Find a minumum value from an xml doc

[format]

Hi Guys,

 

I have an xml document wich I can view as xml or put into an array.  I need to parse the xml data to find the minimum SLevel value, displaying on the page that value itself and the company offering it. I have tried in vain to get it working.  I can find data by looping through matching a company name or exact value.

 

 

foreach ($xml->Type->Company as $item)
{
    
    
    
    if ($item->SLevel == 18.56)
    {
        do here
    }

 

But ,I have no idea how to loop through using min to find the lowest number.  Would anyone have a working example I could follow.  Many thanks.  Jon

 

<Quotes>
<Type>
<Desc>Life Cover Only</Desc>
<CriticalWarning>For Friends First, conversion applies to life and Specified Illness to age 65.</CriticalWarning>
<Company>
<Name key="1">Caledonian Life</Name>
<PricePledge>True</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="2">23.98</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="2">25.51</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="2">18.66</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="0">-</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
<Company>
<Name key="2">Canada Life</Name>
<PricePledge>False</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="0">-</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="0">-</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="0">-</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="0">-</SConvMortgage>
</Company>

</Type>
</Quotes>

[Ch0cu3r]

You'd loop through the xml storing the SLevel into an array. Then you'd use min

$SLevels[] = array();
foreach ($xml->Type->Company as $item)
{
    $SLevels[] = $item->SLevel; // add SLevel to array
}

$minSLevel = min($SLevels); // get minimum value

echo 'The minimum SLevel value is ' . $minSLevel;

[format]

Thank you  for such a fast reply.  I tried the above on the xml pasted below and it returned the highest number which is also the last in the xml doc.  Not sure why.  Thanks again for your help.

 

<Quotes>
<Type>
<Desc>Life Cover Only</Desc>
<CriticalWarning>For Friends First, conversion applies to life and Specified Illness to age 65.</CriticalWarning>
<Company>
<Name key="1">Caledonian Life</Name>
<PricePledge>True</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="2">23.98</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="2">25.51</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="2">18.66</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="0">-</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
<Company>
<Name key="2">Canada Life</Name>
<PricePledge>False</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="0">-</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="0">-</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="0">-</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="0">-</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
<Company>
<Name key="3">Zurich Life</Name>
<PricePledge>False</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="2">23.86</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="2">24.93</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="2">18.56</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="0">-</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
<Company>
<Name key="4">Friends First</Name>
<PricePledge>True</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="2">26.21</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="2">28.57</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="2">20.60</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="0">-</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
<Company>
<Name key="5">Aviva</Name>
<PricePledge>False</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="2">26.05</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="2">28.30</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="2">21.27</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="0">-</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
<Company>
<Name key="6">Irish Life</Name>
<PricePledge>True</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="2">24.38</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="2">26.17</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="2">19.15</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="2">20.54</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
<Company>
<Name key="7">New Ireland</Name>
<PricePledge>True</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="2">27.19</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="2">28.83</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="2">21.34</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="2">23.48</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
</Type>
</Quotes><hr />
<Quotes>
<Type>
<Desc>Life Cover Only</Desc>
<CriticalWarning>For Friends First, conversion applies to life and Specified Illness to age 65.</CriticalWarning>
<Company>
<Name key="1">Caledonian Life</Name>
<PricePledge>True</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="2">23.98</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="2">25.51</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="2">18.66</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="0">-</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
<Company>
<Name key="2">Canada Life</Name>
<PricePledge>False</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="0">-</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="0">-</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="0">-</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="0">-</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
<Company>
<Name key="3">Zurich Life</Name>
<PricePledge>False</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="2">23.86</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="2">24.93</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="2">18.56</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="0">-</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
<Company>
<Name key="4">Friends First</Name>
<PricePledge>True</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="2">26.21</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="2">28.57</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="2">20.60</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="0">-</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
<Company>
<Name key="5">Aviva</Name>
<PricePledge>False</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="2">26.05</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="2">28.30</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="2">21.27</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="0">-</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
<Company>
<Name key="6">Irish Life</Name>
<PricePledge>True</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="2">24.38</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="2">26.17</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="2">19.15</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="2">20.54</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
<Company>
<Name key="7">New Ireland</Name>
<PricePledge>True</PricePledge>
<Underwriting1/>
<SLevel key="2">27.19</SLevel>
<SConvertible key="2">28.83</SConvertible>
<SMortgage key="2">21.34</SMortgage>
<SConvMortgage key="2">23.48</SConvMortgage>
</Company>
</Type>
</Quotes>

[Ch0cu3r]

My bad, change $SLevels[] = array(); to $SLevels = array();

[Ch0cu3r]

Ok I tested the code. I found a few issues with it.

 

try this instead

$SLevels = array();
foreach ($xml->Type->Company as $item)
{
	$tmp = (array) $item->SLevel; 

	if($tmp[0] != '-') // ignore SLevels set to a dash
		$SLevels[] = $tmp[0]; // add SLevel to array
}

$minSLevel = min($SLevels); // get minimum value

echo 'The minimum SLevel value is ' . $minSLevel;

Edited November 26, 2013 by Ch0cu3r

[format]

Thats fantastic, works brillant.  Is it possible to catch the company name as well as the min value.

 

I dont know what the rules are in the forums but the above code is for a client of mine.  I am more than happy to pay someone like yourself for this kind of support.  apologies if this is not your thing or not allowed here but to have someone who can help with these kind of coding issues that are above me is worth its wieght in gold.

 

Thank you so much again.

 

J

[Ch0cu3r]

 

Is it possible to catch the company name as well as the min value.

Yes. 

$SLevels = array();
foreach ($xml->Type->Company as $item)
{
	$companyName = (string) $item->Name; // get the company name

	$tmp = (array) $item->SLevel;
	if($tmp[0] != '-')
		$SLevels[] = array($tmp[0], $companyName); // add SLevel and company name to array
}

$minSLevel = min($SLevels); // get minimum value

echo $minSLevel[1] .' has the minimum SLevel value of ' . $minSLevel[0];

[Barand]

alternative using xpath search

$min = 99999.99;
foreach($xml->xpath('//Company') as $co) {
    if ($co->SLevel != '-') {
        $min = min($min, $co->SLevel);
    }
}

foreach( $xml->xpath("//Company[SLevel='$min']") as $lowest) {
    echo "$lowest->Name : $lowest->SLevel<br>";
}

results

 

Caledonian Life : 23.98
Caledonian Life : 23.98

[format]

Thanks ch0cu3r & Barand,
 Your help has saved me hours.... Given the quality of responses it would be tempying to dump all my daily queries here.  However I won't abuse peoples time.  Thanks a million for the help on this one.

[format]

Hi Ch0cu3r, one small thing, if SLevel in the XML doc contains a large number with a comma it seems to not like it.  1,000.01 causes 1.00 to be returned wheras 900.01 is no problem.  Does something need to change in the code.?

 

Many thanks

 

Jon

[Barand]

When converting a string to a number PHP will only consider those characters up to the the first non-numeric character, which in that case is the comma. (The decimal period is taken to be a numeric character when converting). For this reason, and others, numbers should always be stored unformatted in data and not as formatted strings.

[format]

Thanks for this.  My problem is here so, the below works until the number in minSLevel contains a comma.  This is where more PHP knowledge is required.

 

if (number_format($minSLevel[0],2) >= 11.20) {

$premium = number_format($minSLevel[0] - ($minSLevel[0] * .1),2, '.', ',');

}

else {
    
$premium = number_format($minSLevel[0],2, '.', ',');

}

[Barand]

Why are you using number_format() on strings that are already formatted?

Why are you processing formatted numbers at all?

 

You should only format numbers on final output.

[format]

if ($minSLevel[0] >= 11.20)

 

The above does not work when $minSLevel is 1,862.08

 

Only works for hundreds.

 

Sorry, php number knowledge not great.

[Barand]

Where did the 1,862.08 get formatted with the comma in the first place? You need to go back to change the earlier processing so it stays as 1862.08 until you output the results to the screen or the printed page (ie only when it's going to be seen by human eyes).

[format]

From the xml doc returned to via a post from a 3rd party

 

Example below

 

DLevel key="2">1,391.52</DLevel>
<DConvertible key="2">1,504.23</DConvertible>
<JLevel key="2">1,376.31</JLevel>
<JConvertible key="2">1,487.68</JConvertible>
<JMortgage key="2">856.76</JMortgage>

[Ch0cu3r]

You'll need to strip the number formatting when finding the minimum value.

 

A modification of Barands code

$min = 99999.99;
foreach($xml->xpath('//Company') as $co) {
    if ($co->SLevel != '-') {
        $min = min($min, str_replace(',', '', $co->SLevel)); // strip number formatting
    }
}

$min = number_format($min, 2, ',', '.'); // format minimum value

foreach( $xml->xpath("//Company[SLevel='$min']") as $lowest) {
    echo "$lowest->Name : $lowest->SLevel<br>";
}

[format]

Thank you for your help, I added $minSLevel[0] = str_replace(',', '', $minSLevel[0]);

 

This seems to be working but the above is far neater.  I will have a go with it.  Thank you very much for your time and help

[Barand]

 

 

$min = min($min, str_replace(',', '', $co->SLevel)); // strip number formatting

 

Unfortunately, if you strip out the comma at that point, the last part of the code does not find any matched as 1,234.56 != 1234.56.

 

However you should strip out the commas at the earliest opportunity as numbers do not behave correctly as strings EG

echo min('1,234.56', '23.45'); //--> 1,234.56 ???
echo min(1234.56, 23.45);      //--> 23.45