Quickly convert simpleXMLObject to STDClass?

Question

Does anybody know a quick way to convert a SimpleXMLElement to a normal STDClass object, without iterating through each branch manually? I would feel better working with a normal object after fetching the data.

You mean importing all the public properties of that SimpleXMLElement? Quick is relative :) — Flavius, Oct 18 '09 at 12:15
You would "feel better" isn't a valid reason imo :) What's the real reason for you to want a stdClass to work with? — chelmertz, Oct 18 '09 at 12:23
Well, I am fetching data from an XML file and processing it afterwards in quite a complex system. From that point I do not need any XML/SimpleXML specific behaviour, but just the raw data. PHP's XML functions tend not to be as well documented as the other parts of the language, and I fear unexpected behaviour when manipulating the data along the way with it still being a simpleXML element. With a STDClass, I know what to expect, how to manipulate it, validate the data and so on. That is the long version of "feel better". Feel better? :) — Pekka, Oct 18 '09 at 13:14

score 75 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 19 '11 at 20:35

75

$my_std_class = json_decode(json_encode($my_simplexmlelement));
$my_assoc_array = json_decode(json_encode($my_simplexmlelement), true);

answered Mar 19 '11 at 20:35

Skyler Johnson

3,833
1
20
6

2

+1, This should definitely be the chosen answer. The reason I needed to convert it to stdClass was because Drupal has issues with the SimpleXmlElement object. – Jason Fuller Mar 21 '13 at 20:54
Excellent! Working great :) – Rounds Feb 03 '15 at 10:59
this results in converting SimpleXMLElement class member variables such as "MemberTypeArray" to "membertypearray" (lowercase) how do i avoid this ? and use this function to covert it to a std class ? – mahen3d Oct 26 '15 at 05:53

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 18 '09 at 16:47

I suggest looking into using XMLReader, which lends itself well to extracting data and storing it as whatever data type one wishes, instead of SimpleXML. It's especially good for regularly-used documents (I use it, extended as RSSReader, for RSS), is much faster than might be expected, and as a bonus uses less memory than SimpleXML.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 12 '13 at 01:55

2

Another way is:

(object)(array)$my_simplexmlelement

Unfortunately if you have children they remain as SimpleXMLElement

answered Jun 12 '13 at 01:55

Capy

5,167
2
20
21

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

1

I don't know if there's a way to convert the object without iterating through it. My guess is that you can't.

You can check this thread out, it shows you how to convert a SimpleXML to an array, you can adapt that.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

Community

1
1

answered Oct 18 '09 at 12:13

Alex Ciminian

11,398
15
60
94

Quickly convert simpleXMLObject to STDClass?

4 Answers4