parse remote csv-file with PHP on GAE

Question

I seem to be in a catch-22 with a small app I'm developing in PHP on Google App Engine using Quercus;

1. I have a remote csv-file which I can download & store in a string
2. To parse that string I'd ideally use str_getcsv, but Quercus doesn't have that function yet
3. Quercus does seem to know fgetcsv, but that function expects a file handle which I don't have (and I can't make a new one as GAE doesn't allow files to be created)

Anyone got an idea of how to solve this without having to dismiss the built-in PHP csv-parser functions and write my own parser instead?

Answer 1

I think the simplest solution really is to write your own parser . it's a piece of cake anyway and will get you to learn more regex- it makes no sense that there is no csv string to array parser in PHP so it's totally justified to write your own. Just make sure it's not too slow ;)

Answer 2

You might be able to create a new stream wrapper using stream_wrapper_register.

Here's an example from the manual which reads global variables: http://www.php.net/manual/en/stream.streamwrapper.example-1.php

You could then use it like a normal file handle:

$csvStr = '...';
$fp = fopen('var://csvStr', 'r+');
while ($row = fgetcsv($fp)) {
    // ...
}
fclose($fp);

Answer 3

this shows a simple manual parser i wrote with example input with qualifed, non-qualified, escape feature. it can be used for the header and data rows and included an assoc array function to make your data into a kvp style array.

//example data
$fields = strparser('"first","second","third","fourth","fifth","sixth","seventh"');
print_r(makeAssocArray($fields, strparser('"asdf","bla\"1","bl,ah2","bl,ah\"3",123,34.234,"k;jsdfj ;alsjf;"')));


//do something like this
$fields = strparser(<csvfirstline>);
foreach ($lines as $line)
    $data = makeAssocArray($fields, strparser($line));


function strparser($string, $div = ",", $qual = "\"", $esc = "\\") {
    $buff = "";
    $data = array();
    $isQual = false; //the result will be a qualifier
    $inQual = false; //currently parseing inside qualifier

    //itereate through string each byte
    for ($i = 0; $i < strlen($string); $i++) {
        switch ($string[$i]) {
            case $esc:
                //add next byte to buffer and skip it
                $buff .= $string[$i+1];
                $i++;
                break;
            case $qual:
                //see if this is escaped qualifier
                if (!$inQual) {
                    $isQual = true;
                    $inQual = true;
                    break;
                } else {
                    $inQual = false; //done parseing qualifier
                    break;
                }
            case $div:
                if (!$inQual) {
                    $data[] = $buff;    //add value to data
                    $buff = "";         //reset buffer
                    break;
                }
            default:
                $buff .= $string[$i];
        }
    }
    //get last item as it doesnt have a divider
    $data[] = $buff;
    return $data;
}

function makeAssocArray($fields, $data) {
    foreach ($fields as $key => $field)
        $array[$field] = $data[$key];
    return $array;
}

Answer 4

if it can be dirty and quick. I would just use the http://php.net/manual/en/function.exec.php to pass it in and use sed and awk (http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9781565922259.do) to parse it. I know you wanted to use the php parser. I've tried before and failed simply because its not vocal about its errors. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Answer 5

You might be able to use fopen with php://temp or php://memory (php.net) to get it to work. What you would do is open either php://temp or php://memory, write to it, then rewind it (php.net), and then pass it to fgetcsv. I didn't test this, but it might work.