Doc #63679 [Csd]: "Dealing with XML errors" documentation example is wrong

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=63679&edit=1 ID: 63679 User updated by: toby at caboteria dot org Reported by: toby at caboteria dot org Summary: "Dealing with XML errors" documentation example is wrong Status: Closed Type: Documentation Problem Package: Documentation problem Operating System: n/a PHP Version: Irrelevant Assigned To: kalle Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: Thanks for the speedy resolution! Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2012-12-05 09:11:24] kalle@php.net This bug has been fixed in the documentation's XML sources. Since the online and downloadable versions of the documentation need some time to get updated, we would like to ask you to be a bit patient. Thank you for the report, and for helping us make our documentation better. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2012-12-05 09:11:19] kalle@php.net Automatic comment from SVN on behalf of kalle Revision: http://svn.php.net/viewvc/?view=revision&amp;revision=328672 Log: Fixed #63679 (&quot;Dealing with XML errors&quot; documentation example is wrong) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2012-12-04 04:46:48] toby at caboteria dot org I agree that there's no bug in php itself, it's the code in the example that's buggy. I planned to leave a note, but the instructions indicated that I should file a bug report for documentation bugs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2012-12-04 00:32:56] mail+php at requinix dot net Not a bug. As that very same note indicates it's a false negative: there was no error. You just get an object that looks empty because you're doing a loose comparison and PHP defines an "empty" object as false. The SimpleXMLElement looks empty because the object is defined as containing all child nodes within a given namespace; in the first example there are no child nodes at all, and in the second example there are no child nodes in the default ("") namespace. That note and the one after both give you ways to work around the loose-typing issue: compare ===false or do a !($obj instanceof SimpleXMLElement). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2012-12-03 22:26:03] toby at caboteria dot org Description: ------------ There are at least two cases where the example code on the "Dealing with XML errors" page[0] won't work correctly. The first is mentioned in one of the notes[1]: a document with an empty root node will show up as an error, even if it parses correctly. The second is if the nodes just below the document node are in a different namespace. I recommend using if (libxml_get_errors()) { instead of the existing code. [0] http://php.net/manual/en/simplexml.examples-errors.php [1] http://php.net/manual/en/simplexml.examples-errors.php#96416 Test script: --------------- First case: <?php libxml_use_internal_errors(true); $sxe = simplexml_load_string("<?xml version='1.0'?><not_broken/>"); if (!$sxe) { echo "Failed loading XML\n"; foreach(libxml_get_errors() as $error) { echo "\t", $error->message; } } ?> Second case: <?php libxml_use_internal_errors(true); $sxe = simplexml_load_string("<?xml version='1.0'?><not_broken xmlns:m='urn:m'><m:foo></m:foo></not_broken>"); if (!$sxe) { echo "Failed loading XML\n"; foreach(libxml_get_errors() as $error) { echo "\t", $error->message; } } ?> Expected result: ---------------- Empty page. Actual result: -------------- Failed loading XML ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=63679&edit=1