Catching PHP errors if XML file is empty - php

Question

so I'm grabbing some information from an XML file like so:
$url = "http://myurl.blah";
$xml = simplexml_load_file($url);
Except sometimes the XML file is empty and I need the code to fail gracefully but I can't seem to figure out how to catch the PHP error. I tried this:
if(isset(simplexml_load_file($url)));
{
$xml = simplexml_load_file($url);
/*rest of code using $xml*/
}
else {
echo "No info avilable.";
}
But it doesn't work. I guess you can't use ISSET that way. Anyone know how to catch the error?

Answer 1

$xml = file_get_contents("http://myurl.blah");
if (trim($xml) == '') {
die('No content');
}
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xml);
Or, possibly slightly more efficient, but not necessarily recommended because it silences errors:
$xml = #simplexml_load_file($url);
if (!$xml) {
die('error');
}

Answer 2

Don't use isset here.
// Shutdown errors (I know it's bad)
$xml = #simplexml_load_file($url);
// Check you have fetch a response
if (false !== $xml); {
//rest of code using $xml
} else {
echo "No info avilable.";
}

Answer 3

if (($xml = simplexml_load_file($url)) !== false) {
// Everything is OK. Use $xml object.
} else {
// Something has gone wrong!
}

Answer 4

From PHP manual, error handling (click here):
var_dump(libxml_use_internal_errors(true));
// load the document
$doc = new DOMDocument;
if (!$doc->load('file.xml')) {
foreach (libxml_get_errors() as $error) {
// handle errors here
}
libxml_clear_errors();
}