Convert an XML doc to a string

[CliffLandin]

The Background:

I am developing a site that queries a booking agent that returns an XML doc full of booking information. I use file_get_contents to return the data as a string which is then parsed using simplexml_load_string. I had been using simplexml_load_file and passing it the url, but I then found out that there is a problem with simplexml objects being loaded into sessions. So, I was hoping to retrieve the doc as a string which I would then load into the session and be able to parse it at any time without having to query the booking agent again.

The Quandry:

The string that file_get_contents returns is not an element that I can manipulate. The information is there and is parsed by the simplexml_load_string, but if I try to load it into the session and then dump the $_SESSION the variable is empty. On the same note, if I echo the string it shows nothing, but if I view source on the page all the information is there.

Example of XML visible when viewing the page source.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><SearchResults><Errors /><Session ID="0B2A0F05-5B5E-416B-9C5D-6E72DD375375" SalesID="*****" DestinationID="0" Region="" Country="" ArrivalDate="04/09/2007" ArrivalTime="00:00:00" DepartureDate="04/23/2007" DepartureTime="00:00:00" AdultCount="1" ProductCategoryID="1" LengthOfStay="14" DaysUntilArrival="1" Test="0" /><SearchSpeed SearchMarker1="2140" SearchMarker2="3640" SearchEnd="7563" /><Locations>...

The Question:

Is there a way to take this XML doc and convert it to a string that I can then place in the session and then later parse with simplexml_load_string?

The Answer:
?

Thanks for any help that you can provide.

When in doubt, go flat out!

http://www.soprisinteractive.com

 

[ninjadeathmonkey]

Not sure if this helps or not, but I found an example on PHP.net that talks about how to put SimpleXML objects into a session.

In order to store such information in the session, we have to convert all of the SimpleXMLElement objects present in the structure:

Array
(
    [USERS] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [NAME] => Joel Fielder
                    [EMAIL] => joelfielder@hotmail.com
                )

        )

)

And here is the code to do so:

<?php
function object2array($object)
{
    $return = NULL;
       
    if(is_array($object))
    {
        foreach($object as $key => $value)
            $return[$key] = object2array($value);
    }
    else
    {
        $var = get_object_vars($object);
           
        if($var)
        {
            foreach($var as $key => $value)
                $return[$key] = object2array($value);
        }
        else
            return $object;
    }

    return $return;
}
?>

Ron Wheeler

http://www.tekdev.com/

 

[jpadie]

i may not be understanding this properly but it seems that Cliff is asking for how to put the xml document into a session variable before parsing it.

this is as simple as the following

session_start();
$xmlfile = "[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.example.com/path/to/file.xml";[/URL]
$_SESSION['xml'] = file_get_contents($xmlfile);

and to create a simple_xml object

$obj = simplexml_load_string($_SESSION['xml']);

but ... there are some problems reported with simplexml. is it necessary that you use this over any other construct?

 

[CliffLandin]

That did it. Sending the file_get_contents directly to the session worked. I can then use simplexml to parse it.

Thanks for the help

When in doubt, go flat out!

http://www.soprisinteractive.com