xml to php array issue

Question

I am having trouble on my php simple xml object.

I have the following xml data in my log

SimpleXMLElement Object
(
    [@attributes] => Array
        (
            [title] => test
            [scanner] => Data
            [id] => WordData
            [position] => 1800
            [error] => false
            [num] => 6
        )

    [subpod] => Array
        (
            [0] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                (
                    [@attributes] => Array
                        (
                            [title] => Surnames
                        )

                    [plaintext] => Common (US population: 650 people, white: 63% | black: 35%)
                    [img] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                        (
                            [@attributes] => Array
                                (

                                    [alt] => Common (US population: 650 people, white: 63% | black: 35%)
                                    [title] => Common (US population: 650 people, white: 63% | black: 35%)
                                    [width] => 349
                                    [height] => 18
                                )

                        )

                )

            [1] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                (
                    [@attributes] => Array
                        (
                            [title] => Cities
                        )

                    [plaintext] => Littleton Common (Massachusetts, 2789 people)
                    [img] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                        (
                            [@attributes] => Array
                                (

                                    [alt] => Littleton Common (Massachusetts, 2789 people)
                                    [title] => Littleton Common (Massachusetts, 2789 people)
                                    [width] => 287
                                    [height] => 18
                                )

                        )

                )

            [2] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                (
                    [@attributes] => Array
                        (
                            [title] => Buildings
                        )

                    [plaintext] => Rotunda on Woolwich Common (London, Greater London)
                    [img] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                        (
                            [@attributes] => Array
                                (

                                    [alt] => Rotunda on Woolwich Common (London, Greater London)
                                    [title] => Rotunda on Woolwich Common (London, Greater London)
                                    [width] => 356
                                    [height] => 18
                                )

                        )

                )
              .....more simpleXmlElement object
          )
)

my php varible $xmlObj = SimpleXMLElement Object but when I have the following

if (is_array($xmlObj->subpod)){
    echo 'is array';    
}else {
    echo 'not array';
}

the output is always 'not array' and I want my codes to echo 'is array'

I thought $xmlObj->subpod is an array. When I test $xmlObj->subpod[0]->plaintext, it will actually return strings. I am not sure how to solve this problem. Can anyone help?

Answer 1

Inside SimpleXMLElement Object everything is SimpleXMLElement Object, print_r and var_dump sometimes lie about arrays -they are traversable objects, but you can perform most operations on them as if they were arrays. If you insist on having pure array, you can cast this node to array:

$subpod = (array)$xmlObj->subpod;

Answer 2

If you were to var_dump($xmlObj->subpod), you would see that it is still a SimpleXMLElement object. However, it can still be called as if it were an array. (See the note after this example, which hints that the class implements ArrayAccess, even though the class documentation doesn't.)

The correct way to check for this structure would be using SimpleXMLElement::count():

if ($xmlObj->subpod->count() > 0) { ... }

Edit: The output in your question is presumably from print_r, which is sometimes rather unhelpful in its output (e.g. telling you something is an array when it's not). Try using var_dump instead, as it's generally more useful for debugging. The only caveat here is that you don't get to see the entire nested object structure for SimpleXMLElement objects!