Parsing XML Attributes by name with PHP5 - php

Question

When trying to parse an XML document in PHP, nothing is returned.
The XML document im trying to use:
http://cdn.content.easports.com/media2011/fifa11zoneplayer/25068538/632A0001_10_ZONE_PLAYER_iUa.xml
The code I have tried:
$player = simplexml_load_file('http://cdn.content.easports.com/media2011/fifa11zoneplayer/25068538/632A0001_10_ZONE_PLAYER_iUa.xml');
foreach ($player->PlayerName as $playerInfo) {
echo $playerInfo['firstName'];
}
I have also tried:
$player = simplexml_load_file('http://cdn.content.easports.com/media2011/fifa11zoneplayer/25068538/632A0001_10_ZONE_PLAYER_iUa.xml');
echo "Name: " . $player->PlayerName[0]['firstName'];
What do I need to change for the attributes to show?

Answer 1

You might try to print_r the whole data youself and finally find what you need:
var_dump($player->Player->PlayerName->Attrib['value']->__toString())
//⇒ string(7) "Daniele"

Answer 2

To list all "values" (firstname, lastname,...) you need list all children and their attributes:
$xml = simplexml_load_file('http://cdn.content.easports.com/media2011/fifa11zoneplayer/25068538/632A0001_10_ZONE_PLAYER_iUa.xml');
foreach ($xml as $player) {
foreach ($player->PlayerName->children() as $attrib) {
echo $attrib['name'] . ': ' . $attrib['value'] . PHP_EOL;
}
}
Output:
firstName: Daniele
lastName: Viola
commonName: Viola D.
commentaryName:

Answer 3

This does not work, since you are trying to access an attribute and not a node value.
You might also run into problems, because the xml is not "valid" for simple xml. See my blogpost about the issues with parsing xml with php here http://dracoblue.net/dev/gotchas-when-parsing-xml-html-with-php/
If you use my Craur ( https://github.com/DracoBlue/Craur ) library instead, it will look like this:
$xml_string = file_get_contents('http://cdn.content.easports.com/media2011/fifa11zoneplayer/25068538/632A0001_10_ZONE_PLAYER_iUa.xml');
$craur = Craur::createFromXml($xml_string);
echo $craur->get('Player.PlayerName.Attrib#value'); // works since the first attrib entry is the name
If you want to be sure about the attribute (or select another one) use:
$xml_string = file_get_contents('http://cdn.content.easports.com/media2011/fifa11zoneplayer/25068538/632A0001_10_ZONE_PLAYER_iUa.xml');
$craur = Craur::createFromXml($xml_string);
foreach ($craur->get('Player.PlayerName.Attrib[]') as $attribute)
{
if ($attribute->get('#name') == 'firstName')
{
echo $attribute->get('#value');
}
}