SimpleXML returns combined XML content - php

Question

I have following code
public function returnArrayOfXmlElements(string $xml_path, string $element_key)
{
// Variables
$this->simplexml_array = (array)$this->returnSimpleXmlObject($xml_path);
// Variables With Dependencies
$this->xml_elements = $this->simplexml_array[$element_key];
foreach ($this->xml_elements as $this->array_key => $this->array_value) {
$this->xml_elements_rectified[] = (array)$this->array_value;
}
return $this->xml_elements_rectified;
}
When I try this,
switch ($menu_name) {
case 'secondary':
// Variables
$this->menu_directory = constant('ENVIRONMENT_DIRECTORY_FRONTEND_MENU_SECONDARY');
$this->request_uri = (empty($_GET['request']) !== TRUE ? $_GET['request'] : constant('SETTING_TEMPLATE_DEFAULT'));
// Variables With Dependencies
$this->section_name = strtolower(substr($this->request_uri, 0, strpos($this->request_uri, '/')));
$this->menu_file = $this->section_name.'.xml';
$this->menu_data = $this->library_xml->returnArrayOfXmlElements($this->menu_directory.$this->menu_file, 'item');
echo '
<ul menu-secondary>
<li class="icon"><icon id="section-'.$this->section_name.'"></icon></li>
';
foreach ($this->menu_data as $this->array_key => $this->menu_information) {
// Variables
$this->item_hook = $this->menu_information['hook'];
$this->item_name = $this->menu_information['name'];
echo '<li>'.$this->item_name.'</li>';
}
echo '
</ul>
';
break;
default:
// Variables
$this->menu_directory = constant('ENVIRONMENT_DIRECTORY_FRONTEND_MENU');
$this->menu_file = 'main.xml';
// Variables With Dependencies
$this->menu_data = $this->library_xml->returnArrayOfXmlElements($this->menu_directory.$this->menu_file, 'item');
echo '
<ul menu-main>
<li>polybotes</li>
';
foreach ($this->menu_data as $this->array_key => $this->menu_information) {
// Variables
$this->item_hook = $this->menu_information['hook'];
$this->item_name = $this->menu_information['name'];
echo '<li>'.$this->item_name.'</li>';
}
echo '
</ul>
';
break;
}
}
$this->menu_data from the secondary switch contains data of both $xml1 and $xml2. How can I prevent this?Unsetting $xml1 does not solve the problem.
The XML files look like this:
$xml1:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
<menu>
<item>
<name>Dashboard</name>
<hook>/dashboard/view</hook>
</item>
<item>
<name>Location</name>
<hook>/location/list</hook>
</item>
<item>
<name>Networks</name>
<hook>/network/list</hook>
</item>
<item>
<name>Devices</name>
<hook>/device/list</hook>
</item>
<item>
<name>Alarms & Events</name>
<hook>/alarm/list</hook>
</item>
</menu>
$xml2:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
<menu>
<item>
<name>Network List</name>
<hook>/network/list</hook>
</item>
<item>
<name>Add Network</name>
<hook>/network/add</hook>
</item>
</menu>
Could you please help me or point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

In your method returnArrayOfXmlElements you always seem to use $this->variableName, this can cause problems as it will retain data across method calls.
Unless you really need to retain this data, try removing the $this-> from each of the variables...
public function returnArrayOfXmlElements(string $xml_path, string $element_key) {
// Variables
$simplexml_array = (array)$this->returnSimpleXmlObject($xml_path);
// Variables With Dependencies
$xml_elements = $this->simplexml_array[$element_key];
$xml_elements_rectified = [];
foreach ($xml_elements as $this->array_key => $this->array_value) {
$xml_elements_rectified[] = (array)$this->array_value;
}
return $xml_elements_rectified;
}