Question

I get following XML string as a response from BING (Note:COMPOSITE result), i tried and tried to scan into the entries (inline->feed->entry) to a for loop but failed.. the code i used to scan through the results as below

$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($rs);
$i=0;       
if ( $xml->entry->link ) {
    $feeds = $xml->entry->link->children('m', TRUE)->inline->entry;
    foreach ( $feeds as $results) {
        $i++;
        echo $data=(string)$results->content;
        $result = $data->children('m', TRUE)->properties->children('d', TRUE);
        echo "ss".$clickurl = $result->Url;
        $url = urldecode($clickurl);
        $search[$i]['url'] = str_replace("&", "&", $url);// for the vali
        $search[$i]['abstract'] = (string)$result->Description;
        $search[$i]['title']    = (string)$result->Title;
        $search[$i]['rank'] = $i;   
    } //foreach 
}
return $search;

*can you let me what i am missing here ? I have no idea to how do i access the <m:inline> <feed> dataset using the simpleXML object, and microsoft support team answer is PHP is not their language so they can’t help me, ask me to use forums/stackoverflow. *

   <feed xmlns:base="https://api.datamarket.azure.com/Data.ashx/Bing/SearchWeb/Composite" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/metadata" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
  <title type="text">keyword</title>
  <subtitle type="text">Bing Search API</subtitle>
  <id>https://api.datamarket.azure.com/Data.ashx/Bing/SearchWeb/Composite?Query='keyword'</id>
  <rights type="text" />
  <updated>2012-08-07T18:29:09Z</updated>
  <entry>
    <id>https://api.datamarket.azure.com/Data.ashx/Bing/SearchWeb/Composite?Query='keyword'&amp;$skip=0&amp;$top=1</id>
    <title type="text">ExpandableSearchResult</title>
    <updated>2012-08-07T18:29:09Z</updated>
    <link rel="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/related/Web" type="application/atom+xml;type=feed" title="Web" href="ExpandableSearchResultSet(guid'3947df4e-b3b3-4be7-b25b-77852c8d312a')/Web">
      <m:inline>
        <feed xmlns:base="https://api.datamarket.azure.com/Data.ashx/Bing/SearchWeb/ExpandableSearchResultSet(guid'3947df4e-b3b3-4be7-b25b-77852c8d312a')/Web" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/metadata" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
          <title type="text">Web</title>
          <subtitle type="text">Bing Search API</subtitle>
          <id>https://api.datamarket.azure.com/Data.ashx/Bing/SearchWeb/ExpandableSearchResultSet(guid'3947df4e-b3b3-4be7-b25b-77852c8d312a')/Web</id>
          <rights type="text"></rights>
          <updated>2012-08-07T18:29:09Z</updated>
          <link rel="next" href="https://api.datamarket.azure.com/Data.ashx/Bing/SearchWeb/Web?Query='keyword'&amp;$skip=3&amp;$top=50" />
          <entry>
            <id>https://api.datamarket.azure.com/Data.ashx/Bing/SearchWeb/ExpandableSearchResultSet(guid'3947df4e-b3b3-4be7-b25b-77852c8d312a')/Web?$skip=1&amp;$top=1</id>
            <title type="text">WebResult</title>
            <updated>2012-08-07T18:29:09Z</updated>
            <content type="application/xml">
              <m:properties>
                <d:ID m:type="Edm.Guid">a6c62628-0012-42a2-b65c-513c82f523d1</d:ID>
                <d:Title m:type="Edm.String">title ...</d:Title>
                <d:Description m:type="Edm.String">title: ...</d:Description>
                <d:DisplayUrl m:type="Edm.String">sss.newikis.com/dd.html</d:DisplayUrl>
                <d:Url m:type="Edm.String">http://ss.newikis.com/ss.html</d:Url>
              </m:properties>
            </content>
          </entry>
        </feed>
      </m:inline>
    </link>
    <content type="application/xml">
      <m:properties>
        <d:ID m:type="Edm.Guid">3947df4e-b3b3-4be7-b25b-77852c8d312a</d:ID>
        <d:WebTotal m:type="Edm.Int64">3</d:WebTotal>
        <d:WebOffset m:type="Edm.Int64">0</d:WebOffset>
        <d:AlteredQuery m:type="Edm.String"></d:AlteredQuery>
        <d:AlterationOverrideQuery m:type="Edm.String"></d:AlterationOverrideQuery>
      </m:properties>
    </content>
  </entry>
</feed>

Anyone who can help me to resolve this issue using PHP with the above code ?

Answer 1

You were very close, only missing a couple of minor (but crucial) points.

Minimal changes needed

You can get away with changing only three lines of your original code.

1. Getting <entry> elements.

   $feeds = $xml->entry->link->children('m', TRUE)->inline->entry;
   

   becomes

   $feeds = $xml->entry->link->children('m', TRUE)->inline->children('', TRUE)->feed->entry;
   

2. Getting <d:*> elements from <m:properties>.

   $result = $data->children('m', TRUE)->properties->children('d', TRUE);
   

   becomes

   $result = $results->content->children('m', TRUE)->properties->children('d', TRUE);
   

3. Remove the following line.

   echo $data=(string)$results->content;
   

With those changes, your script will give the resulting array that you are wanting.

Code clean up

The example below is a small modification of your original which builds up the $search array from the feed in a slightly tidier* way.

^{* In my eyes: the reader may disagree. Tough, it’s my answer.}

$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($rs);

$i = 0;
$search = array();

$entries = $xml->entry->link->children('m', TRUE)->inline->children('', TRUE)->feed->entry;
foreach ($entries as $entry) {
    $i++;

    $properties = $entry->content->children('m', TRUE)->properties->children('d', TRUE);

    $url = (string) $properties->Url;
    $url = str_replace("&", "&", urldecode($url));

    $search[$i] = array(
        'url'      => $url,
        'abstract' => (string) $properties->Description,
        'title'    => (string) $properties->Title,
        'rank'     => $i,
    );
}

What changed?

1. This is the important point: As noted under “minimal changes”, the $entries line uses children('', TRUE)->feed to access the <feed> element within the <m:inline>.
2. Variable names slightly changed to reflect the name of the XML element represented by the variable, where appropriate. I find this helps lots when working with SimpleXML.
3. Assign everything to $search[$i] at once; this is just a personal preference as I think it looks tidier.
4. Got rid of those weird mixed echo and assignment lines.