Server responds with an XML that SimpleXMLElement cannot convert to Object

Question

When I make a HTTP GET request, with curl, via php, I get this response:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<root>
    <apiStatus>ok</apiStatus>
    <matches>1</matches>
    <unit type="campaign">
        <id>42</id>
        <name>think_deep</name>
    </unit>
    <units>1</units>
</root>

When I try to get this output, to create a SimpleXMLElement, I get this erropr:

PHP Warning:  SimpleXMLElement::__construct(): Entity: line 1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found in /home/simone/Development/dotadv/cxense/scripts/SearchForCampaign.php on line 35
PHP Warning:  SimpleXMLElement::__construct(): 1 in /home/simone/Development/dotadv/cxense/scripts/SearchForCampaign.php on line 35
PHP Warning:  SimpleXMLElement::__construct(): ^ in /home/simone/Development/dotadv/cxense/scripts/SearchForCampaign.php on line 35
PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught exception 'Exception' with message 'String could not be parsed as XML' in /home/simone/Development/dotadv/cxense/scripts/SearchForCampaign.php:35
Stack trace:
#0 /home/simone/Development/dotadv/cxense/scripts/SearchForCampaign.php(35): SimpleXMLElement->__construct('1')
#1 {main} thrown in /home/simone/Development/dotadv/cxense/scripts/SearchForCampaign.php on line 35

With a var_dump() I discovered that the output is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<root>
    <apiStatus>ok</apiStatus>
    <matches>1</matches>
    <unit type="campaign">
        <id>42</id>
        <name>think_deep</name>
    </unit>
    <units>1</units>
</root>
bool(true)
bool(true)

So, ... What kind of issue is this?

$curl = curl_init();
$url = 'http://stage.emediate.eu' . $request->uri();
curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
]);

$resp = curl_exec($curl);
var_dump($resp, true);

show your code, because xml is fine - https://eval.in/404775 — splash58, Jul 24 '15 at 12:42
when not set CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, curl_exec return true or false. so, result of var_dump is `bool(true) bool(true)`. :) — splash58, Jul 24 '15 at 13:20
Oh, yess!! This is the answer. Please, add this commend as answer =) — sensorario, Jul 24 '15 at 14:15
:) By the way. What do you think about http://stackoverflow.com/questions/31604960/validate-array-keys-of-a-php-array — splash58, Jul 25 '15 at 09:39

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 24 '15 at 14:26

Because you do not set option CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, curl_exec return true or false as result of request. So, $resp gets true, which we can see in the output of var_dump($resp, true);

bool(true)
bool(true)

To receive the xml as result change your code to

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => 1
]);

Server responds with an XML that SimpleXMLElement cannot convert to Object

1 Answers1