question about SimpleXML and picasaWeb xml

[bdee1]

Hi - I am trying to use simpleXML to parse a picasaWeb XML feed and I am running into a bit of trouble.

 

the URL of the picasaweb feed I am using is:

http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/api/user/blairdee2000/albumid/5149975922288869729?kind=photo&access=public&thumbsize=144c&imgmax=512

 

right now i am just trying to spit out the thumbnail image url and the title and description for each.

 

so the thumbnail url should be at:

feed->entry->media:group->media:thumbnail in the url attribute

 

and the title should be found at

feed->entry->media:group->media:title

 

and the description should be found at

feed->entry->media:group->media:description

 

so initially i thought the following code would work:

$xml = simplexml_load_file($feedURL);
foreach($xml->entry as $entry)
{
	imgTitle = entry->media:group->media:title;
	imgDescrip = entry->media:group->media:description;
	thumbURL = entry->media:group->media:thumbnail['url'];
	echo("<strong>Title:" . $imgTitle . "</strong><br/>");
	echo("<strong>Description:" . $imgDescrip . "</strong><br/>");
	echo("<img src='" . $thumbURL . "'><br/>");

}

 

but that didnt work - it seems as though the : in the node names is throwing it off.  sorry I am a relative newbie - i am sure that the colon has a special meaning but i dont know what it is.

 

so i ended up finding some code that does work but it seems more complex than it  needs to be:

$xml = simplexml_load_file($feedURL);

foreach($xml->entry as $entry)
{
	$imgTitleArray = $entry->xpath('./media:group/media:title');
	$imgTitle = $imgTitleArray[0];

	$imgDescripArray = $entry->xpath('./media:group/media:description');
	$imgDescrip = $imgDescripArray[0];

	$imgThumbArray = $entry->xpath('./media:group/media:thumbnail');
	$imgThumbAttributes = $imgThumbArray[0]->attributes();
	$imgThumb = $imgThumbAttributes[0];

	echo("<strong>Title:" . $imgTitle . "</strong><br/>");
	echo("<strong>Description:" . $imgDescrip . "</strong><br/>");
	echo("<img src='" . $imgThumb . "'><br/><br/>");
}

 

looks like i have to use the xpath function to reference these special nodes which returns an array.  then i have to use the attributes function to return an array of the attributes.  then i have to reference the attributes array item by its numerical index... i dunno this seems more complex than it needs to be... am I right?  or is that just how it has to be done.  if someone could provide some guidance to get me in the right track here I would appreciate it.