SimpleXML - fails loading some remote URL's - php

Question

I'm using SimpleXML to fetch a remote XML file and im having some issues because sometimes SimpleXML can't load the XML. I don't know exactly the reason but i suspect the remote site takes longer than usual to return data, resulting in a timeout.
The code i use is the following:
$xml = #simplexml_load_file($url);
if(!$xml){
$database = Config_helper::get_config_option('mysql');
$db = new \DB($database['database'], $database['server'], $database['user'], $database['password']);
$date = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
$db->query("INSERT INTO gearman_job_error (timestamp, data, attempt)
VALUES ('$date', '{$job->workload()}', '1')");
//$db->query("INSERT INTO gearman_job_error (timestamp, data, attempt) VALUES ({$date}, {$job->workload()}, 1);");
return $job->sendFail();
}
else {
foreach($xml->point as $key=>$value):
$length = count($value);
$timestamp = (string) $value->data[0];
$j=0;
for ($i = 1; $i < $length; $i++)
{
$forecast[$timestamp][$time_request][] = array($variables[$j] => (string) $value->data[$i]);
$j++;
}
endforeach;
return serialize($forecast);
}
Those url's i can't load are stored in the database and by checking them i confirm that they load correctly in the browser.. no problem with them.
Example: http://mandeo.meteogalicia.es/thredds/ncss/modelos/WRF_HIST/d02/2015/02/wrf_arw_det_history_d02_20150211_0000.nc4?latitude=40.393288&longitude=-8.873433&var=rh%2Ctemp%2Cswflx%2Ccfh%2Ccfl%2Ccfm%2Ccft&point=true&accept=xml&time_start=2015-02-11T00%3A00Z&time_end=2015-02-14T20%3A00Z
My question is, how can i insist the SimpleXML to take it's time to load the url? My goal is only after a reasonable time it assumes it can't load the file and store it in the database.

Answer 1

simplexml_load_file itself doesn't have any support for specifying timeouts, but you can combine file_get_contents and simplexml_load_string, like this:
<?php
$timeout = 30;
$url = 'http://...';
$context = stream_context_create(['http' => ['timeout' => $timeout]]);
$data = file_get_contents($url, false, $context);
$xml = simplexml_load_string($data);
print_r($xml);

Answer 2

I figured a way of doing this that for now suits me.
I set a maximum number of tries to fetch the xml and if it doesn't work that means the xml can be possibly damaged or missing.
I have tested and the results are accurate! It's simple and more effective then setting a timeout. I guess you can always set a timeout also.
$maxTries = 5;
do
{
$content = #file_get_contents($url);
}
while(!$content && --$maxTries);
if($content)
{
try
{
$xml = #simplexml_load_string($content);
# Do what you have to do here #
}
catch(Exception $exception)
{
print($exception->getMessage());
}
}
else
{
echo $url;
$job->sendFail();
}