SimpleXml attributes not showing for element with no children - php

Question

I have the following XML:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<STATUS_LIST>
<ORDER_STATUS SORDER_CODE="SO001" ASSOCIATED_REF="001">
<INVOICES>
<INVOICE INVOICE_CODE="???">SOMETHING</INVOICE>
</INVOICES>
</ORDER_STATUS>
</STATUS_LIST>
When I run the following code:
$statuses = simplexml_load_string($result); //Where $result is my XML
if (!empty($statuses))
{
foreach ($statuses as $status)
{
foreach ($status->INVOICES as $invoice)
{
echo (string)$invoice->attributes()->INVOICE_CODE;
}
}
}
I step through this code and I can see the attributes against ORDER_STATUS but I can't see the attributes against INVOICE. I can however see the value SOMETHING against invoice.
Any idea what could cause this?
Update
After some testing, I can get the attributes to show if I add an element into the INVOICE element, so if I use this xml instead it will work:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<STATUS_LIST>
<ORDER_STATUS SORDER_CODE="SO001" ASSOCIATED_REF="001">
<INVOICES>
<INVOICE INVOICE_CODE="???"><TEST>tester</TEST></INVOICE>
</INVOICES>
</ORDER_STATUS>
</STATUS_LIST>
So it has to have an element inside to pick up the attributes!?

Answer 1

According to this past question, "SimpleXML doesn't allow attributes and text on the same element." It's pretty ridiculous, and I couldn't find any official coverage of that fact, but it seems true. Lame. It's valid XML. I know Perl SimpleXML reads it fine.

Answer 2

Your problem has nothing to do with the element having no content, you simply have your loops defined slightly wrong.
When you write foreach ($status->INVOICES as $invoice), SimpleXML will loop over every child of the $status element which is called INVOICES; in this case there will always be exactly one such element. But what you actually wanted is to loop over all the children of that element - the individual INVOICE nodes.
To do that you can use one of the following:
foreach ($status->INVOICES->children() as $invoice) (loop over all child nodes of the first, and in this case only, INVOICES element)
foreach ($status->INVOICES[0]->children() as $invoice) (the same, but being more explicit about selecting the first INVOICES node)
foreach ($status->INVOICES[0] as $invoice) (actually does the same again: because you've specifically selected one node, and then asked for a loop, SimpleXML assumes you want its children; this is why foreach($statuses as $status) works as the outer loop)
foreach ($status->INVOICES->INVOICE as $invoice) (loop over only child nodes called INVOICE, which happens to be all of them)
Personally, I would rewrite your sample loop as below:
foreach ($statuses->ORDER_STATUS as $status)
{
foreach ($status->INVOICES->INVOICE as $invoice)
{
echo (string)$invoice['INVOICE_CODE'];
}
}
Here's a live demo to prove that that works.