Learn an easy way to parse XML and output it the way you want by using the simpleXML extensions in PHP5. Murray outlines the 3 main elements of an XML document and how to replace them with your own non-template data and how to build an array of all the tags put in the document.
To the new PHP programmer, XML is quite the mysterious thing. Recently I began writing a website that uses an XML template system, so I needed to find an easy way to parse my XML, and output it the way I needed it to be outputted. With PHP4 you have to build your own XML parser that will read and output your XML. So, with that idea I decided begin to explore PHP5, because of its simpleXML extensions.
Before jumping ahead and just building my parser, I knew that I’d have to replace elements in the XML document with data from my database; after all what would be the point of using XML for a template system if you couldn’t replace elements with your own data. So, keeping that in mind I know that I’d have to load each element of my XML document into a variable then send it through my own function to replace the things I need to replace, with the correct information. Now, let’s get started.
The first thing we should look at is the XML document. This is a simpler version of mine, but it’s still the same basic idea. Save the following as template.xml.
/ 44 
