Using SimpleXML to load remote URL

[builditbob]

Hi everyone,

 

I've been trying to load a remote URL using the following;

 

$url = 'http://api.ean.com/ean-services/rs/hotel/v3/list?cid=55505&minorRev=12&apiKey=2hkhej72gxyas3ky6hhjtsga&locale=en_US&currencyCode=USD&customerIpAddress=10.184.2.9&customerUserAgent=Mozilla/5.0+(Windows;+U;+Windows+NT+6.1;+en-US;+rv:1.9.2.25)+Gecko/20111212+Firefox/3.6.25&customerSessionId=&xml=<HotelListRequest><arrivalDate>01/22/2012</arrivalDate><departureDate>01/24/2012</departureDate><RoomGroup><Room><numberOfAdults>1</numberOfAdults><numberOfChildren>1</numberOfChildren><childAges>4</childAges></Room></RoomGroup><city>Amsterdam</city><countryCode>NL</countryCode><supplierCacheTolerance>MED</supplierCacheTolerance></HotelListRequest> ';
$xml = simplexml_load_file($url);

 

But I get met with this error;

 

Warning: simplexml_load_file() [function.simplexml-load-file]: http://api.ean.com/ean-services/rs/hotel/v3/list?cid=55505&minorRev=12&apiKey=2hkhej72gxyas3ky6hhjtsga&locale=en_US&currencyCode=USD&customerIpAddress=10.184.2.9&customerUserAgent=Mozilla/5.0%2B(Windows;%2BU;%2BWindows%2BNT%2B6.1;%2Ben-US;%2Brv:1.9.2.25)%2BGecko/20111212%2BFirefox/3.6.25&customerSessionId=&xml=%3CHotelListRequest%3E%3CarrivalDate%3E01/22/2012%3C/arrivalDate%3E%3CdepartureDate%3E01/24/2012%3C/departureDate%3E%3CRoomGroup%3E%3CRoom%3E%3CnumberOfAdults%3E1%3C/numberOfAdults%3E%3CnumberOfChildren%3E1%3C/numberOfChildren%3E%3CchildAges%3E4%3C/childAges%3E%3C/Room%3E%3C/RoomGroup%3E%3Ccity%3EAmsterdam%3C/city%3E%3CcountryCode%3ENL%3C/countryCode%3E%3CsupplierCacheTolerance%3EMED%3C/supplierCacheTolerance%3E%3C/HotelListRequest%3E%20:1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found in C:\Program Files\XAMPP\xampplite\htdocs\hotel\results.php on line 29

 

I was told that URL I am trying to access;

 

http://api.ean.com/ean-services/rs/hotel/v3/list?cid=55505&minorRev=12&apiKey=2hkhej72gxyas3ky6hhjtsga&locale=en_US&currencyCode=USD&customerIpAddress=10.184.2.9&customerUserAgent=Mozilla/5.0+(Windows;+U;+Windows+NT+6.1;+en-US;+rv:1.9.2.25)+Gecko/20111212+Firefox/3.6.25&customerSessionId=&xml=<HotelListRequest><arrivalDate>01/22/2012</arrivalDate><departureDate>01/24/2012</departureDate><RoomGroup><Room><numberOfAdults>1</numberOfAdults><numberOfChildren>1</numberOfChildren><childAges>4</childAges></Room></RoomGroup><city>Amsterdam</city><countryCode>NL</countryCode><supplierCacheTolerance>MED</supplierCacheTolerance></HotelListRequest> 

 

...is a JSON response.

 

So I was then told to do this;

 

<?php
$context  = stream_context_create(array('http' => array('header' => 'Accept: application/xml')));
$url = 'http://api.ean.com/ean-services/rs/hotel/v3/list?cid=55505&minorRev=12&apiKey=2hkhej72gxyas3ky6hhjtsga&locale=en_US&currencyCode=USD&customerIpAddress=10.184.2.9&customerSessionId=&xml=<HotelListRequest><arrivalDate>01/22/2012</arrivalDate><departureDate>01/24/2012</departureDate><RoomGroup><Room><numberOfAdults>1</numberOfAdults><numberOfChildren>1</numberOfChildren><childAges>4</childAges></Room></RoomGroup><city>Amsterdam</city><countryCode>NL</countryCode><supplierCacheTolerance>MED</supplierCacheTolerance></HotelListRequest> ';

$xml = file_get_contents($url, false, $context);
$xml = simplexml_load_string($xml);
print_r($xml);
?>

 

This then prints the array to screen.

 

The data I am trying to access is from the Expedia Affiliate Travel Network. The URL above is from their XML Sandbox.

 

My question is;

 

How is the above data that gets returned a JSON response when it should be XML?

 

and

 

How can I access the data in the returned array without printing the array to screen? (I've tried things like echo $xml->hotelId[0] and using a foreach statement to no avail).

 

I'm just a little confused here and have spent quite a number of hours trying to figure this out and reading other resources around the web on SimpleXML (including the PHP Manual). When working with other examples found elsewhere I seem to be ok but when dealing with this URL I seem to be out of my depth.

 

The XML Sandbox from the EAN network is located: http://ean.mashery.com/docs/hotels/assets/XML_Sandbox

 

The URL I am using is supposed to return a well formed XML result set.

 

Thanks for your assistance.

 

Bob