asked on

PHP, XML <variable/>, and confusion

This sample XML string is read directly from URL, http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobextXml.php?sid=KTCM&num=1

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<station id="KTCM" name="Tacoma / McChord Air Force Base" elev="322" lat="47.15" lon="-122.48333" provider="NWS/FAA">
<ob time="09 Dec 9:55 pm" utime="1323496500">
<variable var='T' description='Temp' unit='F' value='25'/>
<variable var='TD' description='Dewp' unit='F' value='25'/>
<variable var='RH' description='Relh' unit='%' value='98'/>
<variable var='DD' description='Direction' unit='deg' value='170'/>
<variable var='DDCARD' description='Wind Card' unit='direction' value='S'/>
<variable var='FF' description='Wind' unit='mph' value='3'/>
<variable var='VV' description='Visibility' unit='miles' value='- 0.25'/>
<variable var='PRESWEA' description='Coded Weather' unit='' value='BR'/>
<variable var='SKY' description='Clouds' unit='' value='CLR'/>
<variable var='SLP' description='SL Pres' unit='mb' value='102.2'/>
<variable var='ALTSE' description='Altimeter' unit='inches' value='30.16'/>
<variable var='P' description='Station Pressure' unit='inches' value='29.820'/>
<variable var='T6MAX' description='6 Hr Max Temp' unit='f' value='36'/>
<variable var='T6MIN' description='6 Hr Min Temp' unit='f' value='25'/>
<variable var='STAQUAL' description='Station Quality' unit='' value='OK'/>
</ob>
</station>

I need to extract the "var=xx", and "value=xx" from <variable/> and am completely lost on how to this in PHP. At this point, I'm retrieving the URL as a string, file_get_contents, and then that's about as far as I can manipulate.

Thanks a lot!

-Pat

Amar Bardoliwala

Hello pekern1,

Use function given on following link

http://www.bin-co.com/php/scripts/xml2array/

It should help you to solve your problem.

Hope this will help.

Thank You.

Amar Bardoliwala

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StingRaY

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pekern1

ASKER

I can definitely run with this!
Now, the magic will be in the foreach() loop.
Thank you very much.
-Pat

Ray Paseur

Pat: Here is how I might do it. See http://www.laprbass.com/RAY_temp_pekern1.php

Note the use of (string) to explicitly type-cast the elements of the object. Echo does not care about that, but some other PHP functions might.

Best regards, ~Ray

<?php // RAY_temp_pekern1.php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
echo "<pre>";

// GET THE DATA INTO AN OBJECT
$url = 'http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobextXml.php?sid=KTCM&num=1';
$xml = file_get_contents($url);
$obj = SimpleXML_Load_String($xml);

// ACTIVATE THIS TO SEE THE OBJECT
// var_dump($obj);

// USE THE OBJECT TO CREATE HTML OUTPUT
$s = (string)$obj["name"];

// USE AN ITERATOR TO ACCESS THE OBSERVATIONS AND VALUES
foreach ($obj->ob as $ob)
{
    $t = (string)$ob["time"];
    echo PHP_EOL . "On <b>$t</b> at <b>$s</b> ...";

    foreach ($ob->variable as $var)
    {
        $d = (string)$var["description"];
        $v = (string)$var["value"];
        $u = (string)$var["unit"];
        echo PHP_EOL . "$d: $v $u";
    }
}

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pekern1

ASKER

Ray,

Thank you. This is a great option. I will defintiely keep this code handly and give credit to you if I use it.

-Pat

Ray Paseur

Thanks, no credit needed at all. It's open source when I post it here. Besides, this question reminds me of the English student who sent off $100 for the "How to Write a Novel" kit. When it arrived he found a dictionary and a card that said, "Some assembly required." Glad we could help with the assembly!

;-)

~Ray

pekern1

ASKER

Yes indeed. The two responses I received on this were definitely a different direction than I was going. :)

When in a hole, quit digging and ask for directions out.

-Pat

PHP, XML &lt;variable/&gt;, and confusion

PHP, XML <variable/>, and confusion