simplexml and XML from a remote server

[favedish]

hi

first off, i must let you know that i'm an ASP proggie, and have very little PHP knowledge.

i have a requirement for some PHP to query a third party's remote database, which returns XML. i then need to parse and display the data.

i have got as far as taking the POSTed form data and producing a URL from it. i have proven this by means of using

  header("Location: ".$myurl);
 
  $myurl is of the form  http://domain.com/search.php?p=11&area=17&moreparams=lots

which gives me a page of XML as i would expect.

now i need to parse the XML....

i have tried simplexml_load_file($myurl) which throws an error of the form:

  parser error : Extra content at the end of the document
 
i've saved the XML into test.xml and put it on the server. then, simplexml_load_file('test.xml') works fine.

my guess is that i can't simplexml_lolad_file() from a remote server. is this the case? if so, is there an easy way around this?

or maybe the URL is just too long?

also, is it necessary for me to capture the POST data and reformat it into a URL? or can i change the <FORM> tag to a GET, call the remote DB search directly, and then somehow process the returned XML?

any help greatfully appreciated - but please keep it simple, cos as i said, i'm from the ASP world and all this is very new to me....

cheers

[hitman6003]

What are you trying to accomplish with the xml?

You can use simplexml_load_string rather than load_file....

[code]$parsed_doc = simplexml_load_string(file_get_contents($myurl));[/code]

[favedish]

it's basic data from a real estate site, that has to be displayed in a web page. nothing in any way tricky  ;D

thanks fot the suggestion, i'll give it a go.

[drifter]

what is the name of the system you are trying to get data from - I may have some good code to help you out a bit.

[favedish]

it's a real estate system based in austria - http://www.wohnnet.at/

[favedish]

sorry hitman6003, i tried what you suggested but got the same error.

here's the err msg in its entirety:

Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: Entity: line 2: parser error : Extra content at the end of the document in D:\wwwroot\a.php on line 38 PHP Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: <b>Warning</b>: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in <b>/appl/www/htdocs/ in D:\wwwroot\a.php on line 38 PHP Warning: simplexml_load_string() [function.simplexml-load-string]: ^ in D:\wwwroot\a.php on line 38

i get the feeling that the remote server will accept the URL via a simple GET, but doesn't like it within a simplexml call. is that right?

[drifter]

the remote server does not even know you have simplexml - file get contents is just a get call - then after that is return then it is passed to the simplexml

do file get contents - then echo the result and look at it. what do you see?

[favedish]

ok, so it's this:

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /appl/www/htdocs/extend/wn05/search_xmlliste_inc.php on line 69
25fffb44395ed97911d07ad4ecd87ef052970616_404731000
40473

but it works fine using header("Location:....") ....?

NB i have no access to the remote server other than this... it would be great if the peeps there were as helpful as the crew here ;)

[hitman6003]

what code are you using that has a foreach loop?

[favedish]

here's my little page:

[code]
<?php

//the form sends a variable set of variables, so i am dealing with it this way:

$s="";
foreach($_POST as $key => $value)

{
$s.= "&";
$s.= $key;
$s.= "=";
  $s.= $value;
}

$s="?".substr($s,1);

$myurl = "http://remote.com/page.php".$s;

echo file_get_contents($myurl);

//header("Location: ".$myurl);                  this works

//$parsed_doc = simplexml_load_string(file_get_contents($myurl));                  this doesn't

?>

[/code]

my foreach code at the top works fine.

it's a foreach loop on the remote that is throwing the error - and i don't have access to that code.

[hitman6003]

Use urlencode on your $value variables:

[code]foreach($_POST as $key => $value)

{
$s.= "&";
$s.= $key;
$s.= "=";
  $s.= urlencode($value);
}[/code]

[favedish]

still the same error.... hmm, guess i'm going to have to try and get some assistance from the remote people.... unless anyone has any other ideas?