Issues with simplexml_load_file

[flydev]

Hi,

I am having issues using simplexml. I have generated an XML file using PHP (link), and I am trying to load it into a simplexml object using:

$xml = simplexml_load_file("news_headlines_xml.php");

This is generating a parser error:

Warning: simplexml_load_file() [function.simplexml-load-file]: news_headlines_xml.php:72: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found in /home/airfront/public_html/FedEx4/functions.php on line 5

Warning: simplexml_load_file() [function.simplexml-load-file]: $xmlString = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>'; in /home/airfront/public_html/FedEx4/functions.php on line 5

It looks as if it's trying to parse the actual PHP script, and not the generated XML. I have set the MIME type on the PHP file to text/xml. Here is the script that generates the XML:

// Begin XML
$xmlString =  '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>';
$xmlString .= "<NEWS>";
 
// Begin data output
if($getPostCount<count($posts)){
    for($b=0;$b<$getPostCount;$b++){
        $xmlString .= "<ARTICLE>";
        $xmlString .= "<AUTHOR>" . $postArray[$posts[$b]]['poster_name'] . "</AUTHOR>";
        $xmlString .= "<SUBJECT>" . str_replace("\"", "&quot;", $postArray[$posts[$b]]['post_subject']) . "</SUBJECT>";
        $xmlString .= "<TIME>" . $postArray[$posts[$b]]['post_time'] . "</TIME>";
        $xmlString .= "</ARTICLE>";
    }
}
$xmlString .= "</NEWS>";
 
echo $xmlString;
 

I am pretty new to XML, is this even possible? If not, what other methods are available to me?

[Atli]

Hi.

That should work fine, yea.

However, the link you gave us isn't outputting anything.
Therefore your simplexml_load_file call fails, having nothing to parse.

Are you sure the script that generates the XML is working correctly?
Did you perhaps forget to upload it, or uploaded a old version of it?

[flydev]

Doh, I apologize, I was using a work-around, which broke that file...it's back to the way it was, and it looks like a valid XML file =(

[Atli]

Ok. Did that fix the simplexml issue to?

I tried this a simple test on my own server, and it worked fine.

<?php
header("content-type: text/plain");
 
$ex = simplexml_load_file("http://www.airfrontierva.com/FedEx4/news_headlines_xml.php");
 
foreach($ex->ARTICLE as $_article) {
    echo "Article: \n";
    echo " - Author:\t", $_article->AUTHOR, "\n";
    echo " - Subject:\t", $_article->SUBJECT, "\n";
    echo " - Time:\t", $_article->TIME, "\n";
}
?>

And I got these results:

Article: 
 - Author:    Anonymous
 - Subject:    Filing Flight Reports
 - Time:    1213043343
Article: 
 - Author:    FDX250 Fred
 - Subject:    Website Address in Remarks Section of Flightplan
 - Time:    1220920102
Article: 
 - Author:    FDX1032 Jesse
 - Subject:    Pilot Operating Handbook Update
 - Time:    1222778802
Article: 
 - Author:    FDX631 - Renato
 - Subject:    NOTAM - South America - SID CHANGE of HUB Campinas
 - Time:    1224599515
Article: 
 - Author:    FDX631 - Renato
 - Subject:    HUB Campinas (SBKP) VOR PSN/PIR
 - Time:    1227142677

[flydev]

Interesting....I copied your script to test.php, it errors out the same. I did have to change the path to the file because my server does not allow URL access. Perhaps this is a server issue, or if it's not give in URL format it interprets the file differently? (link)

Warning: simplexml_load_file() [function.simplexml-load-file]: news_headlines_xml.php:73: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found in /home/airfront/public_html/FedEx4/test.php on line 4

Warning: simplexml_load_file() [function.simplexml-load-file]: $xmlString = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>'; in /home/airfront/public_html/FedEx4/test.php on line 4

Warning: simplexml_load_file() [function.simplexml-load-file]: ^ in /home/airfront/public_html/FedEx4/test.php on line 4

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home/airfront/public_html/FedEx4/test.php on line 6

[Atli]

If you give it a file path, it will read the file as it is... meaning it will read the PHP code.

If you give it a URL, it will request the file via a HTTP server, which will execute the PHP code and return the output.

[flydev]

I see, i'll petition my provider to enable URL access....thanks so much for your help!

[Atli]

No problem.

But there is an easier solution.
You can include your PHP file into your script and get the value like that.

For example:

<?php
/**
 * File: createXML.php
 */
  $xmlString = "";
  // Insert code to create some XML here
 
  return $xmlString
?>

<?php
/**
 * File: index.php
 */
$xmlString = include("createXML.php");
 
$parsed = simplexml_load_string($xmlString);
 
// etc...
?>