Formatting XML in to JSON with PHP

Question

I am attempting to get a JSON feed output from attributes of an XML feed. I can get the data out of the XML, however, I am unable to get it to format correctly. The error seems to be with the json_encode not adding the curly braces to the outputted date. This is the code I have so far:

<?php

    $url = 'http://cloud.tfl.gov.uk/TrackerNet/LineStatus';

    if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($url))
    {
        die("No xml for you");
    }

    $linestatus = array();

    foreach ($xml->LineStatus as $line)
    {
        echo $line->Line['Name'];
        echo $line->Status['Description'];
    }

    header('Content-Type: application/json');
    print_r(json_encode($linestatus));

?>

Try this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8830599/php-convert-xml-to-json?rq=1 — Ângelo Bochini, Oct 15 '13 at 15:49
don't use `print_r()` for the JSON string; plain old `print` or `echo` is what you need. — Spudley, Oct 15 '13 at 15:52
also, I don't see your code actually using `$linestatus` anywhere. Maybe you meant to do something with it inside the `foreach()` loop? — Spudley, Oct 15 '13 at 15:53

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 15 '13 at 15:49

The echos are screwing everything up. I think you intend to append to linestatus which remains empty per your code.

$linestatus[] = array(
    "name" => $line->Line['Name'],
    "description" => $line->Status['Description']
);

You also need to use echo instead of print_r to actually emit the JSON.

Jeremy Harris · Answer 2 · 2013-10-15T15:58:16.253

0

You are declaring $linestatus as an array, then never put anything in it before finally encoding it and trying to output it. Of course it won't work as expected! Instead, you should be populating it with values:

$linestatus = array();

foreach ($xml->LineStatus as $line)
{
    $linestatus[] = $line->Line;
}

header('Content-Type: application/json');
print_r(json_encode($linestatus));

edited Oct 15 '13 at 15:58

answered Oct 15 '13 at 15:49

Jeremy Harris

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score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 15 '13 at 15:49

0

The problem is that you're not storing the name and description into the array.

Try this:

foreach ($xml->LineStatus as $line)
{
    $linestatus[] =  array('name' => $line->Line['Name']);
    $linestatus[] =  array('description' => $line->Line['Description']);
}

Demo!

answered Oct 15 '13 at 15:49

Amal Murali

75,622
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That would split the line data rather than grouping it. – Jeremy Harris Oct 15 '13 at 15:50
@cillosis: See the demo. :) – Amal Murali Oct 15 '13 at 15:55
I'm pretty sure Name and Description are associated. This means together they make up a single line and hence should be grouped together with a `$linestatus[] = $line->Line` statement. – Jeremy Harris Oct 15 '13 at 15:58
This is the closest to what I am trying to achieve. But then when I want to call on the outputted JSON, I am then getting undefined when I try to access with JQuery 'value.name', for example. – JohnRobertPett Oct 15 '13 at 16:12
I also notice that it outputs the JSON with the station name's identifier as '0', is there a way to stop this? – JohnRobertPett Oct 15 '13 at 17:15

Formatting XML in to JSON with PHP

3 Answers3