I'm trying to find an attribute using simpleXML - php

Question

I have a simpleXML output of:
SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[version] => 2
)
[currentTime] => 2013-02-05 21:26:09
[result] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[rowset] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[name] => characters
[key] => characterID
[columns] => name,characterID,corporationName,corporationID
)
[row] => Array
(
[0] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[name] => Wrytha Cy
[characterID] => 209668693
[corporationName] => Deep Core Mining Inc.
[corporationID] => 1000006
)
)
[1] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[name] => Eve Mae
[characterID] => 624980803
[corporationName] => Viziam
[corporationID] => 1000066
)
)
[2] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[name] => Wrytha
[characterID] => 709227913
[corporationName] => The Flying Tigers
[corporationID] => 669350666
)
)
)
)
)
[cachedUntil] => 2013-02-05 21:35:04
)
I would like to loop through with my php loop and get "name' and "characterID". I've trying something like:
$simpleXML = simplexml_load_string($xml);
foreach ($simpleXML->result->rowset->row as $row) {
print_r($row);
$name = $row['#attributes']['name'];
echo $name.'<br>';
}
but $name is not being set. It's gonna be something simple, just not seeing it in my haste and first time with simpleXML.

Answer 1

Attributes are accessed using the syntax $element['attribute_name'], so in your case, you need $row['name'].
It's important to remember that SimpleXML objects are kind of magic - the $element->child, $element_list[0] and $element['foo'] syntax overloads the normal PHP logic to be useful. Similarly, (string)$element will give you the full textual content of an element, however it is broken up in the actual XML.
As such, the print_r output will not give you a "real" view of the object, so should be used with care. There are a couple of alternative debug functions I've written here which give a more accurate idea of how the object will behave.