How to convert array to SimpleXML

Question

How can I convert an array to a SimpleXML object in PHP?

Answer 1

With FluidXML you can generate, starting from a PHP Array, an XML for SimpleXML with... just two lines of code.

$fluidxml  = fluidxml($array);
$simplexml = simplexml_import_dom($fluidxml->dom());

An example array could be

$array = [ 'doc' => [
              'fruit' => 'orange',
              'cake'  => [
                   '@id' => '123', 
                   '@'   => 'tiramisu' ],
              [ 'pasta' => 'matriciana' ],
              [ 'pasta' => 'boscaiola'  ]
] ];

https://github.com/servo-php/fluidxml

Answer 2

You can Use the following function in you code directly,

    function artoxml($arr, $i=1,$flag=false){
    $sp = "";
    for($j=0;$j<=$i;$j++){
        $sp.=" ";
     }
    foreach($arr as $key=>$val){
        echo "$sp&lt;".$key."&gt;";
        if($i==1) echo "\n";
        if(is_array($val)){
            if(!$flag){echo"\n";}
            artoxml($val,$i+5);
            echo "$sp&lt;/".$key."&gt;\n";
        }else{
              echo "$val"."&lt;/".$key."&gt;\n";
         }
    }

}

Call the function with first argument as your array and the second argument must be 1, this will be increased for perfect indentation, and third must be true.

for example, if the array variable to be converted is $array1 then, calling would be, the calling function should be encapsulated with <pre> tag.

  artoxml($array1,1,true);   

Please see the page source after executing the file, because the < and > symbols won't be displayed in a html page.

Answer 3

My answer, cobbling together others' answers. This should correct for the failure to compensate for numeric keys:

function array_to_xml($array, $root, $element) {
    $xml = new SimpleXMLElement("<{$root}/>");
    foreach ($array as $value) {
        $elem = $xml->addChild($element);
        xml_recurse_child($elem, $value);
    }
    return $xml;
}

function xml_recurse_child(&$node, $child) {
    foreach ($child as $key=>$value) {
        if(is_array($value)) {
            foreach ($value as $k => $v) {
                if(is_numeric($k)){
                    xml_recurse_child($node, array($key => $v));
                }
                else {
                    $subnode = $node->addChild($key);
                    xml_recurse_child($subnode, $value);
                }
            }
        }
        else {
            $node->addChild($key, $value);
        }
    }   
}

The array_to_xml() function presumes that the array is made up of numeric keys first. If your array had an initial element, you would drop the foreach() and $elem statements from the array_to_xml() function and just pass $xml instead.

Answer 4

Whole XML structure is defined in $data Array:

function array2Xml($data, $xml = null)
{
    if (is_null($xml)) {
        $xml = simplexml_load_string('<' . key($data) . '/>');
        $data = current($data);
        $return = true;
    }
    if (is_array($data)) {
        foreach ($data as $name => $value) {
            array2Xml($value, is_numeric($name) ? $xml : $xml->addChild($name));
        }
    } else {
        $xml->{0} = $data;
    }
    if (!empty($return)) {
        return $xml->asXML();
    }
}

Answer 5

The answers provided here only convert array to XML with nodes, you are not able to set attributes. I have written a php function that allows you to convert an array to php and also set attributes for particular nodes in the xml. The downside here is you have to construct an array in a particular way with few conventions (only if you want to use attributes)

The following example will allow you to set attributes in XML too.

Detailed example and usage can be found here: http://www.lalit.org/lab/convert-php-array-to-xml-with-attributes/

<?php    
$books = array(
    '@attributes' => array(
        'type' => 'fiction'
    ),
    'book' => array(
        array(
            '@attributes' => array(
                'author' => 'George Orwell'
            ),
            'title' => '1984'
        ),
        array(
            '@attributes' => array(
                'author' => 'Isaac Asimov'
            ),
            'title' => 'Foundation',
            'price' => '$15.61'
        ),
        array(
            '@attributes' => array(
                'author' => 'Robert A Heinlein'
            ),
            'title' => 'Stranger in a Strange Land',
            'price' => array(
                '@attributes' => array(
                    'discount' => '10%'
                ),
                '@value' => '$18.00'
            )
        )
    )
);
/* creates 
<books type="fiction">
  <book author="George Orwell">
    <title>1984</title>
  </book>
  <book author="Isaac Asimov">
    <title>Foundation</title>
    <price>$15.61</price>
  </book>
  <book author="Robert A Heinlein">
    <title>Stranger in a Strange Land</title>
    <price discount="10%">$18.00</price>
  </book>
</books>
*/
?>

Answer 6

Based on everything else here, handles numerical indices + attributes via prefixing with @, and could inject xml to existing nodes:

Code

function simple_xmlify($arr, SimpleXMLElement $root = null, $el = 'x') {
    // based on, among others http://stackoverflow.com/a/1397164/1037948

    if(!isset($root) || null == $root) $root = new SimpleXMLElement('<' . $el . '/>');

    if(is_array($arr)) {
        foreach($arr as $k => $v) {
            // special: attributes
            if(is_string($k) && $k[0] == '@') $root->addAttribute(substr($k, 1),$v);
            // normal: append
            else simple_xmlify($v, $root->addChild(
                    // fix 'invalid xml name' by prefixing numeric keys
                    is_numeric($k) ? 'n' . $k : $k)
                );
        }
    } else {
        $root[0] = $arr;
    }

    return $root;
}//--   fn  simple_xmlify

Usage

// lazy declaration via "queryparam"
$args = 'hello=4&var[]=first&var[]=second&foo=1234&var[5]=fifth&var[sub][]=sub1&var[sub][]=sub2&var[sub][]=sub3&var[@name]=the-name&var[@attr2]=something-else&var[sub][@x]=4.356&var[sub][@y]=-9.2252';
$q = array();
parse_str($val, $q);

$xml = simple_xmlify($q); // dump $xml, or...
$result = get_formatted_xml($xml); // see below

Result

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<x>
  <hello>4</hello>
  <var name="the-name" attr2="something-else">
    <n0>first</n0>
    <n1>second</n1>
    <n5>fifth</n5>
    <sub x="4.356" y="-9.2252">
      <n0>sub1</n0>
      <n1>sub2</n1>
      <n2>sub3</n2>
    </sub>
  </var>
  <foo>1234</foo>
</x>

Bonus: Formatting XML

function get_formatted_xml(SimpleXMLElement $xml, $domver = null, $preserveWhitespace = true, $formatOutput = true) {
    // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1191167/format-output-of-simplexml-asxml

    // create new wrapper, so we can get formatting options
    $dom = new DOMDocument($domver);
    $dom->preserveWhiteSpace = $preserveWhitespace;
    $dom->formatOutput = $formatOutput;
    // now import the xml (converted to dom format)
    /*
    $ix = dom_import_simplexml($xml);
    $ix = $dom->importNode($ix, true);
    $dom->appendChild($ix);
    */
    $dom->loadXML($xml->asXML());

    // print
    return $dom->saveXML();
}//--   fn  get_formatted_xml