Parse XML file within laravel - php

Question

I want to select a XML file from my computer to be parsed. The form works and I can use the Input::file('file'); function. However I want to parse this document by favour with uploading it only as temporary file. When I want to parse it I get errors like: "unable to parse from string". It seems that parser can't find the file. I tried two parsers: SimpleXML and XMLParser(from orchestral).
public function uploadFile(Request $ file){
$data =Input::file('file');
$informationdata = array('file' => $data);
$rules = array(
'file' => 'required|mimes:xml|Max:10000000',
);
$validator= Validator::make($informationdata, $rules);
if($validator->fails()){
echo 'the file has not the correct extension';
} else{
XmlParser::load($data->getRealPath());
}
I also tried to parse it after storing the file.
private function store($data){
$destinationPath = public_path('uploads\\');
$fileName = $data->getClientOriginalName();
$data->move($destinationPath,$fileName);
$xml = simplexml_load_file($destinationPath.$fileName);
}
Thanks in advance for helping.

Answer 1

When you say "parse" what do you mean? Find nodes? Delete nodes? Add nodes? Or only read nodes?
Because you can find and read with the SimpleXMLElement class but if you want to add or delete I suggest you to use DomDocument instead.
Using SimpleXMLElement, the construct would be:
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($destinationPath.$fileName, null, true);
While the DomDocument would be:
$xml = new DomDocument('1.0', 'utf-8'); // Or the right version and encoding of your xml file
$xml->load($destinationPath.$fileName);
After you create the object, you cand handle all the document.

Answer 2

It is unknown, whether you want to validate some exiting xml-file on your computer or want to implement the ability for users to upload any xml file and write some logic to cope this task. However, this is not the point.
I would recommend you to use the built-in to PHP core simplexml_load_file() function which has helped me with the project. Because you will never get Laravel to parse xml into some decent understendable array or object to work with through Request $file injections etc. This is good to work with html-forms or json, not with xml or other formats.
That's why you should work with object which will be the result of (for example) such code:
$xml_object = simplexml_load_file($request->file('action')->getRealPath());
And then you'll need to verify every xml node and field by yourself, writing some logic as you lose the possibility of using built-in to Laravel Illuminate\Http\Request validate() method.