Parsing XML files with CakePHP

By Fahad Ibnay Heylaal (fahad19)
Simple tutorial for parsing xml files quickly using the core XML class of cakephp.
After spending one whole evening, I found out CakePHP has its own XML class for handling xml files. In the meantime, i tried SimplePie (for RSS only, not XML), SimpleXML, and XMLize. But still they werent of any great help compared to cakephp's core XML class (and some Sets).

How to parse it then?
First of all, you need to import the XML class in your controller class using App::import(). Here is the controller class parsing a particular xml file and printing out (like print_r) the returned array.

Controller Class:

Download code <?php 

  class ParseController extends AppController {
  var $name = "Parse";
  var $uses = array('MyModel');

  function xml() {
    // import XML class
    App::import('Xml');

    // your XML file's location
    $file = "my_xml_file.xml";

    // now parse it
    $parsed_xml =& new XML($file);
    $parsed_xml = Set::reverse($parsed_xml); // this is what i call magic

    // see the returned array
    debug($parsed_xml);
  }
}

?>