Parse XML data into an array structure

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XML Parser Functions
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# xml_parse_into_struct

(PHP 4, PHP 5)

xml_parse_into_struct — Parse XML data into an array structure

### Description

int xml_parse_into_struct ( resource `$parser` , string `$data` , array `&$values` [, array `&$index` ] )

This function parses an XML file into 2 parallel array structures, one (`index`) containing pointers to the location of the appropriate values in the `values` array. These last two parameters must be passed by reference.

### Parameters

`parser`

`data`

`values`

`index`

### Return Values

xml_parse_into_struct() returns 0 for failure and 1 for success. This is not the same as `FALSE` and `TRUE`, be careful with operators such as ===.

### Examples

Below is an example that illustrates the internal structure of the arrays being generated by the function. We use a simple note tag embedded inside a para tag, and then we parse this and print out the structures generated:

Example #1 xml_parse_into_struct() example

`<?php
$simple = "<para><note>simple note</note></para>";
$p = xml_parser_create();
xml_parse_into_struct($p, $simple, $vals, $index);
xml_parser_free($p);
echo "Index array\n";
print_r($index);
echo "\nVals array\n";
print_r($vals);
?>`

When we run that code, the output will be:

    Index array
    Array
    (
        [PARA] => Array
            (
                [0] => 0
                [1] => 2
            )

        [NOTE] => Array
            (
                [0] => 1
            )

    )

    Vals array
    Array
    (
        [0] => Array
            (
                [tag] => PARA
                [type] => open
                [level] => 1
            )

        [1] => Array
            (
                [tag] => NOTE
                [type] => complete
                [level] => 2
                [value] => simple note
            )

        [2] => Array
            (
                [tag] => PARA
                [type] => close
                [level] => 1
            )

    )

Event-driven parsing (based on the expat library) can get complicated when you have an XML document that is complex. This function does not produce a DOM style object, but it generates structures amenable of being transversed in a tree fashion. Thus, we can create objects representing the data in the XML file easily. Let's consider the following XML file representing a small database of aminoacids information:

Example #2 moldb.xml - small database of molecular information

    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <moldb>

      <molecule>
          <name>Alanine</name>
          <symbol>ala</symbol>
          <code>A</code>
          <type>hydrophobic</type>
      </molecule>

      <molecule>
          <name>Lysine</name>
          <symbol>lys</symbol>
          <code>K</code>
          <type>charged</type>
      </molecule>

    </moldb>

And some code to parse the document and generate the appropriate objects:

Example #3 parsemoldb.php - parses moldb.xml into an array of molecular objects

`<?php
class AminoAcid {
var $name; // aa name
var $symbol; // three letter symbol
var $code; // one letter code
var $type; // hydrophobic, charged or neutral
function AminoAcid ($aa)
{
foreach ($aa as $k=>$v)
$this->$k = $aa[$k];
}
}
function readDatabase($filename)
{
// read the XML database of aminoacids
$data = implode("", file($filename));
$parser = xml_parser_create();
xml_parser_set_option($parser, XML_OPTION_CASE_FOLDING, 0);
xml_parser_set_option($parser, XML_OPTION_SKIP_WHITE, 1);
xml_parse_into_struct($parser, $data, $values, $tags);
xml_parser_free($parser);
// loop through the structures
foreach ($tags as $key=>$val) {
if ($key == "molecule") {
$molranges = $val;
// each contiguous pair of array entries are the
// lower and upper range for each molecule definition
for ($i=0; $i < count($molranges); $i+=2) {
$offset = $molranges[$i] + 1;
$len = $molranges[$i + 1] - $offset;
$tdb[] = parseMol(array_slice($values, $offset, $len));
}
} else {
continue;
}
}
return $tdb;
}
function parseMol($mvalues)
{
for ($i=0; $i < count($mvalues); $i++) {
$mol[$mvalues[$i]["tag"]] = $mvalues[$i]["value"];
}
return new AminoAcid($mol);
}
$db = readDatabase("moldb.xml");
echo "** Database of AminoAcid objects:\n";
print_r($db);
?>`
After executing parsemoldb.php, the variable $db contains an array of AminoAcid objects, and the output of the script confirms that:

    ** Database of AminoAcid objects:
    Array
    (
        [0] => aminoacid Object
            (
                [name] => Alanine
                [symbol] => ala
                [code] => A
                [type] => hydrophobic
            )

        [1] => aminoacid Object
            (
                [name] => Lysine
                [symbol] => lys
                [code] => K
                [type] => charged
            )

    )

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