How to get an element from simplexml [duplicate] - php

Question

This question already has answers here:
SimpleXML get node value
(3 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[SMSMessage] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[Sid] => xyz
[DateUpdated] => 2013-05-02 18:43:19
[DateCreated] => 2013-05-02 18:43:19
[DateSent] => 1970-01-01 05:30:00
[AccountSid] => xx
[To] => 09011148771
[From] => xx
[Body] => Hello
[BodyIndex] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
)
[Status] => sending
[Direction] => outbound-api
[Price] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
)
[ApiVersion] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
)
[Uri] => /v1/Accounts/xx/Sms/Messages/xyz
)
)
I tried:
$xml->Sid;
But it returns SimpleXMLElement Object ( )
I also tried $xml->title, which also returned the same SimpleXMLElement Object ( )
How to get the Sid from the above XMl

Answer 1

I've been Fiddling a bit and recreated a structure similar to yours:
$string='<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xml>
<SMSMessage>
<Sid>xyz</Sid>
<DateUpdated>2013-05-02 18:43:19</DateUpdated>
</SMSMessage>
</xml>';
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($string);
print_r($xml);
this outputs:
SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[SMSMessage] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[Sid] => xyz
[DateUpdated] => 2013-05-02 18:43:19
)
)
Which is equal to yours. And I could print xyz doing:
echo $xml->SMSMessage->Sid;
Try it out, you might be missing some parent node or something.

Answer 2

Your Method: To do it the way you want, I think you'd have to go one step further with your call since the SimpleXMLObject is parent to another SimpleXMLObject. E.g. $xml->SMSMessage->Sid;. I generally recommend using xpath with XML because in most cases, you want to jump directly to a specific node and not traverse the whole XML tree. For example, this: $xml->xpath('//[node]') is quicker than $xml->tier1->tier2->tier3->etc.
Preferred Method: Assuming $xml represents the SimpleXMLObject you've posted, you can access Sid like this: $xml->xpath('//Sid');. This should skip directly to the "Sid" node in the tree.

Answer 3

In simplexml you always have to cast your values - so you have to do this:
echo $xml->Sid;
(echo automatically casts). Or explicitly:
$string = (string) $xml->id;

Answer 4

if you have:
$string='<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xml>
<SMSMessage>
<Sid>xyz</Sid>
<DateUpdated>2013-05-02 18:43:19</DateUpdated>
</SMSMessage>
</xml>';
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($string);
print_r('<pre>');
$Sid = (array)($xml->SMSMessage->Sid);
print_r($Sid[0]);
print_r($xml);
You can access Sid like so $Sid = (array)(xml->SMSMessage->Sid); echo $Sid[0];
But if you rather use array you can do this:
$string='<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xml>
<SMSMessage>
<Sid>xyz</Sid>
<DateUpdated>2013-05-02 18:43:19</DateUpdated>
</SMSMessage>
</xml>';
$array= json_decode(json_encode(new SimpleXMLElement($string)), true);
print_r('<pre>');
print_r($array['SMSMessage']['Sid']);
print_r($array);