Creating an XML file from PHP - php

Question

I am trying to create XML files via PHP for Googles Merchant center.
I had previously done the same with creating a sitemap but now am having issues.
$xmlString = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>';
$xmlString .= '<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9 http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9/sitemap.xsd">';
$xmlString .= '<url>';
$xmlString .= '<loc>example.com</loc>';
$xmlString .= '<lastmod>'.date(DATE_ATOM,time()).'</lastmod>';
$xmlString .= '<changefreq>daily</changefreq>';
$xmlString .= '<priority>1.0</priority>';
$xmlString .= '</url>';
$xmlString .= '</urlset>';
$dom = new DOMDocument;
$dom->preserveWhiteSpace = FALSE;
$dom->loadXML($xmlString);
$dom->save('../sitemap.xml');
This is more or less what I have to create my sitemap except I am obviously creating more URLs by querying my database.
But then I do more or less the exact same thing for my product feed but it does not work.
$xmlString .= '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>';
$xmlString .= '<rss version="2.0" xmlns:g="http://base.google.com/ns/1.0">';
$xmlString .= '<channel>';
$xmlString .= '<title>Product Feed</title>';
$xmlString .= '<link>https://www.example.com/</link>';
$xmlString .= '<description>Product Feed</description>';
$xmlString .= '<item>';
$xmlString .= '<g:id>'.$product_id.'</g:id>';
$xmlString .= '<title>'.$product_name.'</title>';
$xmlString .= '<description>'.$product_description.'</description>';
$xmlString .= '<link>https://www.example.com/product/'.$product_url.'</link>';
$xmlString .= '<g:condition>new</g:condition>';
$xmlString .= '<g:price>'.$rounded_lowest_sale_price.'</g:price>';
$xmlString .= '<g:availability>in stock</g:availability>';
$xmlString .= '<g:image_link>https://www.example.com/media/product_images/'.$first_image.'</g:image_link>';
$xmlString .= '<g:mpn>'.$model_no.'</g:mpn>';
$xmlString .= '<g:brand>'.$brand.'</g:brand>';
$xmlString .= '<g:google_product_category>Business & Industrial > Material Handling</g:google_product_category>';
$xmlString .= '</item>';
}
$xmlString .= '</channel>';
$xmlString .= '</rss>';
echo $xmlString;
$dom = new DOMDocument;
$dom->preserveWhiteSpace = FALSE;
$dom->loadXML($xmlString);
$dom->save('../product_feeds/product_feed_int.xml');
It saves the XML file but all it contains is:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
without even the UTF-8 encoding.

Answer 1

If you don't use DOMDocument to create the xml you can put your string directly into a file
file_put_contents('../product_feeds/product_feed_int.xml', $xmlString);
consider to use & for & in
Business & Industrial

Answer 2

This might Help
<?php
$xmldoc = new DOMDocument();
$xmldoc->encoding = 'utf-8';
$xmldoc->xmlVersion = '1.0';
$xmldoc->formatOutput = true;
$xml_file_name = 'xmlfile.xml';
$root = $xmldoc->createElement('Cars');
$car_node = $xmldoc->createElement('car');
$attr_movie_id = new DOMAttr('car_model', 'ritz');
$car_node->setAttributeNode($attr_movie_id);
$child_node_title = $xmldoc->createElement('Make', 'Maruti');
$car_node->appendChild($child_node_title);
$child_node_year = $xmldoc->createElement('Year', 2012);
$car_node->appendChild($child_node_year);
$child_node_genre = $xmldoc->createElement('Type', 'Hatchback');
$car_node->appendChild($child_node_genre);
$child_node_ratings = $xmldoc->createElement('Ratings', 6.2);
$car_node->appendChild($child_node_ratings);
$root->appendChild($car_node);
$xmldoc->appendChild($root);
$xmldoc->save($xml_file_name);
echo "$xml_file_name created";
?>