simple xml read foreach - php

Question

Wonder if you can help for Christmas.
I am trying to read an XML but am having a few issues, basically the foreach structure isnt letting me return the data in the structure I want, and I am not sure of the correct way of doing this. Example below:
`<event id="298640100" date="Sat Dec 31 16:00:00 CET 2011">
<market id="9064667" type="1" status="Open" period="FT">
<description>Match Betting</description>
<place_terms>Win only</place_terms>
−
<outcome id="6798861400">
<description>Draw</description>
−
<price id="24532283602">
<decimal>3.5</decimal>
<fractional>5/2</fractional>
</price>
<position>2</position>
</outcome>
−
<outcome id="6798861200">
<description>Bolton Wanderers</description>
−
<price id="24532283402">
<decimal>2.0</decimal>
<fractional>1/1</fractional>
</price>
<position>1</position>
</outcome>
−
<outcome id="6798861300">
<description>Wolves</description>
−
<price id="24532283502">
<decimal>3.6</decimal>
<fractional>13/5</fractional>
</price>
<position>3</position>
</outcome>
</market>
</event>`
PHP
`<?php
$source = file_get_contents("vc.xml");
$xml = simplexml_load_string($source);
$game = $xml->xpath("//event");
foreach ($game as $event)
{
echo "<b>Event ID:</b> " . $event['id'] . "<br />";
echo "<b>Event Date:</b> " . $event['date'] . "<br />";
{
foreach ($event->children() as $market)
{
if ($market['period'] == 'FT')
{
foreach ($market->children() as $outcome)
{
echo "<b>Outcome ID:</b> " . $outcome['id'] . "<br />";
foreach ($outcome->children() as $price)
{
echo "<b>Price ID:</b> " . $price ['id'] . "<br />";
foreach ($price->children() as $value)
{
echo "<b>Value:</b> " . $value . "<br />";
}
}
}
}
}
}
echo "<br />";
}
?>`
This is basically returning this:
Event ID: 298640100
Event Date: Sat Dec 31 16:00:00 CET 2011
Outcome ID:
Outcome ID:
Outcome ID: 6798861400
Price ID:
Price ID: 24532283602
Value: 3.5
Value: 5/2
Price ID:
Outcome ID: 6798861200
Price ID:
Price ID: 24532283402
Value: 2.0
Value: 1/1
Price ID:
Outcome ID: 6798861300
Price ID:
Price ID: 24532283502
Value: 3.6
Value: 13/5
Price ID:
Ideally I just want to return the following:
Event ID: 298640100
Event Date: Sat Dec 31 16:00:00 CET 2011
Outcome ID: 6798861400
Price ID: 24532283602
Value: 5/2
Any ideas what I am doing wrong and how I could achieve this.
Thanks in advance
Richard

Answer 1

You have 2 problems here. First, you are using the children() function, which returns all children, not just the specific type you want. This is why you get Outcome ID: 3 times in the begining. Instead of foreach ($market->children() as $outcome) you should use foreach ($market->outcome as $outcome).
Second, it seems like you only want the first result. In that case, you shouldn't be using a foreach. the simplexml object is a set of arrays, and you can access an inividual object in the array by its index number. You can get rid of a lot of your code and just grab the first outcome object directly like this:
$xml->event->market->outcome[0]
You might want to read the official simpleXML documentation http://www.php.net/manual/en/simplexml.examples-basic.php

Answer 2

Here is what i think you need:
foreach ($game as $event)
{
echo "<b>Event ID:</b> " . $event['id'] . "<br />";
echo "<b>Event Date:</b> " . $event['date'] . "<br />";
{
foreach ($event->children() as $market)
{
if ($market['period'] == 'FT')
{
foreach ($market->children() as $name => $outcome )
{
if ( $name != "outcome" )
{
continue;
}
echo "<b>Outcome ID: - $name</b> " . $outcome['id'] . "<br />";
foreach ($outcome->children() as $name => $price)
{
if ( $name != "price" )
{
continue;
}
echo "<b>Price ID:</b> " . $price ['id'] . "<br />";
foreach ($price->children() as $name => $value)
{
if ( $name != "fractional" )
{
continue;
}
echo "<b>Value: - $name</b> " . $value . "<br />";
break;
}
}
break;
}
break;
}
}
}
echo "<br />";
}