Reading, adding, writing xml...unexpected result

something like this should work:

PHP Code:

---

<?php

/**** NOT TESTED  ****/

$insertcount = $_POST["newcount"];
$insertquote = $_POST["iquote"];
$insertref = $_POST["iref"];

$file = '../sidebar.xml';
$xml = simplexml_load_file($file);

/************************************************
I assume "newcount" is the id for the new entry?
is this submitted by the user?
if so, it could be better handled by PHP to avoid
duplicate ID's:

// find the last entry 
// (assuming entries are all in numerical order,
//  starting with # 1)
$last = count(xml->myquote);
// assign next entry number
$insertcount = $last + 1;
************************************************/ 

// this line assumes <sidebar> is your xml root
// add a new <myquote> entry
$newItem = $xml->addChild('myquote');

// add a new <id> to the new <myquote>
$newItem->addChild('id', $insertcount);
// add a new <thequote>
$newItem->addChild('thequote', $insertquote);
// add a new <reference>
$newItem->addChild('reference', $insertref);

// convert the $xml object to an xml string
// and save it to the sidebar.xml file
$xml = $xml->asXML($file);

?>

---

Edit:

Basic reading of your xml file (also not tested, but I use this method often):

PHP Code:

---

<?php

$file = '../sidebar.xml';
$xml = simplexml_load_file($file);

foreach($xml->children() as $myquote){
    echo '
        <hr>
        id: '.$myquote->id.'<br>
        the quote: '.$myquote->thequote.'<br>
        reference: '.$myquote->reference;
}

/****************************************
if you wanted to list the entries in reverse order (e.g.,
most recent first), you could use this instead:

$i = count($xml->myquote)-1;
for($x=$i;$x>=0;$x--){
    echo '
        <hr>
        id: '.$myquote[$x]->id.'<br>
        the quote: '.$myquote[$x]->thequote.'<br>
        reference: '.$myquote[$x]->reference;
}

//  ! EDIT: fixed index references !

****************************************/

?>

---

Edit:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by I am Abby

//ok this is where I get lost...I need to put each of the elements of the array

---

No, you don't - I think that's where your confusion is. simplexml_load_file() already put everything into a simplexml object (not an array, but imagine it like an array). Nothing more to set up. You can just start using it, as in my example above.

So your top bit of code there gets the form elements and adds it to the existing xml? If so, I didn't think you could do that...I thought you had to read, add to, write?

simplexml_load_file() reads the existing xml file and turns it into a simplexml object (which is ready for us to manipulate).

the ->addChild() statements add the new info (in this case, your $_POST info) to the simplexml object.

->asXML() converts the simplexml object into an xml string (and writes it to file, too, if a file path is included).

Wow!

You guys were so right...this is so much easier than creating a DOMDocument.

Is there an easy way to delete an entry?

there's no simplexml function, but you can use unset():

PHP Code:

---

<?php

$xml = simplexml_load_file('file.xml');
unset($xml->node->to_delete);
$xml = $xml->asXML;

?>

---

Include any applicable indices, or you may end up losing ALL nodes that match the path you enter.

So, all I would have to do is run everything through a foreach...find the one I don't like and unset() it.

Thanks.