How can i access simplexml elements from this list? - php

Question

So i have these simplexmlelement objects. And i cant get it to work how to parse a specific element.
SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[Generation] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[version] => 3.1.0-alpha3
[timestamp] => 1355434832
)
)
[Options] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[tempFormat] => c
[byteFormat] => auto_binary
[refresh] => 60000
[showPickListTemplate] => true
[showPickListLang] => true
)
)
[UsedPlugins] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
)
[Vitals] => SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[#attributes] => Array
(
[Hostname] => domain.tld
[IPAddr] => 127.0.0.1
[Kernel] => 2.6.32-11-pve (SMP) x86_64
[Distro] => Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS
[Distroicon] => Ubuntu.png
[Uptime] => 1993669.51
[Users] => 1
[LoadAvg] => 0.08 0.02 0.01
[CPULoad] => 0
)
)
....etc...
)
I have made something like this to access the Hostname for example:
echo $xml->Generation->Vitals[0]->Hostname;
But i think i am doing something wrong. Could someone point me in the right direction?

Answer 1

It would just be:
$xml->Vitals[0]->attributes()->Hostname

Answer 2

I am not entirely sure if you have to stick with a SimpleXml object, but if you don't, have a look at the DOMDocument and DOMXPath combination. I really like it. Just to be clear, it's hard to get into, but as soon as you get the hang of it, you are going to like it.
You can just do something like this:
$doc = new DOMDocument();
$doc->load('http://www.example.com/file.xml');
$xpath = new DOMXPath($doc);
$result = $xpath->query('//Vitals');
// print them all
foreach ($result as $r){
echo $r->getAttribute('Hostname'); //your desired value
}
// or just the first one
echo $result->item(0)->getAttribute('Hostname');
You could also make the query slightly bigger to get the attribute right away like so: //Vitals#Hostname which should work as well.
And with this start you will possibly get the hang of it.
Further reading:
http://php.net/manual/en/class.domdocument.php
http://php.net/manual/en/class.domxpath.php
http://php.net/manual/en/domxpath.query.php
http://www.tizag.com/xmlTutorial/xpathattribute.php
http://www.w3schools.com/xpath/xpath_syntax.asp