Serializing XML With PHP - Total Satisfaction

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Now, if you're a nitpicker, the output of the example on the previous page still won't satisfy you. Here's why:

1. The serialized XML document does not contain the XML declaration at the top.
   
   
2. The root element of the document is called <array>, whereas what you actually want is for it to be <library>.
   
   
3. The XML document is not correctly indented.

In order to account for these requirements, XML_Serializer comes with a setOption() method, which allows you to customize the behaviour of the serializer to your needs. To illustrate, consider the following example, which solves the first problem noted above:


<?php
 
// include class file
include("Serializer.php");
 
// create object
$serializer = new XML_Serializer();
 
// create array to be serialized
$xml = array ( "book" => array (
    "title" => "Oliver Twist", 
    "author" => "Charles Dickens"));
 
// add XML declaration
$serializer->setOption("addDecl", true);
 
// perform serialization
$result = $serializer->serialize($xml);
 
// check result code and display XML if success
if($result === true) 
{
 echo $serializer->getSerializedData();
}
 
? >



Here's the output:


<?xml version="1.0"? >
<array>
<book>
<title>Oliver Twist</title>
<author>Charles Dickens</author>
</book>
</array>



Thus, the setOption() method takes two arguments -- a variable and its value -- and uses that information to tell the serializer how to return the XML document.

Next, how about fixing the root element and the indentation?


<?php
 
// include class file
include("Serializer.php");
 
// create object
$serializer = new XML_Serializer();
 
// create array to be serialized
$xml = array ( "book" => array (
    "title" => "Oliver Twist", 
    "author" => "Charles Dickens"));
 
// add XML declaration
$serializer->setOption("addDecl", true);
 
// indent elements
$serializer->setOption("indent", "    ");
 
// set name for root element
$serializer->setOption("rootName", "library");
      

// perform serialization
$result = $serializer->serialize($xml);
 
// check result code and display XML if success
if($result === true) 
{
 echo $serializer->getSerializedData();
}
 
? >



And here's the result:


<?xml version="1.0"? >
<library>
    <book>
        <title>Oliver Twist</title>
        <author>Charles Dickens</author>
    </book>
</library>



Pretty, isn't it?

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