Convert XML ot an array!

What i am basically trying to do is convert an XML feed to an array.  For my project i submit a query to a website and they provide me an XML feed with all the data..  I grab this feed via a URL..

I have a function i found on this site that worked perfectly for me


here is the function
//********************************************************
$xml = file_get_contents($url);
        $doc = domxml_open_mem($xml);
        $array = xmlnode2array($doc->root());

echo '<strong>This String was made from the contents of the XML Document whihc was recieved live from the vin decoding website: '.$array['decoded_loop']['decoded_year'].' '.$array['decoded_loop']['decoded_make'].' '.$array['decoded_loop']['decoded_model'].'</strong>';

echo '<pre>';
print_r($array);
echo '</pre>';
/**
* Recursive function to convert xml root node to big assoc array
*/
function xmlnode2array($node, $newMap="") {
        static $map;
        if (!$map && $newMap) $map = array_flip($newMap); // reverse map
        if ($node->type==XML_ELEMENT_NODE) {
                if ($attrArray = $node->attributes()) {
                        // parse attributes //
                        foreach($attrArray AS $attr) {
                                $key = '@' . $attr->name;
                                if ($map[$key])         $out[$map[$key]] = $attr->value;
                                else                    $out[$key] = $attr->value;
                        }
                }
                if ($childArray = $node->children()) {
                        // add child nodes //
                        foreach($childArray AS $child) {
                                if ($child->type==XML_ELEMENT_NODE) {
                                        $tagName = $child->tagname;
                                        if ($tagName=='ARRAY_DATA') {
                                                $out[] = xmlnode2array($child);
                                        } else if ($map[$tagName]) {
                                                $out[$map[$tagName]] = xmlnode2array($child);
                                        } else {
                                                $out[$tagName] = xmlnode2array($child);
                                        }
                                } else {
                                        if ($content = xmlnode2array($child))
                                                $out = $content;
                                }
                        }
                }

        } else {
                // this is a CONTENT NODE //
                $out = trim($node->content);
                if (!$out) return false;
        }
        return $out;
}
//*******************************************************

This worked on my webhost perfectly! problem is i then tried it on my local machine and i get this error!
Fatal error: Call to undefined function domxml_open_mem() in C:\apachefriends\xampp\xampp\htdocs\vin\vindecoding.php

So i checked to see if i had domxml installed.. the dll php_domxml.dll

is in the extensions folder.. i then uncommented out the line
extension=php_domxml.dll

still didn't work.. i changed the comment in both the php.ini and php5.ini  

locally i am using php5 which is a Apachie Friends xamp install running php 5.0.3 on a windows machine.  My webserver is 4.3.7 running on a *nix machine