Showing posts with label PHP XML. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PHP XML. Show all posts

Tuesday, 28 May 2013
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PHP Example - AJAX and XML

AJAX can be used for interactive communication with an XML file.

AJAX XML Example

The following example will demonstrate how a web page can fetch information from an XML file with AJAX:

Example



CD info will be listed here...




Example Explained - The HTML Page

When a user selects a CD in the dropdown list above, a function called "showCD()" is executed. The function is triggered by the "onchange" event:
<html>
<head>
<script>
function showCD(str)
{
if (str=="")
  {
  document.getElementById("txtHint").innerHTML="";
  return;
  }
if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
  {// code for IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari
  xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
  }
else
  {// code for IE6, IE5
  xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
  }
xmlhttp.onreadystatechange=function()
  {
  if (xmlhttp.readyState==4 && xmlhttp.status==200)
    {
    document.getElementById("txtHint").innerHTML=xmlhttp.responseText;
    }
  }
xmlhttp.open("GET","getcd.php?q="+str,true);
xmlhttp.send();
}
</script>
</head>
<body>

<form>
Select a CD:
<select name="cds" onchange="showCD(this.value)">
<option value="">Select a CD:</option>
<option value="Bob Dylan">Bob Dylan</option>
<option value="Bonnie Tyler">Bonnie Tyler</option>
<option value="Dolly Parton">Dolly Parton</option>
</select>
</form>
<div id="txtHint"><b>CD info will be listed here...</b></div>

</body>
</html>
The showCD() function does the following:
  • Check if a CD is selected
  • Create an XMLHttpRequest object
  • Create the function to be executed when the server response is ready
  • Send the request off to a file on the server
  • Notice that a parameter (q) is added to the URL (with the content of the dropdown list)

The PHP File

The page on the server called by the JavaScript above is a PHP file called "getcd.php".
The PHP script loads an XML document, "cd_catalog.xml", runs a query against the XML file, and returns the result as HTML:
<?php
$q=$_GET["q"];

$xmlDoc = new DOMDocument();
$xmlDoc->load("cd_catalog.xml");

$x=$xmlDoc->getElementsByTagName('ARTIST');

for ($i=0; $i<=$x->length-1; $i++)
{
//Process only element nodes
if ($x->item($i)->nodeType==1)
  {
  if ($x->item($i)->childNodes->item(0)->nodeValue == $q)
    {
    $y=($x->item($i)->parentNode);
    }
  }
}

$cd=($y->childNodes);

for ($i=0;$i<$cd->length;$i++)
{
//Process only element nodes
if ($cd->item($i)->nodeType==1)
  {
  echo("<b>" . $cd->item($i)->nodeName . ":</b> ");
  echo($cd->item($i)->childNodes->item(0)->nodeValue);
  echo("<br>");
  }
}
?>
When the CD query is sent from the JavaScript to the PHP page, the following happens:
  1. PHP creates an XML DOM object
  2. Find all <artist> elements that matches the name sent from the JavaScript
  3. Output the album information (send to the "txtHint" placeholder)

PHP SimpleXML

SimpleXML handles the most common XML tasks and leaves the rest for other extensions.

What is SimpleXML?

SimpleXML is new in PHP 5. It is an easy way of getting an element's attributes and text, if you know the XML document's layout.
Compared to DOM or the Expat parser, SimpleXML just takes a few lines of code to read text data from an element.
SimpleXML converts the XML document into an object, like this:
  • Elements - Are converted to single attributes of the SimpleXMLElement object. When there's more than one element on one level, they're placed inside an array
  • Attributes - Are accessed using associative arrays, where an index corresponds to the attribute name
  • Element Data - Text data from elements are converted to strings. If an element has more than one text node, they will be arranged in the order they are found
SimpleXML is fast and easy to use when performing basic tasks like:
  • Reading XML files
  • Extracting data from XML strings
  • Editing text nodes or attributes
However, when dealing with advanced XML, like namespaces, you are better off using the Expat parser or the XML DOM.

Installation

As of PHP 5.0, the SimpleXML functions are part of the PHP core. There is no installation needed to use these functions.

Using SimpleXML

Below is an XML file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
We want to output the element names and data from the XML file above.
Here's what to do:
  1. Load the XML file
  2. Get the name of the first element
  3. Create a loop that will trigger on each child node, using the children() function
  4. Output the element name and data for each child node
Example
<?php
$xml = simplexml_load_file("test.xml");

echo $xml->getName() . "<br>";

foreach($xml->children() as $child)
  {
  echo $child->getName() . ": " . $child->name . "<br>";
  }
?>
The output of the code above will be:
note
to: Tove
from: Jani
heading: Reminder
body: Don't forget me this weekend!


-By Parthiv Patel

PHP XML DOM

The built-in DOM parser makes it possible to process XML documents in PHP.

What is DOM?

The W3C DOM provides a standard set of objects for HTML and XML documents, and a standard interface for accessing and manipulating them.

The W3C DOM is separated into different parts (Core, XML, and HTML) and different levels (DOM Level 1/2/3):

* Core DOM - defines a standard set of objects for any structured document
* XML DOM - defines a standard set of objects for XML documents
* HTML DOM - defines a standard set of objects for HTML documents

If you want to learn more about the XML DOM, please visit our XML DOM tutorial.

XML Parsing

To read and update - create and manipulate - an XML document, you will need an XML parser.
There are two basic types of XML parsers:
  • Tree-based parser: This parser transforms an XML document into a tree structure. It analyzes the whole document, and provides access to the tree elements
  • Event-based parser: Views an XML document as a series of events. When a specific event occurs, it calls a function to handle it
The DOM parser is an tree-based parser.
Look at the following XML document fraction:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<from>Jani</from>
The XML DOM sees the XML above as a tree structure:
  • Level 1: XML Document
  • Level 2: Root element: <from>
  • Level 3: Text element: "Jani"

Installation

The DOM XML parser functions are part of the PHP core. There is no installation needed to use these functions.

An XML File

The XML file below will be used in our example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>


Load and Output XML

We want to initialize the XML parser, load the xml, and output it:

Example

<?php
$xmlDoc = new DOMDocument();
$xmlDoc->load("note.xml");

print $xmlDoc->saveXML();
?>
The output of the code above will be:
Tove Jani Reminder Don't forget me this weekend!
If you select "View source" in the browser window, you will see the following HTML:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
The example above creates a DOMDocument-Object and loads the XML from "note.xml" into it.
Then the saveXML() function puts the internal XML document into a string, so we can output it.

Looping through XML

We want to initialize the XML parser, load the XML, and loop through all elements of the <note> element:

Example

<?php
$xmlDoc = new DOMDocument();
$xmlDoc->load("note.xml");

$x = $xmlDoc->documentElement;
foreach ($x->childNodes AS $item)
  {
  print $item->nodeName . " = " . $item->nodeValue . "<br>";
  }
?>
The output of the code above will be:
#text =
to = Tove
#text =
from = Jani
#text =
heading = Reminder
#text =
body = Don't forget me this weekend!
#text =
In the example above you see that there are empty text nodes between each element.
When XML generates, it often contains white-spaces between the nodes. The XML DOM parser treats these as ordinary elements, and if you are not aware of them, they sometimes cause problems.

-By Parthiv Patel

PHP XML Expat Parser

What is XML?

XML is used to describe data and to focus on what data is. An XML file describes the structure of the data.
In XML, no tags are predefined. You must define your own tags.
If you want to learn more about XML, please visit our XML tutorial.

What is Expat?

To read and update - create and manipulate - an XML document, you will need an XML parser.
There are two basic types of XML parsers:
  • Tree-based parser: This parser transforms an XML document into a tree structure. It analyzes the whole document, and provides access to the tree elements. e.g. the Document Object Model (DOM)
  • Event-based parser: Views an XML document as a series of events. When a specific event occurs, it calls a function to handle it
The Expat parser is an event-based parser.
Event-based parsers focus on the content of the XML documents, not their structure. Because of this, event-based parsers can access data faster than tree-based parsers.
Look at the following XML fraction:
<from>Jani</from>
An event-based parser reports the XML above as a series of three events:
  • Start element: from
  • Start CDATA section, value: Jani
  • Close element: from
The XML example above contains well-formed XML. However, the example is not valid XML, because there is no Document Type Definition (DTD) associated with it.
However, this makes no difference when using the Expat parser. Expat is a non-validating parser, and ignores any DTDs.
As an event-based, non-validating XML parser, Expat is fast and small, and a perfect match for PHP web applications.
Note: XML documents must be well-formed or Expat will generate an error.

Installation

The XML Expat parser functions are part of the PHP core. There is no installation needed to use these functions.

An XML File

The XML file below will be used in our example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>


Initializing the XML Parser

We want to initialize the XML parser in PHP, define some handlers for different XML events, and then parse the XML file.

Example

<?php
//Initialize the XML parser
$parser=xml_parser_create();

//Function to use at the start of an element
function start($parser,$element_name,$element_attrs)
  {
  switch($element_name)
    {
    case "NOTE":
    echo "-- Note --<br>";
    break;
    case "TO":
    echo "To: ";
    break;
    case "FROM":
    echo "From: ";
    break;
    case "HEADING":
    echo "Heading: ";
    break;
    case "BODY":
    echo "Message: ";
    }
  }

//Function to use at the end of an element
function stop($parser,$element_name)
  {
  echo "<br>";
  }

//Function to use when finding character data
function char($parser,$data)
  {
  echo $data;
  }

//Specify element handler
xml_set_element_handler($parser,"start","stop");

//Specify data handler
xml_set_character_data_handler($parser,"char");

//Open XML file
$fp=fopen("test.xml","r");

//Read data
while ($data=fread($fp,4096))
  {
  xml_parse($parser,$data,feof($fp)) or
  die (sprintf("XML Error: %s at line %d",
  xml_error_string(xml_get_error_code($parser)),
  xml_get_current_line_number($parser)));
  }

//Free the XML parser
xml_parser_free($parser);
?>
The output of the code above will be:
-- Note --
To: Tove
From: Jani
Heading: Reminder
Message: Don't forget me this weekend!
How it works:
  1. Initialize the XML parser with the xml_parser_create() function
  2. Create functions to use with the different event handlers
  3. Add the xml_set_element_handler() function to specify which function will be executed when the parser encounters the opening and closing tags
  4. Add the xml_set_character_data_handler() function to specify which function will execute when the parser encounters character data
  5. Parse the file "test.xml" with the xml_parse() function
  6. In case of an error, add  xml_error_string() function to convert an XML error to a textual description
  7. Call the xml_parser_free() function to release the memory allocated with the xml_parser_create() function

Parthiv Patel
Bhaishri Info Solution
Sr. PHP Developer
Limdi Chowk, AT PO. Nar, Di. Anand
Nar, Gujarat
388150
India
pparthiv2412@gmail.com
7383343029
DOB: 12/24/1986

Monday, 29 June 2009
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Access SimpleXMLElement Object Attributes

PHP simplexml_load_string is a simple way to extract xml data into an object. If you have the following result from calling

$obj = simplexml_load_string($xml);
SimpleXMLElement Object
([@attributes] => Array
([status] => success)
[auth] => SimpleXMLElement Object
([token] => dxoYGmwncmntH07jJGro5h0rxNfE2Ni6
[seq] => 33)
)
you can access status by

$obj->attributes()->status


Parthiv Patel
Bhaishri Info Solution
Sr. PHP Developer
Limdi Chowk, AT PO. Nar, Di. Anand
Nar, Gujarat
388150
India
pparthiv2412@gmail.com
7383343029
DOB: 12/24/1986