simplify DOM api

Hi Rob! Rob wrote:

$node = new DOMElement("root"); In this case the element is not associated with a document. In DOM, you really aren't supposed to have a node not associated with any document, but this syntax allows the DOM classes to be extended in PHP. Once the node is associated with a document, you then have full editing capabilities.

Again, very helpful information - thanks a lot! I have to do something like: <?php $array_of_book_objects = array('...'); $doc = new DOMDocument('1.0'); $books = $doc->appendChild(new DOMElement('books')); foreach($array_of_book_objects as $book_data) { $book = $books->appendChild(new DOMElement('book')); $book->setAttribute('isbn', xml_entity_encode($book_data->isbn)); $book->appendChild(new DOMElement('title',

    xml_entity_encode($book_data->title)));

$book->appendChild(new DOMElement('description',

    xml_entity_encode($book_data->description)));

$author = $book->appendChild(new DOMElement('author')); $author->appendChild(new DOMElement('name',

    xml_entity_encode($book_data->author_name)));

} echo $doc->saveXML(); ?> Because my script is by far more complex (but does not use more advanced DOM features), I'd like to simplify the DOM api a little bit more. With extending DOMElement I think I have found a nice way: <?php class SimpleDOMElement extends DOMElement { function addChild($name, $value=NULL) {

    if (is_null($value)) {
      return $this->appendChild(new SimpleDOMElement($name));
    }
    else {
      return $this->appendChild(new SimpleDOMElement($name,
        xml_entity_encode($value)));
    }

} function addAttribute($name, $value) {

    return $this->setAttribute($name, xml_entity_encode($value));

} } class Books extends DOMDocument { private $books_element; function __construct() {

    parent::__construct('1.0');
    $this->books_element = $this->appendChild(
      new SimpleDOMElement('books'));

} function addBook($book_object) {

    $book = $this->books_element->addChild('book');
    $book->addAttribute('isbn', $book_object->isbn);
    $book->addChild('title', $book_object->title);
    $book->addChild('description', $book_object->description);
    $author = $book->addChild('author');
    $author->addChild('name', $book_object->author_name);

} } $array_of_book_objects = array('...'); $books = new Books; foreach ($array_of_book_objects as $book_data) { $books->addBook($book_data); } echo $books->saveXML(); ?> I think this should be OK, or shouldn't I do it this way? Perhaps you have seen that I've used a "xml_entity_encode()" function. This function works like htmlspecialchars(), but replaces ' with &apos; and not &#039;. Or do all of you use htmlspecialchars()? Does it work with Unicode strings? best regards Andreas