Transferring DOMDocument from PHP to Javascript using function - php

Question

I have a PHP function creating a DOMDocument XML file, i need to get the DOMDocument into Javascript, i have thought about using
The function in PHP returns the DOMDocument, this is the PHP function
function coursexml($cc, $type){
$xmlfile = new DOMDocument();
if (#$xmlfile->load("books.xml") === false || $cc == "" || $type == "") {
header('location:/assignment/errors/500');
exit;
}
$string = "";
$xpath = new DOMXPath($xmlfile);
$nodes = $xpath->query("/bookcollection/items/item[courses/course='$cc']");
$x = 0;
foreach( $nodes as $n ) {
$id[$x] = $n->getAttribute("id");
$titles = $n->getElementsByTagName( "title" );
$title[$x] = $titles->item(0)->nodeValue;
$title[$x] = str_replace(" /", "", $title[$x]);
$title[$x] = str_replace(".", "", $title[$x]);
$isbns = $n->getElementsByTagName( "isbn" );
$isbn[$x] = $isbns->item(0)->nodeValue;
$bcs = $n->getElementsByTagName( "borrowedcount" );
$borrowedcount[$x] = $bcs->item(0)->nodeValue;
if ($string != "") $string = $string . ", ";
$string = $string . $x . "=>" . $borrowedcount[$x];
$x++;
}
if ($x == 0) header('location:/assignment/errors/501');
$my_array = eval("return array({$string});");
asort($my_array);
$coursexml = new DOMDocument('1.0', 'utf-8');
$coursexml->formatOutput = true;
$node = $coursexml->createElement('result');
$coursexml->appendChild($node);
$root = $coursexml->getElementsByTagName("result");
foreach ($root as $r) {
$node = $coursexml->createElement('course', "$cc");
$r->appendChild($node);
$node = $coursexml->createElement('books');
$r->appendChild($node);
$books = $coursexml->getElementsByTagName("books");
foreach ($books as $b) {
foreach ($my_array as $counter => $bc) {
$bnode = $coursexml->createElement('book');
$bnode = $b->appendChild($bnode);
$bnode->setAttribute('id', "$id[$counter]");
$bnode->setAttribute('title', "$title[$counter]");
$bnode->setAttribute('isbn', "$isbn[$counter]");
$bnode->setAttribute('borrowedcount', "$borrowedcount[$counter]");
}
}
}
return $coursexml;
}
So what i want to do is call the function in Javascript, and returns the DOMDocument.

Answer 1

Try the following
<?php include('coursexml.php'); ?>
<script>
var xml = <?php $xml = coursexml("CC140", "xmlfile");
echo json_encode($xml->saveXML()); ?>;
document.write("output" + xml);
var xmlDoc = (new DOMParser()).parseFromString(xml, 'text/xml');
</script>

Answer 2

you can simply put this function to a URL ( eg have it in a standalone file? that's up to you ), and call it from the client side via AJAX. For details on doing such a call, please reference How to make an AJAX call without jQuery? .
Edit:
try to create a simple PHP file that includes and calls the function you have. From what you've described so far, it will probably look like
<?php
include("functions.php");
print coursexml($cc, $type);
assuming this file is called xml.php , when you access it via your browser in http://mydomain.com/xml.php you should see the XML document (nothing related to Javascript so far).
Now, in your main document, you include a piece of Javascript that will call upon this URL to load the XML. An example would be (assuming you are using jQuery, for a simple Javascript function reference the above link) :
$.ajax({
url: "xml.php",
success: function(data){
// Data will contain you XML and can be used in Javascript here
}
});