John Davidson

Message:

I'm trying to transform XML into Json with PHP. I have in input an XML file (file.xml) with a recursive structure and I would like to transpose it into Json (out.json). The graph contains a repeated recursive node:

xml file sample:

<Transfer>

    <Name>Transfer</Name>

    <Title>Transfer + Date</Title>

    <Level>

        <Name>Item 1</Name>

        <Title>Title 1</Title>

        <className>middle-level</className>

        <Level>

            <Name>Item 1.1</Name>

            <Title>Title 1.1</Title>

            <className>product-dept</className>

        </Level>

        <Level>

            <Name>Item 1.2</Name>

            <Title>Title 1.2</Title>

            <className>product-dept</className>

            <Level>

                <Name>Item 1.2.1</Name>

                <Title>Title 1.2.1</Title>

                <className>pipeline1</className>

                    <Level>

                        <Name>Item 1.2.1.1</Name>

                        <Title>Title 1.2.1.1</Title>

                        <className>otherClass</className>

                    </Level>

            </Level>

        </Level>

    </Level>

    <Level>

        <Name>Item 2</Name>

        <Title>Title 2</Title>

        <className>middle-level</className>

    </Level>

</Transfer>

Json output desired :

{

    'name': 'Transfer',

    'title': 'transfer Date',

    'children': [

      { 'name': 'Item 1', 'title': 'Title 1', 'className': 'middle-level',

        'children': [

          { 'name': 'Item 1.1', 'title': 'Title 1.1', 'className': 'product-dept' },

          { 'name': 'Item 1.2', 'title': 'Title 1.2', 'className': 'product-dept',

            'children': [

              { 'name': 'Item 1.2.1', 'title': 'Title 1.2.1', 'className': 'pipeline1' ,

              'children': [

                  { 'name': 'Item 1.2.1.1', 'title': 'Title 1.2.1.1', 'className': 'otherClass' },

              ]

            ]

          }

        ]

      },

      { 'name': 'Item 2', 'title': 'Title 2', 'className': 'middle-level'}

    ]

  }

All this with php code :

$xml = simplexml_load_file("fileOK.xml");

    $result = [];

    $result['names'] = (string)$xml->Name;

    $result['titles'] = (string)$xml->Title;



    foreach ($xml->Level as $value)

    {



        $child = [];

        $item = [];

        $item['name'] = (string)$value->Name;

        $item['title'] = (string)$value->Title;

        $item['className'] = (string)$value->className;



        foreach ($value->Level as $level)

        {

            $child2 = [];

            foreach ($level->Level as $level) {

                $child[] = array(

                    'name' => (string)$level->Name,

                    'title' => (string)$level->Title,

                    'className' => (string)$level->className,

                );

                $item['children'] = $child2;

            }

            

        }



        $item['children'] = $child;

        $result['childrens'][] = $item;

    }

    $json_string = json_encode($result);

    print_r($json_string);

I'm just transforming a part of the graph but I don't understand how to do more.

Thanks for the help.

---

My Answer:

Parent Node


Child Node 1


Grandchild Node 1


Great Grandchild Node 1


Great Great Grandchild Node 1









Child Node 2




Desired output in out.json:
{
"name": "Parent Node",
"children": [
{
"name": "Child Node 1",
"children": [
{
"name": "Grandchild Node 1",
"children": [
{
"name": "Great Grandchild Node 1",
"children": [
{
"name": "Great Great Grandchild Node 1",
"children": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"name": "Child Node 2",
"children": []
}
]
}
To achieve this transformation, you can use PHP's SimpleXMLElement class to parse the XML file and then convert it to an associative array using json_encode. Here's a sample code snippet to accomplish this:
php
$xml = simplexml_load_file('file.xml');
function xmlToArray($xml) {
$array = [];
foreach ($xml->children() as $child) {
$name = $child->name;
$children = $child->children;
$array[] = [
'name' => (string) $name,
'children' => $children ? xmlToArray($children) : []
];
}
return $array;
}
$array = xmlToArray($xml);
$json = json_encode($array, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
file_put_contents('out.json', $json);

This code will read the XML file, convert it to an associative array, and then encode it as JSON before writing it to the out.json file.