Question

Im new to PHP and would like to get some advice on the following situation:

I have a file in which Im parse an XML file. My strategy has been create a “parser.php” file. Then create separate files for each tag in the XML file. Each of these separate files is a class that when instantiated will store all the attributes of that particular tag.

I have several loops in the parser that instantiate the class that corresponds with the tag when they encounter it.Once the loop is done that object is then inserted into a global array.

Here is the code:

<?php
include ('class.Food.php');
include ('class.Drink.php');
$xml = simplexml_load_file("serializedData.xml");

//Global Variables==============================================================

$FoodArray = array();
$DrinkArray = array();
$FoodObj;
$DrinkObj;

foreach($xml->children() as $child)
{
//Instantiate a Food object here and insert into the array
$FoodObj = new Food();
//Add attributes of tag to the Food object
array_push($FoodArray, $FoodObj);

}

Thus at the end of each loop there would be a food object created and that would be added to the FoodArray.

My questions are:

1. Do I have to explicitly call a destructor or free the object memory at the end of the loop?
2. Using the above syntax, will the FoodObj be stored in the FoodArray as a reference or a value
3. Each time the variable Food gets a different instance stored in it, does that matter when stored in the array? All the objects stored in the array go by the index number right?

Thanks

Answer 1

Try the following

$FoodArray = array();
$DrinkArray = array();

foreach($xml->children() as $child) 
{
    //Instantiate a Food object here and insert into the array 
    $FoodObj = new Food(); 
    //Add attributes of tag to the Food object 
    $FoodArray[] = $FoodObj;
    unset($FoodObj);
}

1) unset’ng the instance manually is good form, but unnecessary. the php garbage collector will do it for you anyways and is very efficient.

2) in the example above, $FoodArray[i] will continue to point to the instance even after $FoodObj is unset.

3) it works whether $FoodObj is local to the loop or not. But for best practice it should be.