CODEWITHSUNDEEP
xmlsimplexmlphp
MOOcow102
MOOcow102

Reputation: 91

How to escape colon when reading XML in PHP, simplexml

I have an XML file that I am trying to get variables off with PHP. The XML file looks like this:

<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dcq="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns="http://www.skype.com/go/skypeweb">
<Status rdf:about="urn:skype:skype.com:skypeweb/1.1">

You can view the full XML file here: http://mystatus.skype.com/username.xml

I used the simplexml extension to convert the xml input into the PHP object $xml. When I attempt to navigate later in the file with:

$variable = $xml->rdf:RDF->Status->presence;

It gives me an error because of the colon in "rdf:RDF":

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ':'

How can I either escape the colon, or navigate later in the file without changing the XML file?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 3034

Answers (2)

JLRishe
JLRishe

Reputation: 101738

If I'm not mistaken, simplexml starts off positioned at the document (top) element, so you don't need to worry about rdf:RDF in this case. Just try:

$xml->Status->presence

In general, it seems the way to access a node with a particular namespace is to use ->children(namespaceUri), as in:

$xml->children('http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom')->entry->title

for something like this:

<a:feed xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
   <a:entry>
      <a:title>hello</a:title>
   </a:entry>
</a:feed>

Upvotes: 4

hakre
hakre

Reputation: 198203

Your initial code:

$variable = $xml->rdf:RDF->Status->presence;

does not work because it is creating a syntax error:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ':' in /test.php on line 8

The colon in the property name is not valid. PHP's common way to work with that are curly braces:

$xml->{'rdf:RDF'}->Status->presence

As you then found out you get the undefined property notice:

Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in /test.php on line 8

That is first-hand because such a property does not exists, var_dump shows that:

var_dump($xml);

class SimpleXMLElement#1 (1) {
  public $Status =>
  class SimpleXMLElement#2 (2) {
    public $statusCode =>
    string(1) "1"
    public $presence =>
    array(13) {
      [0] =>
      string(1) "1"
      ...
    }
  }
}

However, apart from that, even if there would be a children with a namespace prefixed element name, it would not work that way. This would just never work, so always such a property is not defined.

However what the previous dump outlines is that there is the property you're looking for: $Status:

$variable = $xml->Status->presence;

So you were just looking in the wrong place. The var_dump($variable) is:

class SimpleXMLElement#4 (13) {
    string(1) "1"
    string(7) "Offline"
    string(12) "Déconnecté"
    string(7) "Offline"
    string(15) "オフライン"
    string(6) "離線"
    string(6) "脱机"
    string(7) "Offline"
    string(7) "Offline"
    string(12) "Non in linea"
    string(12) "Desconectado"
    string(15) "Niepodłączony"
    string(7) "Offline"
}

Upvotes: 1

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