SoapClient XML return string with simpleXML - php

Question

So I'm getting an xml file back from a soap service (of which I have no control over). It's returning back an xmlns which is causing simpleXML issues. I'm running a str_replace to get rid of that issue, however now simpleXML just returns an empty object. XML structure appears to be fine, no errors just an empty object.
$xmlString = $client->__getLastResponse();
$feed = str_replace(' xmlns="LMSWebservice"', '', $xmlString);
$sData= simplexml_load_string($feed);
print_r($sData);
Returns: SimpleXMLElement Object()
XML source before str replace is:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<soap:Body>
<GetUserInternalIDByPersonalIDResponse xmlns="LMSWebservice">
<GetUserInternalIDByPersonalIDResult>
<Response xmlns="">
<Timestamp date="24/10/2013" time="04:27:37" />
<User>
<UserInternalID>4907</UserInternalID>
</User>
</Response>
</GetUserInternalIDByPersonalIDResult>
</GetUserInternalIDByPersonalIDResponse>
</soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>
After str replace:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<soap:Body>
<GetUserInternalIDByPersonalIDResponse>
<GetUserInternalIDByPersonalIDResult>
<Response xmlns="">
<Timestamp date="24/10/2013" time="04:27:37" />
<User>
<UserInternalID>4907</UserInternalID>
</User>
</Response>
</GetUserInternalIDByPersonalIDResult>
</GetUserInternalIDByPersonalIDResponse>
</soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>
Any help would be greatly appreciated, this is driving me crazy!
----So if I don't get rid of the namespace attribute I get this error message:
Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: Entity: line 1: parser warning : xmlns: URI LMSWebservice is not absolute in serviceTest2.php on line 16
Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: LSchema"><soap:Body><GetUserInternalIDByPersonalIDResponse xmlns="LMSWebservice" in serviceTest2.php on line 16
Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: ^ in serviceTest2.php on line 16
If I try using xPath to get at UserInternalID it returns an empty array. If what you're saying is correct and this is going into simpleXML correctly, then how do I access the UserInternalID node? Sorry, this is the first time using simpleXML and this is just perplexing me.
So just tried changing the NS
$feed = str_replace('xmlns="LMSWebservice"', 'xmlns="ns:LMSWebservice"', $xmlString);
which goes in without errors.
I tried this for the xPath
$ID = $sData->xpath('UserInternalID');
I understand this is probably completely wrong, but I haven't tried much else with this as it didn't seem to be going into simpleXML correctly in the first place. :/
So I've used
$ID = $sData->xpath('//UserInternalID');
echo $ID[0];
Which works perfectly. Thank you for all your help!

Answer 1

Through the extensive comments and your last edit finally the actual cause of your problem could be revealed, the xpath expression is wrong:
$ID = $sData->xpath('UserInternalID');
Wrong with it is the path, this matches no elements. Instead you could use:
$ID = (string) $xml->xpath('//UserInternalID')[0];
Or more verbose:
$ID = (string) $xml->xpath('//Response/User/UserInternalID')[0];
Key point here is that you write the correct path to the element you would like to query for.
Complete usage example:
<?php
/**
* SoapClient xml return string with simpleXML
*
* #link http://stackoverflow.com/q/19556414/367456
*/
$response = <<<RESPONSE
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<soap:Body>
<GetUserInternalIDByPersonalIDResponse xmlns="LMSWebservice">
<GetUserInternalIDByPersonalIDResult>
<Response xmlns="">
<Timestamp date="24/10/2013" time="04:27:37" />
<User>
<UserInternalID>4907</UserInternalID>
</User>
</Response>
</GetUserInternalIDByPersonalIDResult>
</GetUserInternalIDByPersonalIDResponse>
</soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>
RESPONSE;
$restore = libxml_use_internal_errors(TRUE);
$xml = simplexml_load_string($response);
libxml_use_internal_errors($restore);
echo $xml->xpath('//Response/User/UserInternalID')[0];
Output:
4907
Online Demo: https://eval.in/57149

Answer 2

$doc = new DOMDocument();
libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
$doc->loadHTML($response);
libxml_clear_errors();
$xml = $doc->saveXML($doc->documentElement);
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xml);
Use this helped me in a big way.