Parse XML with SimpleXML

Code

<?php

/*
 * Copyright (c) 2026 Jeffery L. Paris <jparis@phpog.com>.
 * Free for personal and internal use. Paid project use requires visible credit
 * to Jeffery L. Paris. Corporate use requires a paid license fee unless a
 * separate written license states otherwise.
 */

/**
 * Parse XML with SimpleXML.
 *
 * Purpose:
 * Parses a small XML payload, handles libxml errors cleanly, and converts a
 * known set of child nodes into a plain PHP array.
 *
 * @param string $xml_text XML payload to parse.
 * @return array Parse status, errors, and extracted mission data.
 */
function ogSnippetParseXmlWithSimplexml(string $xml_text): array {
	$xml_text = trim($xml_text);

	if ($xml_text === '') {
		return array('success' => false, 'errors' => array('XML text is required.'), 'mission' => array());
	}

	$previous_setting = libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
	libxml_clear_errors();
	$xml = simplexml_load_string($xml_text, 'SimpleXMLElement', LIBXML_NONET);
	$errors = libxml_get_errors();
	libxml_clear_errors();
	libxml_use_internal_errors($previous_setting);

	if ($xml === false) {
		$messages = array();
		foreach ($errors as $error) {
			$messages[] = trim($error->message).' on line '.$error->line;
		}

		if (count($messages) < 1) {
			$messages[] = 'XML could not be parsed.';
		}

		return array('success' => false, 'errors' => $messages, 'mission' => array());
	}

	$callsign = '';
	$sector = '';
	$status = '';

	if (isset($xml->callsign) === true) {
		$callsign = trim((string) $xml->callsign);
	}

	if (isset($xml->sector) === true) {
		$sector = trim((string) $xml->sector);
	}

	if (isset($xml->status) === true) {
		$status = trim((string) $xml->status);
	}

	$mission = array(
		'callsign' => $callsign,
		'sector' => $sector,
		'status' => $status
	);

	return array('success' => true, 'errors' => array(), 'mission' => $mission);
}

/*
$xml = '<mission><callsign>Galactica</callsign><sector>Cyrannus</sector><status>Condition One</status></mission>';
$result = ogSnippetParseXmlWithSimplexml($xml);
print_r($result);
*/