End php if statement - php

Question

I compare a string from a feed with another variable and echo a corresponding string.
$xml = #simplexml_load_file($feed);
foreach ($xml->entry as $entry) {
$caller = $entry->caller[0];
$message = $entry->message[0];
}
if (($caller == $id) {
echo '$message';
}
I want to echo no more than 5 messages, regardless of the number of ($caller == $id) matches.
$x=1;
while (($caller == $id) && ($x<=5)) {
echo '$x $message';
$x++;
}
That general approach has failed.
I thought maybe I could put the condition in a function and call it a certain number of times but no luck.
function myFunction(){
echo '$message';
}
$x=1;
while($x<=5) {
echo '$x';
myFunction();
$x++;
}

Answer 1

For one, your while loop would actually only output 4 results because you are saying while x is LESS than 5, not <= 5. You can leave it < 5, but change x to equal 0 instead of 1;
The second problem is that as soon as $caller does not == $id, your while loop will stop. You should only need to use a foreach loop for this, not both a foreach to extract the data and a while to loop over it again.
The third problem with your code is that you are writing your caller and message values to the same variable over and over in your foreach. Then, in your while loop, your $caller and $message variables will always be equal to the last items in the $xml->entry array.
$xml = #simplexml_load_file($feed);
$number_of_results_to_show = 5;
$x = 0; // counter
foreach ($xml->entry as $entry) {
$caller = $entry->caller[0];
$message = $entry->message[0];
if ($caller == $id && $x < $number_of_results_to_show) {
$x++;
echo $message;
}
// also, you can use a break to prevent your loop from continuing
// even though you've already output 5 results
if ($x == $number_of_results_to_show) {
break;
}
}

Answer 2

I assume that you have an array $xml->entry and you want to print message[0] of up to 5 array elements. Message is printed if $caller matches $id.
$xml = #simplexml_load_file($feed);
// Iterate through $xml->entry until the end or until 5 printed messages
for($i = 0, $j = 0; ($i < count($xml->entry)) && ($j < 5); ++$i) {
$caller = $xml->entry[$i]->caller[0];
$message = $xml->entry[$i]->message[0];
if ($caller == $id) {
echo "$message";
++$j;
}
}
If you want to store results from $xml->entry then:
$xml = #simplexml_load_file($feed);
$storedResults = new array();
foreach($xml->entry as $entry) {
$caller = entry->caller[0];
$message = entry->message[0];
// Store data in array. $storedResults will be an array of arrays
array_push(storedResults, array( 'caller' => $caller, 'message' => $message ));
}
// Print up to 5 messages from the stored results
$i = 0, $j = 0;
while (($i < count($storedResults)) && ($j < 5)) {
if ($storedResults[$i]['caller'] == $id) {
echo $storedResults[$i]['message'];
++$j;
}
++$i;
}