Last updated: Fri, 14 Aug 2009

SimpleXMLElement::addChild

(PHP 5 >= 5.1.3)

SimpleXMLElement::addChild — Adds a child element to the XML node

Description

SimpleXMLElement

SimpleXMLElement addChild ( string $name [, string $value [, string $namespace ]] )

Adds a child element to the node and returns a SimpleXMLElement of the child.

Parameters

name: The name of the child element to add.
value: If specified, the value of the child element.
namespace: If specified, the namespace to which the child element belongs.

Return Values

The addChild method returns a SimpleXMLElement object representing the child added to the XML node.

Examples

Example #1 Add attributes and children to a SimpleXML element


<?php

include 'example.php';
 
$sxe = new SimpleXMLElement($xmlstr);
$sxe->addAttribute('type', 'documentary');

$movie = $sxe->addChild('movie');
$movie->addChild('title', 'PHP2: More Parser Stories');
$movie->addChild('plot', 'This is all about the people who make it work.');

$characters = $movie->addChild('characters');
$character  = $characters->addChild('character');
$character->addChild('name', 'Mr. Parser');
$character->addChild('actor', 'John Doe');

$rating = $movie->addChild('rating', '5');
$rating->addAttribute('type', 'stars');
 
echo $sxe->asXML();

?>


If you want to add a child element that is prefixed by a namespace like this one:



<content:encoded>



then this is what you need to do:



$parent->addChild('content:encoded', 'some actual content here', ''http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/'');



Make sure you declared the namespace at some parent element, preferrably at root:

<root xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/">



This will create a child element that will look like this when object dumpted as xml string:

<content:encoded>



If you are adding child this way: 

$parent->addChild('encoded', 'some actual content here', ''content'');

then your child element will look like this:

<encoded xmlns="content">

which is also a valid xml tag and basically has the same exact value as <content:encoded> but just looks different.

ldmc at yahoo dot com
17-Mar-2009 07:14


Simple way to add a text node:





<?php


$x=simplexml_load_string('<test />');


$x->addAttribute('id','x01');


$x[0]='text node';


echo $x->asXML();


?>





Result:





<?xml version="1.0"?>


<test id="x01">text node</test>





Any numeric array subscript (in this case 0) will work.

jonasmartinez at gmail dot com
17-Mar-2009 03:56


The class:

<?php

class SimpleXMLExtend extends SimpleXMLElement

{

  public function addCData($nodename,$cdata_text)

  {

    $node = $this->addChild($nodename); //Added a nodename to create inside the function

    $node = dom_import_simplexml($node);

    $no = $node->ownerDocument;

    $node->appendChild($no->createCDATASection($cdata_text));

  }

} 

?>



And to use:



<?php

$xml = new SimpleXMLExtended('<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8"?><root></root>');

$xml->addCData("newnode","contenthere with & $ % etc");

echo $xml->asXml();

?>

Nicholas Rawlings @Skookum (Concord, NC)
19-Dec-2008 01:19


Here's an easy way to add a text node to a SimpleXMLElement without having to bring DOM into play:



<?php

$element = new SimpleXMLElement('<exclamation/>');

$element->addChild('//', 'Amazing!');

echo $element->asXML();    // <exclamation>Amazing!</exclamation>

?>



Not sure if this qualifies as an undocumented feature or an overlooked bug (please comment), but it seems useful enough to me.

davedx at gmail dot com
29-Oct-2008 04:48


As noted by zspencer at zacharyspencer dot com, addChild with an empty string causes a redundant node to be added. This was screwing up our web services xml->JSON conversion - the following hack seems to fix it, use at your own risk...





<?php


    if($sv == null)


    {


        $child = $node->addChild($k, '<blank>');


        $child = '';


    }


    else


    {


        $node->addChild($k, $sv);


    }


?>

Donet
02-Oct-2008 04:11


I found this easy way to create a CDATA section as child value:





I extend the class SimpleXMLElement:





<?php


class SimpleXMLExtended extends SimpleXMLElement


{


  public function addCData($cdata_text)


  {


    $node= dom_import_simplexml($this);


    $no = $node->ownerDocument;


    $node->appendChild($no->createCDATASection($cdata_text));


  }


}


?>





Then in the main code:





<?php


$xml = new SimpleXMLExtended('<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8"?><root></root>');


$mynode = $xml->addChild("myname");


$mynode->addCData("my name contains everything I want &%<>");


echo $xml->asXml();


?>

zspencer at zacharyspencer dot com
24-Sep-2008 11:14


Interesting to note, when passing an empty value into addChild (For instance from a null result from a database query) it assumes that you want to have an actual node instead of a string value.



Example:

<?php

$empty_node='';

$xml = new SimpleXMLElement('<xml></xml>');

$xml->addChild('empty_node',$empty_node);

print_r($xml);

/*

SimpleXMLElement Object

 {

   [empty_node] => SimpleXMLElement Object

    {

      [0] =>

     }

 }



*/

?>



I haven't figured out a way around this yet, any hints?

jacob at 33i dot com dot au
20-Aug-2008 03:56


@kobrasrealm at gmail dot com



there is no lack of deleteChild function, you should use the php function unset()



<?php

unset($myxml->book[0]->page[22]);

unset($myxml->book[1]->page);

?>

essen at dev-extend dot eu
17-Jul-2008 06:06


Easy and fast deleting of a node:



<?php



$oNode = dom_import_simplexml($oSimpleXMLNodeToDelete);

$oNode->parentNode->removeChild($oNode);



?>



The node can have childs, attributes, and be anywhere in your document, it'll get deleted. The deletion will appear immediately in your SimpleXML object after calling removeChild, there's nothing else to do.

kobrasrealm at gmail dot com
28-Jun-2008 11:22


Here's a handy workaround to accommodate the lack of a $xml->deleteChild() function. It's not perfect, but it's a start (and it works for what I'm using it for):





<?php


// Workaround by Kobra.


function simplexml_deleteChild($parent, $childname, $parentname)


{


$temp = simplexml_load_string(str_replace("#","?","<#xml version=\"1.0\"#>\n<".$parentname.">\n</".$parentname.">"));


foreach($parent as $t)


{


  if($t->getName() != $childname)


  {


  $name = $t->getName();


  $value = eval("return \$parent->".$name.";");


  $temp->addChild($t->getName(), $value);


  }


}


return $temp;


}





?>





I have not tested this with multi-level XML files; but like I said, it's a start.

danz at gethitz dot info
30-Jan-2008 02:12


Object cloning ...





So using the 'clone' keyword here lets you work on $new separately, and attributes added to $new don't show up in $sxe





without the 'clone' all changes to $new will be reflected in the larger $sxe tree





<?php


                $new = clone $sxe->AddChild("comment",$comment);


                $new->AddAttribute("name",$name);


                $new->AddAttribute("url",$url);


                $new->AddAttribute("ip",$ip);


                $new->AddAttribute("time",$time);


?>

ron @ rotflol dot cx
10-Jul-2007 06:37


Replacing a node is an easy mod of the simplexml_append





<?php


function simplexml_replace(SimpleXMLElement $parent, SimpleXMLElement $new_child){


   $node1 = dom_import_simplexml($parent);


   $dom_sxe = dom_import_simplexml($new_child);


   $node2 = $node1->ownerDocument->importNode($dom_sxe, true);


   $node1->parentNode->replaceChild($node2,$node1);


}


?>

r dot versluis at millipede dot nl
22-May-2007 03:23


<?php

// phpversion <= 5.1.2



function simplexml_addChild($parent, $name, $value=''){

    $new_child = new SimpleXMLElement("<$name>$value</$name>");

    $node1 = dom_import_simplexml($parent);

    $dom_sxe = dom_import_simplexml($new_child);

    $node2 = $node1->ownerDocument->importNode($dom_sxe, true);

    $node1->appendChild($node2);

    return simplexml_import_dom($node2);

}



function simplexml_addAttribute($parent, $name, $value=''){

    $node1 = dom_import_simplexml($parent);

    $node1->setAttribute($name,$value);

    return simplexml_import_dom($node1);

}



?>

l dot j dot peters at student dot utwente dot nl
31-Jan-2007 05:51


Rob Richards and I have come up with a very easy way to append one SimpleXML tree to another:


<?php


function simplexml_append(SimpleXMLElement $parent, SimpleXMLElement $new_child){


    $node1 = dom_import_simplexml($parent);


    $dom_sxe = dom_import_simplexml($new_child);


    $node2 = $node1->ownerDocument->importNode($dom_sxe, true);


    $node1->appendChild($node2);


}


?>


And adding a textnode is also easy:


<?php


//$sxe1 (refers to SimpleXMLElement)


$node1 = dom_import_simplexml($sxe1);


$node1->appendChild(new DOMText("my text"));


?>





Ofcourse, you could use this to extend the SimpleXMLElement class and overwrite and improve the existing addChild function.





Have fun, Luuk Peters.

thomas dot ekdahl at empatix dot no
18-Sep-2006 02:57


Because SimpleXML transforms the values & to & whe reading from file or string, the values becomes invalid for use when adding childs later on. This simple conversion to the example above fixes this problem.





<?php


class XMLElement extends SimpleXMLElement


{


    public function addElement (SimpleXMLElement $xmlTree,$root=false)


    {


        if($root)


        {


            $child = $this->addChild ($xmlTree->getName());


            foreach ($xmlTree->attributes() as $k => $v)


            {


                $child->addAttribute($k,$v);


            }


            $child->addElement($xmlTree);


        }


        else


        {


            foreach ($xmlTree as $childName => $childTree)


            {





                $child = $this->addChild($childName,$this->fix_content((string) $childTree)); // this is not comletely correct


                foreach ($childTree->attributes() as $k => $v)


                {


                    $child->addAttribute($k,$v);


                }


                $child->addElement($childTree->children());


            }


        }


    }


    


    #When the xml is read by simplexml_load_file or simplexml_load_file the values that contains & is converted to &. And then it is not possible to add these values without getting errors.


    #THis function should fix this


    public function fix_content($value) {


        return str_replace('&', '&', $value);


    }


}


?>

fred at misterbob dot nl
03-Aug-2006 06:23


<?php


class XMLElement extends SimpleXMLElement {


    


    public function addElement (XMLElement $xmlTree,$root=false) {


        if ($root) {


            $child = $this->addChild ($xmlTree->getName());


            foreach ($xmlTree->attributes() as $k => $v) {


                $child->addAttribute($k,$v);


            }


            $child->addElement($xmlTree);


        } else {


            foreach ($xmlTree as $childName => $childTree) {


                $child = $this->addChild($childName,(string) $childTree); // this is not comletely correct


                foreach ($childTree->attributes() as $k => $v) {


                    $child->addAttribute($k,$v);


                }


                $child->addElement($childTree->children());


            }


        }


    }


}


$xmlMovies = "<movies><movie name=\"Shawshank Redemption\"><plot>The life of Andy Dufresne changes when he is convicted and jailed for the murder of his wife.</plot></movie></movies>";


$elMovies = new XMLElement($xmlMovies);





$xmlGodfather = "<movie name=\"Godfather\"><plot>The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.</plot></movie>";


$elGodfather = new XMLElement ($xmlGodfather);





$elMovies->addElement($elGodfather,true);


echo $elMovies->asXML();


?>





Method to append (Simple)XMLElements to each other.

add a note

SimpleXMLElement::asXML

SimpleXMLElement::addAttribute