$key; //dealing with <0/>..<n/> issues
            }
            $subnode = $xml_data->addChild($key);
            array_to_xml($value, $subnode);
        } else {
            $xml_data->addChild("$key",htmlspecialchars("$value"));
        }
     }
}

// initializing or creating array
$data = array('total_stud' => 500);

// creating object of SimpleXMLElement
$xml_data = new SimpleXMLElement('<?xml version="1.0"?><data></data>');

// function call to convert array to xml
array_to_xml($data,$xml_data);

//saving generated xml file; 
$result = $xml_data->asXML('/file/path/name.xml');

?>

Documentation on SimpleXMLElement::asXML used in this snippet

Best Answer

Related Solutions

PHP simpleXML how to save the file in a formatted way

Php – How to convert array to SimpleXML

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