XML to one level php array - php

Question

I want to convert this xml output:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<levela xmlns="https://restapi" version="1.0.0">
<levelb>
<levelc>
<var1>01</var1>
<var2>String1</var2>
</levelc>
<levelc>
<var1>02</var1>
<var2>String2</var2>
</levelc>
<levelc>
<var1>08</var1>
<var2>String3</var2>
</levelc>
</levelb>
</levela>
to this php array:
array(
'01' => 'String1',
'02' => 'String2',
'08' => 'String3'
)
I tried in many ways, but it's more difficult than I thought (for me). I hope someone can help me. Many thanks in advance!

Answer 1

It's an easy task with SimpleXML:
Load the XML into a SimpleXML object:
$xml = simplexml_load_string( $string );
Perform a foreach() loop through all <issuer> nodes and add <issuername> child node text value to your array using <issuerid> as key:
$result = array();
foreach( $xml->directory->issuer as $node )
{
$result[ $node->issuerid->__toString() ] = $node->issuername->__toString();
}
print_r( $result );
The output is:
Array
(
[01] => ABN Amro Bank
[02] => ASN Bank
[08] => Friesland Bank
)
SimpleXML return an object, so you need to cast as string node values with ->toString() method to add it as string.
Read more about SimpleXML

Answer 2

You can use the follwong little trick to first get an array.
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xmlstring);
$json = json_encode($xml);
$array = json_decode($json,TRUE);
The result of this will be an array representing exactly the XML structure, like that :
Array
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[version] => 1.0.0
)
[directory] => Array
(
[issuer] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[issuerid] => 01
[issuername] => ABN Amro Bank
)
[1] => Array
(
[issuerid] => 02
[issuername] => ASN Bank
)
[2] => Array
(
[issuerid] => 08
[issuername] => Friesland Bank
)
)
)
)
With just a little bit of work, you will be able to build the array you want.