[DarkNSF]

I'm making a few yii extension that may use xml input, just gauging interest and seeing if it would be useful to the community.


For those interested: http://us.php.net/simplexml

SimpleXML is a very easy way to parse xml.

[notzippy]

FYI
I ran into an issue with simpleXML where it does not properly encode a "&" or a "%". so if you do a $foo->addChild("bar", "50% off"); it blows up badly like:.

Warning: SimpleXMLElement::addChild() [simplexmlelement.addchild]: unterminated entity reference  

To fix you need to CData the element's data yourself.

Just thought I would give you a heads up on this..
nz

[DarkNSF]

Yea, I've read about this but I forgot. Thanks 

[knut]

I think it's pretty safe to rely on SimpleXML. Most people have it since it's enabled by default in >= PHP 5. You have to use --disable-simplexml when compiling PHP if you want to turn it off.

[rv0soft]

Hi

I use SimpleXML all the time.

I'm new to Yii & frameworks and am about to convert my portfolio website to Yii.
I have a lot of XML files that need to be parsed..
Not quite sure what approach to use..


Any plans for an extension, or advice for the right approach?

thanks in advance.

[lucifurious]

Here are some functions I wrote that use SimpleXML. Thought I'd share.

	/**
	* Converts an array to Xml
	*
	* @param mixed $arData The array to convert
	* @param mixed $sRootNodeName The name of the root node in the returned Xml
	* @param string $sXml The converted Xml
	*/
	public function arrayToXml( $arData, $sRootNodeName = 'data', $sXml = null )
	{
		// turn off compatibility mode as simple xml doesn't like it
		if ( 1 == ini_get( 'zend.ze1_compatibility_mode' ) )
			ini_set( 'zend.ze1_compatibility_mode', 0 );

		if ( null == $sXml )
			$sXml = simplexml_load_string( "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?><{$sRootNodeName} />" );

		// loop through the data passed in.
		foreach ( $arData as $_sKey => $_oValue )
		{
			// no numeric keys in our xml please!
			if ( is_numeric($_sKey ) )
				$_sKey = "unknownNode_". ( string )$_sKey;

			// replace anything not alpha numeric
			$_sKey = preg_replace( '/[^a-z]/i', '', $_sKey );

			// if there is another array found recrusively call this function
			if ( is_array( $_oValue ) )
			{
				$_oNode = $sXml->addChild( $_sKey );
				self::arrayToXml( $_oValue, $sRootNodeName, $_oNode );
			}
			else
			{
				// add single node.
				$_oValue = htmlentities( $_oValue );
				$sXml->addChild( $_sKey, $_oValue );
			}
		}

		return( $sXml->asXML() );
	}
	

and this method converts an array of CActiveRecord's to an XML string. Will also convert an array to a string suitable for use with jqGrid AJAX calls:

	/**
	* Returns an Xml string representation of an array of CActiveRecords
	*
	* @param array $oRS
	* @param array $arOptions
	*/
	public function asXml( $arData, $arOptions = null )
	{
		//	Initialize...
		$_sHeader = '';
		$_sOut = '';
		$_oSchema = null;

		//	Process options...
		$_bjqGrid = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'jqGrid', false );

		//	Default options for jqGrid
		if ( $_bjqGrid )
		{
			$_sContainer = 'row';
			$_sElement = 'cell';
			$_bUseColumnElementNames = false;
			$_bIdInAttribute = true;
			$_sIdName = 'id';
			$_bUseCDataForStrings = true;
			$_bEncloseResults = true;
			$_sEncloseTag = 'rows';
			$_arAddElements = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'addElements', null );
			$_bAddTypes = false;
		}
		else
		{
			$_sContainer = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'container', 'row' );
			$_sElement = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'element', 'cell' );
			$_bUseColumnElementNames = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'useColumnElementNames', false );
			$_bIdInAttribute = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'idInAttribute', true );
			$_bUseCDataForStrings = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'useCDataForStrings', true );
			$_bEncloseResults = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'encloseResults', false );
			$_sEncloseTag = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'encloseTag', 'rows' );
			$_bAddTypes = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'addTypes', false );
			$_sAddTypeAttributeName = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'addTypeAttributeName', 'type' );
		}

		$_sIdName = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'idName', 'id' );
		$_arColList = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'columnList', null );
		$_bAllowNulls = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'allowNulls', false );
		$_sReplaceNullWith = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'replaceNullWith', ' ' );
		$_arInnerElements = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'innerElements', null );
		$_arAddElements = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'addElements', null );
		$_arIgnoreColumns = self::getOption( $arOptions, 'ignoreColumns', null );

		$_sPrimaryKey = '';

		//	Loop through array of ActiveRecords
		foreach ( $arData as $_oRow )
		{
			//	Get the Pk
			if ( $_bIdInAttribute && $_bUseColumnElementNames && $_sPrimaryKey == '' )
			{
				$_sIdName = $_oRow->tableSchema->primaryKey;
				$_sPrimaryKey = $_oRow->getPrimaryKey();
			}

			$_sOut .= CHtml::openTag( $_sContainer, $_bIdInAttribute ? array( $_sIdName => $_oRow->primaryKey ) : array() );

			$_arAttr = $_oRow->getAttributes( null );

			foreach ( $_arAttr as $_sKey => $_oValue )
			{
				if ( is_array( $_arIgnoreColumns ) && in_array( $_sKey, $_arIgnoreColumns ) )
					continue;

				$_sElemToUse = ( $_bUseColumnElementNames ) ? $_sKey : $_sElement;
				$_sType = gettype( $_oValue );
				$_sOut .= CHtml::tag( $_sElemToUse, ( $_bAddTypes ? array( 'type' => $_sType ) : array() ), ( $_sType == 'string' && $_bUseCDataForStrings ) ? CHtml::cdata( $_oValue ) : $_oValue );
			}

			//	Anything extra to add?
			if ( $_arAddElements && is_array( $_arAddElements ) )
			{
				foreach ( $_arAddElements as $_oElement )
				{
					if ( $_oElement[ 'type' ] == 'function' )
					{
						$_sResult = $_oRow->{$_oElement['value']}( $_oRow );
						$_sOut .= CHtml::tag( $_oElement[ 'name' ], ( $_bAddTypes ? array( 'type' => $_oElement[ 'type' ] ) : array() ), ( $_bUseCDataForStrings  ) ? CHtml::cdata( $_sResult ) : $_sResult );
					}
					else
					{
						if ( $_oElement[ 'value' ] == '**rowdata**' )
						{
							try
							{
								$_sTemp = 'return( $_oRow->' . $_oElement[ 'column' ] . ');';
								$_oResult = eval( $_sTemp );
								$_sOut .= CHtml::tag( $_oElement[ 'name' ], ( $_bAddTypes ? array( 'type' => $_oElement[ 'type' ] ) : array() ), ( $_oElement[ 'type' ] == 'string' && $_bUseCDataForStrings ) ? CHtml::cdata( $_oResult ) : $_oResult );
							}
							catch ( Exception $_ex )
							{
								//	Ignore...
								$_sOut .= CHtml::tag( $_oElement[ 'name' ], ( $_bAddTypes ? array( 'type' => $_oElement[ 'type' ] ) : array() ), '' );
							}
						}
						else
							$_sOut .= CHtml::tag( $_oElement[ 'name' ], ( $_bAddTypes ? array( 'type' => $_oElement[ 'type' ] ) : array() ), ( $_oElement[ 'type' ] == 'string' && $_bUseCDataForStrings ) ? CHtml::cdata( $_oElement[ 'value' ] ) : $_oElement[ 'value' ] );
					}
				}
			}

			$_sOut .= CHtml::closeTag( $_sContainer );
		}

		//	Anything extra to add?
		if ( $_arInnerElements && is_array( $_arInnerElements ) )
		{
			foreach ( $_arInnerElements as $_oElement )
				$_sHeader .= CHtml::tag( $_oElement[ 'name' ], ( $_bAddTypes ? array( 'type' => $_oElement[ 'type' ] ) : array() ), ( $_oElement[ 'type' ] == 'string' && $_bUseCDataForStrings ) ? CHtml::cdata( $_oElement[ 'value' ] ) : $_oElement[ 'value' ] );
		}

		if ( $_bEncloseResults && ! empty( $_sEncloseTag ) )
			$_sOut = CHtml::tag( $_sEncloseTag, array( 'itemCount' => sizeof( $arData ) ), $_sHeader . $_sOut );

		//	And return...
		return( $_sOut );
	}

<SHAMELESS_PLUG>
These methods are part of the CPSHelp object in my extension library.
</SHAMELESS_PLUG>