php -- creating an object with an array - php

Question

I am trying to parse an XML file. I want to create a project object that has instances such as title,date,version and an array of files that hold all the files within the project. Everything seems to work such as the title,date,and version.
I checked by printing them out to see the results. However, when I try printing out the array to see if the contents are correct, nothing happens. I'm not sure where I'm going wrong.
<?php
require_once('project.php');
require_once('files.php');
function parse()
{
$svn_list = simplexml_load_file("svn_list.xml");
$dir = $svn_list->xpath("//entry[#kind = 'dir']");
foreach ($dir as $node) {
if (strpos($node->name, '/') == false) {
$endProject = initProject($node);
}
}
for ($x = 0; $x <= 7; $x++) {
echo $endProject->fileListArray[$x]->name . "<br />\r\n";
}
}
function initProject($node){
$project = new project();
$project->title = $node->name;
$project->date = $node->commit->date;
$project->version = $node->commit['revision'];
initFiles($node,$project);
return $project;
}
function initFiles($project){
$svn_list = simplexml_load_file("svn_list.xml");
$file = $svn_list->xpath("//entry[#kind ='file']/name[contains(., '$project->title')]/ancestor::node()[1]");
//$file = $svn_list->xpath("//entry[#kind='file']/name[starts-with(., '$project->title')]/..");
foreach($file as $fileObject){
$files = new files();
$files->size = $fileObject->size;
$files->name = $fileObject->name;
array_push($project->fileListArray, $files);
}
}
echo $endProject->fileListArray prints out "Array" 7 times. However echo $endProject->fileListArray[$x]->name does not print anything out.
I'm not sure if the array is just not being initialized or if I'm parsing the XML file incorrectly.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<lists>
<list
path="https://subversion....">
<entry
kind="file">
<name>.project</name>
<size>373</size>
<commit
revision="7052">
<author></author>
<date>2016-02-25T20:56:16.138801Z</date>
</commit>
</entry>
<entry
kind="file">
<name>.pydevproject</name>
<size>302</size>
<commit
revision="7052">
<author></author>
<date>2016-02-25T20:56:16.138801Z</date>
</commit>
</entry>
<entry
kind="dir">
<name>Assignment2.0</name>
<commit
revision="7054">
<author></author>
<date>2016-02-25T20:59:11.144094Z</date>
</commit>
</entry>

Answer 1

Your function definition:
function initFiles( $project )
Your function call:
initFiles( $node, $project );
So, the function use $node as $project, but $node doesn't have ->fileListArray property array, so your array_push() fails.
And, in the future, don't forget to activate error checking in our php code:
error_reporting( E_ALL );
ini_set( 'display_errors', 1 );
With error checking, your original code output this error:
PHP Warning: array_push() expects parameter 1 to be array, object given in ...

Answer 2

By default, function arguments are passed by value which means the value of the argument doesn't get changed outside of the function, unless you pass by reference. The PHP docs have more details but I think if you simply change:
function initFiles($project){... to function initFiles(&$project){... (note the &), it will work as you expect.