使用simplexml在XML对象中复制数组名称

Question

I am using simplexml to load an XML file and encode the content in JSON format so that it can be consumed by another part of my application. Everything works fine but I noticed that simplexml generates singular names for "arrays", for instance, this piece of XML:

<employees>
    <employee>
        <name>John M.</name>
        <age>34</age>
    </employee>
    <employee>
        <name>Sarah J.</name>
        <age>31</age>
    </employee>
</employees>

Once that I load the XML code in a PHP object using:

$xml = simplexml_load_file("employees.xml");

I have to use the singular form for access the arrays of employees, for instance:

$xml->employee[1];

But I want to pluralize names of arrays. The major reason for doing this is because I want to generate JSON from that XML object directly using json_encode, rather than generating a new array/object with the respective name pluralized.

It is possible to change this behavior? If this cannot be accomplished within simplexml how would be the best approach to resolve this?

Answer 1

It is possible to change this behavior?

Short answer: no.

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You're going to want to "generate [something] with the respective name pluralized". In any case, I would advise against simply json_encode()-ing SimpleXMLElement objects anyway.

In the long run (and in your case, it seems, the short run) you'd be better off:

• changing the XML document to have pluralised element names
• or, doing some work yourself as an intermediate step between SimpleXML and json_encode()

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As for "the best approach" (for serializing anything as JSON), I would advise going for your own class (perhaps extending SimpleXMLElement) that implements the JsonSerializable interface. Other options include changing the XML as mentioned above, or building your own array/object structure to JSON encode, to name a few.