Question

For a structure such as

SimpleXMLElement Object
(
    [id] => https://itunes.apple.com/us/rss/topfreeapplications/limit=2/genre=6014/xml
    [title] => iTunes Store: Top Free Applications in Games
    [updated] => 2013-02-04T07:18:54-07:00    
    [icon] => http://itunes.apple.com/favicon.ico
    [entry] => Array
        (
            [0] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                (
                    [updated] => 2013-02-04T07:18:54-07:00
                    [id] => https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/whats-word-new-quiz-pics-words/id573511269?mt=8&uo=2
                    [title] => What is the Word? - new quiz with pics and words - RedSpell
                )

            [1] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                (
                    [updated] => 2013-02-04T07:18:54-07:00
                    [id] => https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/temple-run-2/id572395608?mt=8&uo=2
                    [title] => Temple Run 2 - Imangi Studios, LLC
                )
        )

)

I’m using the following code to target the entry node as each entry node stands for a game.

$xml = simplexml_load_file('the path to file');
foreach ($xml->entry as $val)
{                   
   $gameTitle = $val->title;    
   $gameLink = $val->id;
}

WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR

Target the index of the entry node, i.e. 0, 1, 2 and so on; i.e.

[0] => SimpleXMLElement Object // <-- this fella here, capture 0
(
     [updated] => 2013-02-04T07:18:54-07:00
     [id] => https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/whats-word-new-quiz-pics-words/id573511269?mt=8&uo=2
     [title] => What is the Word? - new quiz with pics and words - RedSpell                  
)
[1] => SimpleXMLElement Object // <-- this fella here, capture 1
(
     [updated] => 2013-02-04T07:18:54-07:00
     [id] => https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/temple-run-2/id572395608?mt=8&uo=2
     [title] => Temple Run 2 - Imangi Studios, LLC
)

Whatever I do, I just can’t seem to get the index of the current node.

UPDATE

Just for you people to test it out Code Viper

Answer 1

You are looking for a function called iteator_to_array setting the second parameter to false:

$entries = iterator_to_array($xml->entry, false);
foreach ($entries as $index => $val)
{
    $gameTitle = $val->title;
    echo "<p>$gameTitle</p><p>Index = $index</p>";

}

Demo. Actually you do not must use that function you could also just count:

$index = 0;
foreach ($xml->entry as $val)
{
    echo "<p>{$val->title}</p><p>Index = $index</p>";
    $index++;
}

By default the $key (as in your example code) is the tagname of the XML element. So you can not use it for the index number by default.