CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpapisimplexml
JasonDavis
JasonDavis

Reputation: 48973

How to check that an XML file is good before running simplexml_load_file()

I use PHP's simplexml_load_file() function to call an API that returns changed results based on a Timestamp that I send.

So the API will return only results that have changed since my Timestamp. The problem I am having is if the timestamp is too soon and there are no results for the API to return, then it does not return a proper XML file, instead it will just return a blank page.

This is causing all sorts of problems with simplexml_load_file

Here is a simple test I can run...

$xml = 'http://api.rescuegroups.org/rest/?key=CZivWWGD&type=orgs&limit=300&updatedAfter=1361941202&startPage=1';

$xmlObj = new SimpleXMLElement($xml, NULL, TRUE);

This results in...

Warning: SimpleXMLElement::__construct(): http://api.rescuegroups.org/rest/?key=CZivWWGD&type=orgs&limit=300&updatedAfter=1361941202&startPage=1:1: parser error : Document is empty in E:\Server\htdocs\labs\freelance\dogAPI\testorg.php on line 9

Warning: SimpleXMLElement::__construct(): in E:\Server\htdocs\labs\freelance\dogAPI\testorg.php on line 9

Warning: SimpleXMLElement::__construct(): ^ in E:\Server\htdocs\labs\freelance\dogAPI\testorg.php on line 9

Warning: SimpleXMLElement::__construct(): http://api.rescuegroups.org/rest/?key=CZivWWGD&type=orgs&limit=300&updatedAfter=1361941202&startPage=1:1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found in E:\Server\htdocs\labs\freelance\dogAPI\testorg.php on line 9

Warning: SimpleXMLElement::__construct(): in E:\Server\htdocs\labs\freelance\dogAPI\testorg.php on line 9

Warning: SimpleXMLElement::__construct(): ^ in E:\Server\htdocs\labs\freelance\dogAPI\testorg.php on line 9

Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Exception' with message 'String could not be parsed as XML' in E:\Server\htdocs\labs\freelance\dogAPI\testorg.php:9 Stack trace: #0 E:\Server\htdocs\labs\freelance\dogAPI\testorg.php(9): SimpleXMLElement->__construct('http://api.resc...', 0, true) #1 {main} thrown in E:\Server\htdocs\labs\freelance\dogAPI\testorg.php on line 9

Now if I pass the API a Timestamp that is further back where there are results, then it will return a perfect XML document.

I am looking for a way to possibly prevent this nasty error from happening somehow?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 1182

Answers (2)

Winston
Winston

Reputation: 1805

$xml = @simplexml_load_file('http://api.rescuegroups.org/rest/?key=CZivWWGD&type=orgs&limit=300&updatedAfter=1361941202&startPage=1');
if(false !== $xml)
{
    // Do anything with xml
}

If there an errors @ hide it and return false

Upvotes: 0

Mirko Adari
Mirko Adari

Reputation: 5103

simplexml_load_file:

Use libxml_use_internal_errors() to suppress all XML errors, and libxml_get_errors() to iterate over them afterwards.

Returns an object of class SimpleXMLElement with properties containing the data held within the XML document, or FALSE on failure.

So suppress the errors and check for FALSE to detect when the query didn't go as expected.

Upvotes: 4

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