Problem in creating xml file from php - php

Question

I need help in creating a xml file from my php code. I created a function which forms the xml as i want it, but i dont know how to save the formed xml in a file.
Also if you could also tell me, for next time, how can i update the already created xml file.
My code looks like below:
public function create_xml()
{
$output = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" ?> ";
$output .= "<data>";
$output .= "<news>";
$news_articles = new C7_News();
$db = C7_Bootstrap::getDb();
$foxsport_sql = "SELECT headline, link FROM c7_news
WHERE source = 'foxsports' AND category = 'Breaking News'
LIMIT 0,4";
$foxsport_rowset = $db->fetchAll($foxsport_sql);
$data = array();
foreach($foxsport_rowset as $foxsport_row)
{
$output .= "<title>";
$output .= "<description>";
$output .= "<![CDATA[";
$output .= $foxsport_row['headline'];
$output .= "]]>";
$output .= "<link>";
$output .= $foxsport_row['link'];
$output .= "</link>";
$output .= "</title>";
}
$output .= "</news>";
$output .= "</data>";
}
I might be doing something wrong too, plz let me know the best way to create the xml.
Thank you
Zeeshan

Answer 1

I'll add some more information here.
Also if you could also tell me, for next time, how can i update the already created xml file.
You should parse the XML in order to updated, the SimpleXml extension provides and easy to use API for parsing an writing XML files.
I might be doing something wrong too, plz let me know the best way to create the xml.
There are many ways to do this, but I prefer to use PHP as a "template engine" when writing HTML or XML (or any *ML for that matter).
<?php echo "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" ?> " ?>
<?php
$news_articles = new C7_News();
$db = C7_Bootstrap::getDb();
$foxsport_sql = "SELECT headline, link FROM c7_news
WHERE source = 'foxsports' AND category = 'Breaking News'
LIMIT 0,4";
$foxsport_rowset = $db->fetchAll($foxsport_sql);
?>
<data>
<news>
<?php foreach($foxsport_rowset as $foxsport_row):
<title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<?php echo $foxsport_row['headline'] ?>
]]>
</description>
<link><?php echo $foxsport_row['link']</link>
</title>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</news>
</data>
This will output the XML and is a lot easier to read
but i dont know how to save the formed xml in a file.
As for how to save this to a file you should have another PHP file to include this "template" (suppose the template is called xml_template.php):
ob_start();
include dirname(__FILE__) . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'xml_template.php';
$output = ob_get_clean();
Then you have again the XML string on the $output variable and can do as noted by Vlad.P:
// If file is missing, it will create it.
$file = fopen("file.xml", "w");
fwrite($file, $output);
fclose($file);

Answer 2

Add this at the end of your function.
// If file is missing, it will create it.
$file = fopen("file.xml", "w");
fwrite($file, $output);
fclose($file);

Answer 3

Use
file_put_contents( $file, $output );
You might want to pass in the argument for the path of the file:
$stream->create_xml( $file );
or reason that that should be handled by another method/class, eg
$stream->create_xml();
$stream->save_xml( $file );