XML Node outside parent item

Question

Using the code provided in this post xml split node on . as below when I go to extend the string by add say "colour" it places the result outside the parent item node

    <?php
$xml_string = '<product><item><partno>abc123</partno><Compatbility>model1: 110C, 115C, 117C. model2: 1835C, 1840C. model3: 210C, 215C, 3240C.</Compatbility></item></product>';
$original_xml = simplexml_load_string($xml_string);
$data = json_decode(json_encode($original_xml), true);
$compatbility = $data['item']['Compatbility']; // get all compatibility values
// explode values
$compatbility = array_filter(array_map('trim', explode('.', $compatbility)));

$new_xml = new SimpleXMLElement('<product/>'); // initialize new xml
// add necessary values
$new_xml->addChild('item')->addChild('partno', $data['item']['partno']);
$new_xml->item->addChild('Compatbility');
// loop the values and add them as children
foreach($compatbility as $value) {
    $value = trim(preg_replace('/(\w+):/', '', $value));
    $new_xml->item->Compatbility->addChild('model', $value);
}
echo $new_xml->asXML(); // output as xml
?>

Revised code adding colour to the xml string

    <?php
$xml_string = '<product><item><partno>abc123</partno><colour>black</colour><Compatbility>model1: 110C, 115C, 117C. model2: 1835C, 1840C. model3: 210C, 215C, 3240C.</Compatbility></item></product>';
$original_xml = simplexml_load_string($xml_string);
$data = json_decode(json_encode($original_xml), true);
$compatbility = $data['item']['Compatbility']; // get all compatibility values
// explode values
$compatbility = array_filter(array_map('trim', explode('.', $compatbility)));

$new_xml = new SimpleXMLElement('<product/>'); // initialize new xml
// add necessary values
$new_xml->addChild('item')->addChild('partno', $data['item']['partno']);
$new_xml->addChild ('colour', $data['item']['colour']);
$new_xml->item->addChild('Compatbility');
// loop the values and add them as children
foreach($compatbility as $value) {
    $value = trim(preg_replace('/(\w+):/', '', $value));
    $new_xml->item->Compatbility->addChild('model', $value);
}
echo $new_xml->asXML(); // output as xml
?>

And the XML output

    <product>
<item>
<partno>abc123</partno>
<Compatbility><model>110C, 115C, 117C</model>
<model>1835C, 1840C</model>
<model>210C, 215C, 3240C</model>
</Compatbility>
</item>
<colour>black</colour>
</product>

As you can see it's placed the "colour" after the </item> when it should be inside the </item>

The product xml file has 650 entries so i'm not sure this is right anyway

Hope this is enough info - thanks

So somebody has written some code for you and you do not yet know what it meant. So far it did the job for what you've asked earlier, however, you didn't care to understand why, so this leads you just to the next question. Before answering your next question here, can you give a suggestion what would help you to better understand so that you don't need to ask for every problem you need to program something for? I mean that would create and endless stream of questions that are most likely only suitable to yourself and not for future readers. — hakre, Jun 19 '14 at 19:16

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 19 '14 at 19:22

The method SimpleXMLElement::addChild works on the parent element.

E.g. in your (not working) example:

$new_xml->addChild ('colour', $data['item']['colour']);

The parent element is within $new_xml. If you don't want to add the <color> child to that parent, choose a different element as parent. Best: Choose the right parent element.

Accessing a SimleXMLElement is part of the basic usage examples.

So here an example on how to add a children to a specific parent element with simplexml:

<?php

$xmlstr = <<<XML
<?xml version='1.0' standalone='yes'?>
<movies>
 <movie>
  <title>PHP: Behind the Parser</title>
  <characters>
   <character>
    <name>Ms. Coder</name>
    <actor>Onlivia Actora</actor>
   </character>
   <character>
    <name>Mr. Coder</name>
    <actor>El Act&#211;r</actor>
   </character>
  </characters>
  <plot>
   So, this language. It's like, a programming language. Or is it a
   scripting language? All is revealed in this thrilling horror spoof
   of a documentary.
  </plot>
  <great-lines>
   <line>PHP solves all my web problems</line>
  </great-lines>
  <rating type="thumbs">7</rating>
  <rating type="stars">5</rating>
 </movie>
</movies>
XML;

$movies = new SimpleXMLElement($xmlstr);

echo $movies->movie[0]->plot; # So, this language. It's like, a programming language. Or is it a ...

$movie = $movies->movie[0];

$movie->addChild('color', 'technicolor'); # added color child to the move element

XML Node outside parent item

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