foreach array_slice not working - php

Question

I try to display only the first 3 items of a foreach, but for some reason my code does not seem to work.
It works fine with the default code: <?php foreach ($rma->getItemCollection() as $item):?>
What am I missing?
CODE:
<?php $items = $rma->getItemCollection();
$item = array_slice($items, 0, 3);
foreach($item as $itm): ?>
<li class="order-row-item">
<div class="order-row-product">
<div class="order-row-product-image">
<img src="<?php echo $this->helper('catalog/image')->init($itm->getProduct(), 'thumbnail')->resize(85) ?>" border="0" />
</div>
<div class="order-row-product-name">
<?php echo substr(Mage::helper('rma')->getOrderItemLabel($itm), 0, 30) ?>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<?php endforeach;?>

Answer 1

In case of result of $rma->getItemCollection(); is not array, but some object, which implements Traversable interface, you can use a counter:
<?php
$items = $rma->getItemCollection();
$counter = 0;
foreach($items as $item): ?>
<li>...</li>
<?php
$counter++;
if ($counter == 3) {
break;
}
endforeach;
Other way can be specifying a limit for query which is done under the hood in getItemCollection().

Answer 2

try this code
<?php
$items = $rma->getItemCollection();
$item = array_slice($items, 0, 3);
foreach($item as $itm){
echo'
<li class="order-row-item">
<div class="order-row-product">
<div class="order-row-product-image">
<img src="'.
$this->helper('catalog/image')->init($itm->getProduct(),
'thumbnail')->resize(85).' border="0" />
</div>
<div class="order-row-product-name">'.
substr(Mage::helper('rma')->getOrderItemLabel($itm), 0, 30).'
</div>
</div>
</li>';}
?>`