I realize I am a Johnny-Come-Lately here, but I was working with the VERY same problem -- and the tutorials I found out there would almost (but not quite upon unit testing) cover it.
After much frustration and research, here is what I cam up with
XML To Assoc. Array:
From http://www.php.net/manual/en/simplexml.examples-basic.php
json_decode( json_encode( simplexml_load_string( $string ) ), TRUE );
Assoc. Array to XML
notes:
- XML attributes are not handled
- Will also handle nested arrays with numeric indices (which are not valid XML!)
From http://www.devexp.eu/2009/04/11/php-domdocument-convert-array-to-xml/
/// Converts an array to XML
/// - http://www.devexp.eu/2009/04/11/php-domdocument-convert-array-to-xml/
/// @param <array> $array The associative array you want to convert; nested numeric indices are OK!
function getXml( array $array ) {
$array2XmlConverter = new XmlDomConstructor('1.0', 'utf-8');
$array2XmlConverter->xmlStandalone = TRUE;
$array2XmlConverter->formatOutput = TRUE;
try {
$array2XmlConverter->fromMixed( $array );
$array2XmlConverter->normalizeDocument ();
$xml = $array2XmlConverter->saveXML();
// echo "\n\n-----vvv start returned xml vvv-----\n";
// print_r( $xml );
// echo "\n------^^^ end returned xml ^^^----\n"
return $xml;
}
catch( Exception $ex ) {
// echo "\n\n-----vvv Rut-roh Raggy! vvv-----\n";
// print_r( $ex->getCode() ); echo "\n";
// print_r( $->getMessage() );
// var_dump( $ex );
// echo "\n------^^^ end Rut-roh Raggy! ^^^----\n"
return $ex;
}
}
... and here is the class to use for the $array2XmlConverter
object:
/**
* Extends the DOMDocument to implement personal (utility) methods.
* - From: http://www.devexp.eu/2009/04/11/php-domdocument-convert-array-to-xml/
* - `parent::` See http://www.php.net/manual/en/class.domdocument.php
*
* @throws DOMException http://www.php.net/manual/en/class.domexception.php
*
* @author Toni Van de Voorde
*/
class XmlDomConstructor extends DOMDocument {
/**
* Constructs elements and texts from an array or string.
* The array can contain an element's name in the index part
* and an element's text in the value part.
*
* It can also creates an xml with the same element tagName on the same
* level.
*
* ex:
\verbatim
<nodes>
<node>text</node>
<node>
<field>hello</field>
<field>world</field>
</node>
</nodes>
\verbatim
*
*
* Array should then look like:
\verbatim
array(
"nodes" => array(
"node" => array(
0 => "text",
1 => array(
"field" => array (
0 => "hello",
1 => "world",
),
),
),
),
);
\endverbatim
*
* @param mixed $mixed An array or string.
*
* @param DOMElement[optional] $domElement Then element
* from where the array will be construct to.
*
*/
public function fromMixed($mixed, DOMElement $domElement = null) {
$domElement = is_null($domElement) ? $this : $domElement;
if (is_array($mixed)) {
foreach( $mixed as $index => $mixedElement ) {
if ( is_int($index) ) {
if ( $index == 0 ) {
$node = $domElement;
}
else {
$node = $this->createElement($domElement->tagName);
$domElement->parentNode->appendChild($node);
}
}
else {
$node = $this->createElement($index);
$domElement->appendChild($node);
}
$this->fromMixed($mixedElement, $node);
}
}
else {
$domElement->appendChild($this->createTextNode($mixed));
}
}
} // end of class