PHP XML DOM Add, Modify and Update

Question

I have an XML file named "apps.xml" and structured like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<applications>
    <app id="b461ae4a" valid="0" company="Lemon Inc." appname="None" user="admin" description="Test" note="None" />
    <app id="1c94395b" valid="0" company="Lemon Inc." appname="None" user="admin" description="Test" note="None" />
</applications>

and I wish to be able to Add, Modify and Update (Save changes to the file) the above mentioned XML file using PHP script ($_GET), DOM and Xpath running on my website.

after Adding a new XML entry (last line), the file output would look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<applications>
    <app id="b461ae4a" valid="0" company="Lemon Inc." appname="None" user="admin" description="Test" note="None" />
    <app id="1c94395b" valid="0" company="Lemon Inc." appname="None" user="admin" description="Test" note="None" />
    <app id="d65k274p" valid="0" company="Lemon Inc." appname="None" user="admin" description="Test" note="None" />
</applications>

and after Modification/Update (first entry modified/updated) would look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<applications>
    <app id="b461ae4a" valid="1" company="Orange Inc." appname="None" user="tommy" description="Test" note="None" />
    <app id="1c94395b" valid="0" company="Lemon Inc." appname="None" user="admin" description="Test" note="None" />
    <app id="d65k274p" valid="0" company="Lemon Inc." appname="None" user="admin" description="Test" note="None" />
</applications>

and to add more example what I'm trying to achieve:

http://www.myadress.com/apps.php?append=1&id=d65k274p&valid=1&company=Orange%20Inc&appname=None&user=admin&description=Test&note=None

// Append argument would decide to add a whole new entry set to 1 or if it is on 0 then to be modified the whole entry by given "id".

$xappend = $_GET["append"];

$xid = $_GET["id"];
$xvalid = $_GET["valid"];
$xcompany = $_GET["company"];
$xappname = $_GET["appname"];
$xuser = $_GET["user"];
$xdescription = $_GET["description"];
$xnote = $_GET["note"];

if (file_exists('apps.xml')) {
    $xorig = simplexml_load_file('apps.xml');
} else {
    exit('Failed to open apps.xml !');
}

Any help would be highly appreciated!

Search for simplexml or domdocument. Anyway your question is too broad. Try to do something first and then come back when you have some issue. — Felippe Duarte, Apr 14 '20 at 20:15
@FelippeDuarte Yes, I searched for the DOMDocument, the issue that I can't do so much, because I'm not so good in PHP, but I already did it in ASP, because I using it all the time for years, but unfortunately my hosting does not support ASP only PHP. — beic, Apr 14 '20 at 20:51
Please edit your question for an example of a change you want to make and the desired output after the change. — Jack Fleeting, Apr 15 '20 at 00:47

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 15 '20 at 15:30

Try it this way and see if it works on your actual xml:

<?php
$original = <<<SNIPPET
<applications>
    <app id="b461ae4a" valid="0" company="Lemon Inc." appname="None" user="admin" description="Test" note="None" />
    <app id="1c94395b" valid="0" company="Lemon Inc." appname="None" user="admin" description="Test" note="None" />
</applications>
SNIPPET;

$xorig = simplexml_load_string($original);

$ins_pnt = $xorig->xpath('/applications');
$target = $xorig->xpath('/applications/app[1]');
$new_node = clone $target[0];
$new_node['id'] = "d65k274p";

// the function is lifted from https://stackoverflow.com/a/4778964/9448090
function node_append(SimpleXMLElement $to, SimpleXMLElement $from) {
    $toDom = dom_import_simplexml($to);
    $fromDom = dom_import_simplexml($from);
    $toDom->appendChild($toDom->ownerDocument->importNode($fromDom, true));
}

node_append($ins_pnt[0], $new_node); 

echo $xorig->asXML();

Output:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<applications>
   <app id="b461ae4a" valid="0" company="Lemon Inc." appname="None" user="admin" description="Test" note="None" />
   <app id="1c94395b" valid="0" company="Lemon Inc." appname="None" user="admin" description="Test" note="None" />
   <app id="d65k274p" valid="0" company="Lemon Inc." appname="None" user="admin" description="Test" note="None" />
</applications>

Tried, but not getting any result except blank php screen. Added also $xorig = simplexml_load_file('apps.xml'); — beic, Apr 15 '20 at 19:33
@beic - Try it [here](https://paiza.io/projects/e/kwW9TVWnckB0Sc2kl1mlBw). — Jack Fleeting, Apr 15 '20 at 19:53
I extended my question above I hope you can understand my needs now better. Thank you! — beic, Apr 15 '20 at 19:58
@beic My answer was in response to your original question; you are basically asking a new question now. You probably should post the edit as a new question. — Jack Fleeting, Apr 15 '20 at 21:02
From the start I wanted like posted right now, but I didn't know how to express my self in a right way! Can you please maybe edit your answer? You could see in my original question this particular line what was referring to my extended question "PHP script ($_GET), DOM and Xpath running on my website". — beic, Apr 15 '20 at 21:22

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 16 '20 at 23:33

After a long hours I managed to do it like this as a beginner:

$xmlFile = 'apps.xml';

$xorig = simplexml_load_file($xmlFile) or die('0');

    $app = $xorig->addChild('app');
    $app->addAttribute('id', $xid);
    $app->addAttribute('valid', $xval);
    $app->addAttribute('company', $xcmp);
    $app->addAttribute('appname', $xanam);
    $app->addAttribute('user', $xusr);
    $app->addAttribute('description', $xdesc);
    $app->addAttribute('note', $xnote);

PHP XML DOM Add, Modify and Update

2 Answers2