Can't add CDATA into my XML string using simplexml with php - php

Question

I'm simply wanting to add cdata to an xml node - description. My xml function is below. I have tried using bits of the following function on php.net in my function
<?php
function updateXMLFile($itemName, $description, $pageName, $imageFileName)
{
$imageSrc = "<img src='http://nicolaelvin.com/authoring/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=../images/" . $imageFileName . "&w=100'/>";
$id = strtolower($id = str_replace(' ', '_', $itemName));
$directLinkToItem = 'http://nicolaelvin.com/authoring/' . $pageName . '.php#' . $id;
$xml = simplexml_load_file('nicolaElvinsPortfolio.xml');
$item = $xml->channel->addChild('item');
$item->addChild('title', $itemName);
$item->addChild('pubDate', date('r'));
$item->addChild('link', $directLinkToItem);
$item->addChild('description');
$cdata->description->createCDATASection('testyfhgjhsgsdjahgs');
$item->appendChild($cdata);
///Format XML to save indented tree rather than one line
$dom = new DOMDocument('1.0');
$dom->preserveWhiteSpace = false;
$dom->formatOutput = true;
$dom->loadXML($xml->asXML());
//Save XML to file - remove this and following line if save not desired
$dom->save('nicolaElvinsPortfolio.xml');
}
//function from php.net
function sxml_cdata($path, $string)
{
$dom = dom_import_simplexml($path);
$cdata = $dom->ownerDocument->createCDATASection($string);
$dom->appendChild($cdata);
}
?>

Answer 1

Try this on for size. Let me know if you have any problems with it/questions about it (FIXED).
function updateXMLFile($itemName, $description, $pageName, $imageFileName) {
// Path to file that will be used
$filePath = 'nicolaElvinsPortfolio.xml';
// Create links - don't forget to escape values appropriately with urlencode(), htmlspecialchars() etc
$imageSrc = "<img src='".htmlspecialchars('http://nicolaelvin.com/authoring/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=../images/'.urlencode($imageFileName).'&w=100')."'/>";
$directLinkToItem = 'http://nicolaelvin.com/authoring/'.urlencode($pageName).'.php#'.urlencode(strtolower(str_replace(' ', '_', $itemName)));
// Create the CDATA value - whatever you want this to look like
$cdata = "$description: $imageSrc";
// Create a DOMDocument
$dom = new DOMDocument('1.0');
$dom->preserveWhiteSpace = false;
$dom->formatOutput = true;
// Load data from file into DOMDocument
if (!$dom->load($filePath)) throw new Exception("Unable to load data source file '$filePath'");
// Create the new <item> and add it to the document
$item = $dom->getElementsByTagName('channel')->item(0)->appendChild(new DOMElement('item'));
// Add the <item>'s sub elements
$item->appendChild(new DOMElement('title', $itemName));
$item->appendChild(new DOMElement('pubDate', date('r')));
$item->appendChild(new DOMElement('link', $directLinkToItem));
// Add the CDATA
$item->appendChild(new DOMElement('description'))->appendChild(new DOMCdataSection($cdata));
// Now save back to file
$dom->save($filePath);
}
N.B. this now throws an exception if DOMDocument::load() fails - don't forget to catch it!