Question

how to get an array of xml with php in this format, of an external file

$locations = array(
  (Bondi Beach, -33.890542, 151.274856, 4),
  (Coogee Beach, -33.923036, 151.259052, 5),
  (Cronulla Beach', -34.028249, 151.157507, 3)
);
//this is my file php
         $dom = new DOMDocument();
            $dom->load('school.xml');
            $students = $dom->getElementsByTagName('student');
            $i = 0; 
            foreach ($students as $student) {
                $locations = $students->item(0)->nodeValue;
                echo $locations;
                $i++;
            }

when I run this code returns the following result:
Bondi Beach -33.890542 151.274856 4 Coogee Beach -33.923036 151.259052 5 Cronulla Beach -34.028249 151.157507 3
What do I have to change so that It return an array with the following format?:

this is my array school.xml

<school>
<student>
<name>Bondi Beanch</name>
<latitude>-33.890542</latitude>
<longitude>151.274856</longitude>
<id>4</id>
</student>
<student>
<name>Coogee Beach</name>
<latitude>-33.923036</latitude>
<longitude>151.259052</longitude>
<id>5</id>
</student>
<student>
<name>Cronulla Beach</name>
<latitude>-34.028249</latitude>
<longitude>151.157507</longitude>
<id>3</id>
</student>
</school>

Answer 1

<?php
$dom = new DOMDocument();
$dom->load('school.xml');
$students = $dom->getElementsByTagName('student');
foreach ($students as $student){
    foreach($student->childNodes as $node){
        switch($node->nodeName){
            case 'name':
                $name = $node->nodeValue;
                break;
            case 'longitude':
                $long = $node->nodeValue;
                break;
            case 'latitude':
                $lat = $node->nodeValue;
                break;
            case 'id':
                $id = $node->nodeValue;
                break;
        }
    }       
    $locations[] = array($name,$lat,$long,$id);
}
echo '<pre>';
print_r($locations);
echo '</pre>';
?>

and if you wanted the arrays to be associative you could replace this line:

$locations[] = array('name'=>$name,'latitude'=>$lat,'longitude'=>$long,'id'=>$id);