XML not correctly converted into objects by simplexml_load_string()

Question

I am trying to parse an XML response from the Amazon API in PHP via simplexml_load_string().

The XML i get looks like that:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<GetMatchingProductForIdResponse xmlns="http://mws.amazonservices.com/schema/Products/2011-10-01">
   <GetMatchingProductForIdResult Id="xxx" IdType="SellerSKU" status="Success">
      <Products>
         <Product>
            <Identifiers>
               <MarketplaceASIN>
                  <MarketplaceId>xxxx</MarketplaceId>
                  <ASIN>xxx</ASIN>
               </MarketplaceASIN>
            </Identifiers>
            <AttributeSets>
               <ns2:ItemAttributes xmlns:ns2="http://mws.amazonservices.com/schema/Products/2011-10-01/default.xsd" xml:lang="de-DE">
                  <ns2:Binding>Elektronik</ns2:Binding>
                  <ns2:Brand>Panasonic</ns2:Brand>
                  <ns2:Feature>xx</ns2:Feature>
                  <ns2:Feature>xxx</ns2:Feature>
                  <ns2:Feature>xxx</ns2:Feature>
                  <ns2:Feature>xxx</ns2:Feature>
                  <ns2:Feature>xxx</ns2:Feature>
                  <ns2:Label>Panasonic</ns2:Label>
                  <ns2:Manufacturer>Panasonic</ns2:Manufacturer>
                  <ns2:PackageDimensions>
                     <ns2:Height Units="inches">xx</ns2:Height>
                     <ns2:Length Units="inches">xx</ns2:Length>
                     <ns2:Width Units="inches">xxx</ns2:Width>
                  </ns2:PackageDimensions>
                  <ns2:PartNumber>xxx</ns2:PartNumber>
                  <ns2:ProductGroup>Computer &amp; Zubehör</ns2:ProductGroup>
                  <ns2:ProductTypeName>COMPUTER_COMPONENT</ns2:ProductTypeName>
                  <ns2:Publisher>Panasonic</ns2:Publisher>
                  <ns2:SmallImage>
                     <ns2:URL>xxx.jpg</ns2:URL>
                     <ns2:Height Units="pixels">xx</ns2:Height>
                     <ns2:Width Units="pixels">xx</ns2:Width>
                  </ns2:SmallImage>
                  <ns2:Studio>Panasonic</ns2:Studio>
                  <ns2:Title>xxx</ns2:Title>
               </ns2:ItemAttributes>
            </AttributeSets>
            <Relationships />
            <SalesRankings />
         </Product>
      </Products>
   </GetMatchingProductForIdResult>
   <ResponseMetadata>
      <RequestId>xx</RequestId>
   </ResponseMetadata>
</GetMatchingProductForIdResponse>

My PHP code:

$response = $service->GetMatchingProductForId($request);  //making the call
$response = $response->toXML();
$response = simplexml_load_string($response);       
var_dump($response);

Unfortunatly the AttributeSets don't get converted into objects as you can see in the var_dump.

object(SimpleXMLElement)#9 (2) {
  ["GetMatchingProductForIdResult"]=>
  object(SimpleXMLElement)#4 (2) {
    ["@attributes"]=>
    array(3) {
      ["Id"]=>
      string(5) "xxx"
      ["IdType"]=>
      string(9) "SellerSKU"
      ["status"]=>
      string(7) "Success"
    }
    ["Products"]=>
    object(SimpleXMLElement)#14 (1) {
      ["Product"]=>
      object(SimpleXMLElement)#18 (4) {
        ["Identifiers"]=>
        object(SimpleXMLElement)#23 (1) {
          ["MarketplaceASIN"]=>
          object(SimpleXMLElement)#29 (2) {
            ["MarketplaceId"]=>
            string(14) "xxx"
            ["ASIN"]=>
            string(10) "xxxx"
          }
        }
        ["AttributeSets"]=>
        object(SimpleXMLElement)#37 (0) {
        }
        ["Relationships"]=>
        object(SimpleXMLElement)#28 (0) {
        }
        ["SalesRankings"]=>
        object(SimpleXMLElement)#26 (0) {
        }
      }
    }
  }
  ["ResponseMetadata"]=>
  object(SimpleXMLElement)#12 (1) {
    ["RequestId"]=>
    string(36) "xxx"
  }
}

Is something wrong with the XML?

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 02 '14 at 13:55

6

Nuts to this, just used blunt force and it worked fine.

$response = str_replace("ns2:","",$response);

answered Sep 02 '14 at 13:55

user1369594

183
10

2

This is better than my answer. – thealexbaron Jun 18 '15 at 17:18
Where did you gave this line?? please reply fast – Salman Riyaz Jul 01 '16 at 07:06
This is nuts just how well this works. I have no idea why or how or if this is best practice or not, but it just works so I am going with it. – Andy Borgmann Jan 08 '20 at 23:10

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 02 '14 at 08:40

0

Sometimes var_dump() doesn't show all the elements (mostly it has too much elements or too much indent). its only about view, but your objects will be there, try to dump only AttributeSets self

answered Sep 02 '14 at 08:40

Santa's helper

976
8
21

still only getting an empty object `object(SimpleXMLElement)#4 (0) { }` if i try to access an attribute it returns NULL – user1369594 Sep 02 '14 at 08:56
Can you please provide the php line of your AttributeSets var_dump. How do you reach that element? – Santa's helper Sep 02 '14 at 09:24
i think products is an array so you need to do loop or if its certain only one product you can use like: blabla->products[0]->AttributeSets – Santa's helper Sep 02 '14 at 09:28
`$response->GetMatchingProductForIdResult->Products->Product->AttributeSets` returns `object(SimpleXMLElement)#4 (0) { }` as mentioned above. Maybe it's because of the different Namespace? – user1369594 Sep 02 '14 at 09:55
1

i have just noticed that AttributeSets's elements has namespace prefix i am not so sure but it can couse your problem [check this issue](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16412047/parse-xml-namespaces-with-php-simplexml) seems like xpath will be your solution – Santa's helper Sep 02 '14 at 09:58

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 18 '15 at 17:17

You can call children on your SimpleXMLElement like

$xml = <<<EOF
<AttributeSets>
   <ns2:ItemAttributes xmlns:ns2="http://mws.amazonservices.com/schema/Products/2011-10-01/default.xsd" xml:lang="de-DE">
      <ns2:Binding>Elektronik</ns2:Binding>
      <ns2:Brand>Panasonic</ns2:Brand>
      <ns2:Feature>xx</ns2:Feature>
      <ns2:Feature>xxx</ns2:Feature>
      <ns2:Feature>xxx</ns2:Feature>
      <ns2:Feature>xxx</ns2:Feature>
      <ns2:Feature>xxx</ns2:Feature>
      <ns2:Label>Panasonic</ns2:Label>
      <ns2:Manufacturer>Panasonic</ns2:Manufacturer>
      <ns2:PackageDimensions>
         <ns2:Height Units="inches">xx</ns2:Height>
         <ns2:Length Units="inches">xx</ns2:Length>
         <ns2:Width Units="inches">xxx</ns2:Width>
      </ns2:PackageDimensions>
      <ns2:PartNumber>xxx</ns2:PartNumber>
      <ns2:ProductGroup>Computer &amp; Zubehör</ns2:ProductGroup>
      <ns2:ProductTypeName>COMPUTER_COMPONENT</ns2:ProductTypeName>
      <ns2:Publisher>Panasonic</ns2:Publisher>
      <ns2:SmallImage>
         <ns2:URL>xxx.jpg</ns2:URL>
         <ns2:Height Units="pixels">xx</ns2:Height>
         <ns2:Width Units="pixels">xx</ns2:Width>
      </ns2:SmallImage>
      <ns2:Studio>Panasonic</ns2:Studio>
      <ns2:Title>xxx</ns2:Title>
   </ns2:ItemAttributes>
</AttributeSets>
EOF;

$sxe = new SimpleXMLElement($xml);
$ns2 = $sxe->children('ns2', TRUE);

var_dump(count($ns2));

// prints int(1)

In the php docs: http://php.net/manual/en/simplexmlelement.children.php

public SimpleXMLElement SimpleXMLElement::children ([ string $ns [, bool $is_prefix = false ]] )

XML not correctly converted into objects by simplexml_load_string()

3 Answers3