How to add spaces between values in xml? - php

Question

I have to create an xml out of other xml. I already have the answer to that, but then I'm facing another problem. The output of the xml is quite messy in the tag.
The xml is this:
<rss>
<item id="12907">
<g:productname>Black Bag</g:productname>
<g:detailed_images>
<g:detailed_image>Image1.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image2.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image3.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image4.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image5.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image6.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image7.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image8.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image9.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image10.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image11.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image12.jpg</g:detailed_image>
</g:detailed_images>
</item>
<item id="12906">
<g:productname>Yellow Bag</g:productname>
<g:detailed_images>
<g:detailed_image>Image1.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image2.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image3.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image4.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image5.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image6.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image7.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image8.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image9.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image10.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image11.jpg</g:detailed_image>
<g:detailed_image>Image12.jpg</g:detailed_image>
</g:detailed_images>
</item>
</rss>
The php code that I'm using to create another xml file is this
<?php
$document = new DOMDocument;
$document->formatOutput = true;
$document->preserveWhiteSpace = false;
$document->load('xml_feeds.xml');
$xpath = new DOMXPath($document);
$fields = [
'productname' => 'string(g:productname)',
'detailed_images' => 'string(g:detailed_images)'
];
$xml = new DOMDocument;
$xml->formatOutput = true;
$xml->preserveWhiteSpace = false;
$rss = $xml->appendChild($xml->createElement('rss'));
foreach ($xpath->evaluate('//item') as $item) {
//create tag item
$createItem = $rss->appendChild($xml->createElement('item'));
//getting item's attribute value
$valueID = $item->getAttribute('id');
//create attribute
$itemAttribute = $xml->createAttribute('id');
$itemAttribute->value = $valueID;
$createItem->appendChild($itemAttribute);
foreach ($fields as $caption => $expression) {
$value = $xpath->evaluate($expression, $item);
$createItem->appendChild($xml->createElement($caption, $value));
}
}
$xml->save('new_createxml2.xml');
?>
The result of the new_createxml2.xml is this
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss>
<item id="12907">
<productname>Black Bag</productname>
<detailed_images>Image1.jpgImage2.jpgImage3.jpgImage4.jpgImage3.jpgImage4.jpgImage5.jpgImage6.jpgImage7.jpgImage8.jpgImage9.jpgImage10.jpgImage11.jpgImage12.jpg</detailed_images>
</item>
<item id="12906">
<productname>Yellow Bag</productname>
<detailed_images>Image1.jpgImage2.jpgImage3.jpgImage4.jpgImage3.jpgImage4.jpgImage5.jpgImage6.jpgImage7.jpgImage8.jpgImage9.jpgImage10.jpgImage11.jpgImage12.jpg</detailed_images>
</item>
</rss>
I really wonder how can I create the xml tidier than what I've made. I want it to display like this actually:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss>
<item id="12907">
<productname>Black Bag</productname>
<detailed_images>Image1.jpg, Image2.jpg, Image3.jpg, Image4.jpg, Image3.jpg, Image4.jpg, Image5.jpg, Image6.jpg, Image7.jpg, Image8.jpg, Image9.jpg, Image10.jpg, Image11.jpg, Image12.jpg</detailed_images>
</item>
<item id="12906">
<productname>Yellow Bag</productname>
<detailed_images>Image1.jpg, Image2.jpg, Image3.jpg, Image4.jpg, Image3.jpg, Image4.jpg, Image5.jpg, Image6.jpg, Image7.jpg, Image8.jpg, Image9.jpg, Image10.jpg, Image11.jpg, Image12.jpg</detailed_images>
</item>
</rss>
Thank you for your help

Answer 1

The way you've tried it is quite simple for some things, but as you've found out that this method fails when you want processing for each individual piece of data. When you use 'string(g:detailed_images)' - this is the text content of all of the subnodes in your document, which is why you have all of the values stuck together. You could then process this string with some form of regular expression - but as you have no control of the content it's difficult to know what you are going to find.
Changing it to a more traditional - get values using a specific XPath call and processing the values allows you more control over the result.
foreach ($xpath->evaluate('//item') as $item) {
//create tag item
$createItem = $rss->appendChild($xml->createElement('item'));
//getting item's attribute value
$valueID = $item->getAttribute('id');
//create attribute
$itemAttribute = $xml->createAttribute('id');
$itemAttribute->value = $valueID;
$createItem->appendChild($itemAttribute);
$prodName = $xpath->evaluate("string(g:productname)", $item);
$createItem->appendChild($xml->createElement('productname', $prodName));
$images = [];
foreach ( $xpath->query("descendant::g:detailed_image", $item) as $image ) {
$images[] = $image->nodeValue;
}
$createItem->appendChild($xml->createElement('detailed_images',
implode(",", $images)));
}