XML Parser Class

• Calling the XML Parser Class
• Parsing XML
• Converting Delimited Text to XML

Calling the XML Parser Class

ExpressionEngine has an abstracted XML parser that enables developers to work with XML information more easily than with PHP's built-in XML functions.

To use the XML parser in your modules, you need to first instantiate the XML Parser Class

if ( ! class_exists('EE_XMLparser'))
{
    require PATH_CORE.'core.xmlparser'.EXT;
}

$XML = new EE_XMLparser;

Parsing XML

Description

obj $XML->parse_xml ( string xml )

This function returns an abstracted object containing all of the tags, attributes, and values from the XML. The string parameter must be valid and well-formed XML. Below is an example of the structures generated by this function.

Sample XML

$simple = "<emails>
			<email>
				<from>Samantha</from>
				<to>Gertrude</to>
				<subject>You coming to the party?</subject>
				<message type='urgent'>It starts at 9pm.  Don't forget to bring the gruyère!</message>
			</email>
		</emails>";

Using $XML->parse_xml()

$xml_obj = $XML->parse_xml($simple);

Structure of $XML->parse_xml()

xml_cache Object
(
    [tag] => emails
    [attributes] =>
    [value] =>
    [children] => Array
        (
            [0] => xml_cache Object
                (
                    [tag] => email
                    [attributes] =>
                    [value] =>
                    [children] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => xml_cache Object
                                (
                                    [tag] => from
                                    [attributes] =>
                                    [value] => Samantha
                                    [children] =>
                                )

                            [1] => xml_cache Object
                                (
                                    [tag] => to
                                    [attributes] =>
                                    [value] => Gertrude
                                    [children] =>
                                )

                            [2] => xml_cache Object
                                (
                                    [tag] => subject
                                    [attributes] =>
                                    [value] => You coming to the party?
                                    [children] =>
                                )

                            [3] => xml_cache Object
                                (
                                    [tag] => message
                                    [attributes] => Array
                                        (
                                            [type] => urgent
                                        )

                                    [value] => It starts at 9pm.  Don't forget to bring the gruyère!
                                    [children] =>
                                )

                        )

                )

        )

)

With this structure, each tag as an array of objects for each child. In addition to the children array, there are three other variables for each tag object.

tag

The tag's name.

attributes

If present, they are stored as an array of $key => $val pairs.

value

The contents of the tag.

$data = "Samantha|Gertrude|You coming to the party?|It starts at 9pm.  Don't forget to bring the gruyère!
Inigo|Westley|I know something you don't know.|I am not left-handed!";

$structure = array("from", "to", "subject", "message");

$delimiter = "|";

$root = "emails";

$element = "email";

$params = array(
		'data'		=> $data,
		'structure'	=> $structure,
		'delimiter'	=> $delimiter,
		'root'		=> $root,
		'element'	=> $element
		);

$xml = $XML->delimited_to_xml($params);

<emails>
	<email>
		<from>Samantha</from>
		<to>Gertrude</to>
		<subject>You coming to the party?</subject>
		<message>It starts at 9pm.  Don't forget to bring the gruyère!</message>
	</email>
	<email>
		<from>Inigo</from>
		<to>Westley</to>
		<subject>I know something you don't know.</subject>
		<message>I am not left-handed!</message>
	</email>
</emails>

if ( ! empty($XML->errors))
{
	echo "Could not convert to XML:<br /><br />";

	foreach ($XML->errors as $error)
	{
		echo "{$error}<br />";
		exit;
	}
}

global $OUT;

if ( ! empty($XML->errors))
{
	$OUT->show_user_error('general', $XML->errors);
	exit;
}