problems getting xml to load

[surreal5335]

I have an xml sheet I have created and converted into an object with simpleXml. My problem is that when I do a count() on the <item> tag I always get 1. When I tried to view xml in its own page I get this error

XML Parsing Error: no element found

So I ran the xml string through htmlSpecialChars and it produced this on the screen for me.

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<cart>
<item id="0"><product>dvd</product><contract>2133782</contract><price>39.99</price><name>DVD Creator</name></item>
<item id="1"><product>music</product><contract>2133786</contract><price>29.99</price><name>Music Editor</name></item>
<item id="1"><product>image</product><contract>2131570</contract><price>4.99</price><name>Image membership</name></item>
</cart>

When I do a print_r() on the object, this is what I get:

SimpleXMLElement Object ( [item] => Array (
 [0] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [@attributes] => Array ( [id] => 0 ) [product] => dvd [contract] => 2133782 [price] => 39.99 [name] => DVD Creator )
 [1] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [@attributes] => Array ( [id] => 1 ) [product] => music [contract] => 2133786 [price] => 29.99 [name] => Music Editor )
 [2] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [@attributes] => Array ( [id] => 1 ) [product] => image [contract] => 2131570 [price] => 4.99 [name] => Image membership ) 
 )

The method I am adding items to my object is by:

PHP Code:

$items = $cart->addChild('item');
$index = $cart->count();
$items->addAttribute('id', $index);
$items->addChild('contract', '2133782');
$items->addChild('price', '39.99');
$items->addChild('name', 'DVD Creator'); 


The $index always returns 1 as I mentioned before. So it seems that the <item> tag is only getting created once or the rest are not getting recognized.

What about it am I missing? Would the spaces inbetween the tags cause this problem?

[Alex Vincent]

I'm not familiar with the addChild method. It's not part of the standard Document Object Model. Have you looked up what it returns?

[sean3838]

Sounds like you should be looping through as its an array of items.

[tracknut]

Try replacing:

PHP Code:

$index = $cart->count(); 


with:

PHP Code:

$index = sizeof ($cart); 


Dave

[Dormilich]

Originally Posted by surreal5335

The $index always returns 1 as I mentioned before.

that’s correct according to the description. you create one child element and its count is thus 1.

Originally Posted by surreal5335

So it seems that the <item> tag is only getting created once or the rest are not getting recognized.

well, you’ve given us the code for the creation of one element. how are we supposed to know whether the error is somewhere else?

[surreal5335]

Thanks for the replies.

From what I understand about the count() method for simpleXml its meant to count how of the specified tag exist. Thats why I used
$items->count();
After looking at it further though, I noticed count() is meant to count the children of an element... crucial detail I overlooked.
$cart->count();
now its working fine.


As for the items being populated, elements are added to the cart in the same exact manner, the addChild() methods are stored inside a function which has a switch statment to identify which data to plug in, just stored in the same exact series of addChild. Thought it would be redundant to show it all. I gues the other portion of the function would be helpful though.

This does work for the most part, I am able to iterate through my cart and populate the info on the screen with ease... Its just that it does not seem to be a valid xml object on its own

function addToCart($contract, $cart, $index = 99)
{
	echo 'addToCart() found<br />';
	if($index == 99) // simple append of new <item> to cart
	{
		$index = $cart->count();
		$items = $cart->addChild('item');
		$items->addAttribute('id', $index);
	}
	else
	{       // inserts data into already existing <item> where $i and $index match
		$i=0;
		foreach($cart as $item)
		{
			
			if($i == $index)
			{
				$items = $item;
				break;
			}
			$i++;
		}
	}


		switch($contract)
		{

			case '2133782':
				if($index == 99)
				{
					$items->addChild('product', 'dvd');
				}
				$items->addChild('contract', '2133782');
				$items->addChild('price', '39.99');
				$items->addChild('name', 'DVD Creator');
			break;
                      // and so on and so on
                 }
}

Thanks a lot