DOM XML Functions

The DOM XML extension has been overhauled in PHP 4.3.0 to better comply with the DOM standard. The extension still contains many old functions, but they should no longer be used. In particular, functions that are not object-oriented should be avoided.

The extension allows you to operate on an XML document with the DOM API. It also provides a function domxml_xmltree() to turn the complete XML document into a tree of PHP objects. Currently, this tree should be considered read-only - you can modify it, but this would not make any sense since DomDocument_dump_mem() cannot be applied to it. Therefore, if you want to read an XML file and write a modified version, use DomDocument_create_element(), DomDocument_create_text_node(), set_attribute(), etc. and finally the DomDocument_dump_mem() function.

This extension makes use of the » GNOME XML library. Download and install this library. You will need at least libxml-2.4.14. To use DOM XSLT features you can use the » libxslt library and EXSLT enhancements from » http://www.exslt.org/. Download and install these libraries if you plan to use (enhanced) XSLT features. You will need at least libxslt-1.0.18.

This » PECL extension is not bundled with PHP. Information for installing this PECL extension may be found in the manual chapter titled Installation of PECL extensions. Additional information such as new releases, downloads, source files, maintainer information, and a CHANGELOG, can be located here: » http://pecl.php.net/package/domxml.

In PHP 4 this PECL extensions source can be found in the ext/ directory within the PHP source or at the PECL link above. This extension is only available if PHP was configured with --with-dom[=DIR]. Add --with-dom-xslt[=DIR] to include DOM XSLT support. DIR is the libxslt install directory. Add --with-dom-exslt[=DIR] to include DOM EXSLT support, where DIR is the libexslt install directory.

Windows users will enable php_domxml.dll inside of php.ini in order to use these functions. In PHP 4 this DLL resides in the extensions/ directory within the PHP Windows binaries download. The DLL for this PECL extension may be downloaded from either the » PHP Downloads page or from » http://pecl4win.php.net/ Also, there is one additional DLL that must be made available to your system's PATH in order for this extension to work. In PHP 4 this is in the dlls/ directory. It's name: For PHP <= 4.2.0, it's libxml2.dll. For PHP >= 4.3.0, it's iconv.dll. And as of PHP 5.0.0, iconv is compiled into your Windows PHP binaries by default so no extra DLL is needed.

There are quite a few functions that do not fit into the DOM standard and should no longer be used. These functions are listed in the following table. The function DomNode_append_child() has changed its behaviour. It now adds a child and not a sibling. If this breaks your application, use the non-DOM function DomNode_append_sibling().

The constants below are defined by this extension, and will only be available when the extension has either been compiled into PHP or dynamically loaded at runtime.

The API of the module follows the DOM Level 2 standard as closely as possible. Consequently, the API is fully object-oriented. It is a good idea to have the DOM standard available when using this module. Though the API is object-oriented, there are many functions which can be called in a non-object-oriented way by passing the object to operate on as the first argument. These functions are mainly to retain compatibility to older versions of the extension, and should not be used when creating new scripts.

This API differs from the official DOM API in two ways. First, all class attributes are implemented as functions with the same name. Secondly, the function names follow the PHP naming convention. This means that a DOM function lastChild() will be written as last_child().

This module defines a number of classes, which are listed - including their method - in the following tables. Classes with an equivalent in the DOM standard are named DOMxxx.

The classes DomDtd is derived from DomNode. DomComment is derived from DomCData.

Many examples in this reference require an XML string. Instead of repeating this string in every example, it will be put into a file which will be included by each example. This include file is shown in the following example section. Alternatively, you could create an XML document and read it with DomDocument_open_file().