PHP SimpleXML Introduction
SimpleXML is an extension that allows us to easily manipulate and get XML data.
SimpleXML provides an easy way of getting an element's name, attributes and textual content if you know the XML document's structure or layout.
SimpleXML turns an XML document into a data structure you can iterate through like a collection of arrays and objects.
Installation
As of PHP 5, the SimpleXML functions are part of the PHP core. No installation is required to use these functions.
PHP 5 SimpleXML Functions
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| __construct() | Creates a new SimpleXMLElement object |
| addAttribute() | Adds an attribute to the SimpleXML element |
| addChild() | Adds a child element the SimpleXML element |
| asXML() | Returns a well-formed XML string (XML version 1.0) from a SimpleXML object |
| attributes() | Returns the attributes/values of an element |
| children() | Returns the children of a specified node |
| count() | Counts the children of a specified node |
| getDocNamespaces() | Returns the namespaces DECLARED in document |
| getName() | Returns the name of the XML tag referenced by the SimpleXML element |
| getNamespaces() | Returns the namespaces USED in document |
| registerXPathNamespace() | Creates a namespace context for the next XPath query |
| saveXML() | Alias of asXML() |
| simplexml_import_dom() | Returns a SimpleXMLElement object from a DOM node |
| simplexml_load_file() | Converts an XML file into a SimpleXMLElement object |
| simplexml_load_string() | Converts an XML string into a SimpleXMLElement object |
| xpath() | Runs an XPath query on XML data |
PHP 5 SimpleXML Iteration Functions
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| current() | Returns the current element |
| getChildren() | Returns the child elements of the current element |
| hasChildren() | Checks whether the current element has children |
| key() | Return the current key |
| next() | Moves to the next element |
| rewind() | Rewind to the first element |
| valid() | Check whether the current element is valid |