PHP XML DOM - Distinguishing nodes based on parent attributes/elements - php

Question

First of all, thanks for the time reading this :)
I need help reordering an XML feed. I've tried many things and researched, but can't come up with a solution.
<xml>
<group>
<result>
<title>Title</title>
<url>URL</url>
<text>Text</text>
</result>
<result>
<title>Title</title>
<url>URL</url>
<text>Text</text>
</result>
</group>
<group region=top>
<result>
<title>Title</title>
<url>URL</url>
<text>Text</text>
</result>
</group>
<group type=bottom>
<result>
<title>Title</title>
<url>URL</url>
<text>Text</text>
<moreinfo>
<result>
<title>Title</title>
</result>
<result>
<title>Title</title>
</result>
</moreinfo>
</result>
</group>
</xml>
What I am trying to do is re-order the XML feed to display each node inside 'result'. However, I need the feed reordered so the 'result' from 'group region=top' is at the top, then the results from 'group', then results from 'group region=bottom'.
You might notice there is another 'result' tag nested inside of a 'result' tag in 'group region=bottom', which is causing most of the issues. The way I envision a solution to this is with the following pseudo-code:
$books = $doc->getElementsByTagName( "result" );
foreach( $books as $book )
{
if (parent_attribute = top){
$toptitle = $book->getElementsByTagName( "title" );
$toptitle = $toptitle->item(0)->nodeValue;
$topnew[] =array("title"=>$toptitle);
}
if (parent_attribute = null){
$middletitle = $book->getElementsByTagName( "title" );
$middletitle = $middletitle->item(0)->nodeValue;
$middlenew[] =array("title"=>$middletitle);
}
if (parent_attribute = bottom){
$bottomtitle = $book->getElementsByTagName( "title" );
$bottomtitle = $bottomtitle->item(0)->nodeValue;
if (parent_element = moreinfo){
$moretitle = $book->getElementsByTagName( "title" );
$moretitle = $moretitle->item(0)->nodeValue;
}
$bottomnew[] =array("title"=>$bottomtitle, "more"=>$moretitle);
}
}

Answer 1

The XML you posted is invalid and not consistent, as attribute values have to be enclosed in "", for consistency see my comment above.
Here's how I do it using simplexml and xpath, it can be easily adapted to DOM as well.
$xml = simplexml_load_string($x); // assuming XML in $x
$regions['top'] = $xml->xpath("group[#region='top']/result");
$regions['middle'] = $xml->xpath("group[not(#*)]/result"); // <group> with no attribute
$regions['bottom'] = $xml->xpath("group[#region='bottom']/result");
// output:
foreach ($regions as $region => $results) {
echo "$region:<br />";
foreach ($results as $result) {
echo $result->title . "<br />";
if (count($result->moreinfo) > 0)
foreach ($result->moreinfo->result as $subresult)
echo "____$subresult->title<br />";
} // foreach $results
} // foreach $regions
see it working: http://codepad.viper-7.com/5adWxC