Converting XML Into a PHP Data Structure

Converting XML Into a PHP Data Structure - Conclusion
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I use a version of this class to quickly import XML documents into a multidimensional PHP array where I can then use PHP functions to manipulate the array's contents.

You might be able to enhance this class speed-wise with the use of references on your stack, or your might optimize by building a Node class instead of using our simple Array.

The real purpose of this article is not just to give you a working PHP class for XML, but rather to show you how you might develop your own XML parsing class and toolset.

There exist other PHP resources like XPath that will allow you to search and extract values from XML documents more quickly than through this method. Additionally, as the DOM parser matures, you may find that it performs this parsing functionality for you but with C code which is many times faster.

For simple XML needs, however, speed of execution is rarely the bottleneck for your application and this approach is sufficient and sometimes even a 'powerful' solution for getting the job done.

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