inserting an object into an array of objects php - php

Question

I am trying to write a php script which will insert an object into an array of objects which is originally in XML format. I need to insert the object at a specified index and then be able to re-write the xml file from which the data was pulled with the updated object. Here is the structure of my XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Bars>
<Bar>
<BarName>Kam's</BarName>
<bar_id>0</bar_id>
<Bartenders>
<Bartender>
<fname>Max</fname>
<lname>Vest</lname>
<imageURL>http://uofi-bars.com/bartenderImages/maxvest.jpg</imageURL>
<shift>2</shift>
</Bartender>
</Bartenders>
<Events>
<Event>
<EventName>Kams event</EventName>
<date>08/10/1989</date>
</Event>
</Events>
<Specials>
<Special>Kam's Special 1</Special>
<Special>Kam's Special 2</Special>
</Specials>
</Bar>
So in other words, if I have a bartender who works at a bar with an id of bar_id = 0, I need to be able to insert that bartender into the array of bartenders for that particular bar.
I use the following php code to create the arrays from XML:
function objectsIntoArray($arrObjData, $arrSkipIndices = array())
{
$arrData = array();
// if input is object, convert into array
if (is_object($arrObjData)) {
$arrObjData = get_object_vars($arrObjData);
}
if (is_array($arrObjData)) {
foreach ($arrObjData as $index => $value) {
if (is_object($value) || is_array($value)) {
$value = objectsIntoArray($value, $arrSkipIndices); // recursive call
}
if (in_array($index, $arrSkipIndices)) {
continue;
}
$arrData[$index] = $value;
}
}
return $arrData;
}
$xmlUrl = "Bars.xml"; // XML
$xmlStr = file_get_contents($xmlUrl);
$xmlObj = simplexml_load_string($xmlStr);
$arrXml = objectsIntoArray($xmlObj);
print_r($arrXml);
I guess I just don't know how to refer to this array of objects within an array of objects... Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

Answer 1

if you just replace your code:
$xmlUrl = "Bars.xml"; // XML
$xmlStr = file_get_contents($xmlUrl);
$xmlObj = simplexml_load_string($xmlStr);
$arrXml = objectsIntoArray($xmlObj);
print_r($arrXml);
with this:
$xmlUrl = "Bars.xml"; // XML
$xmlStr = file_get_contents($xmlUrl);
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($xmlStr);
$bartenders = $xml->xpath('//Bartenders');
$new_bartender = $bartenders[0]->addChild('Bartender');
$new_bartender->fname = 'test1';
$new_bartender->lname = 'test2';
$new_bartender->imgURL = 'http://test.com';
$new_bartender->shift = '0';
print_r($bartenders);
this should do the trick, just replace the values with appropriate values :) i hope this helps!!