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XML Transformations With PHP: Sebastian Bergmann

This document discusses transforming XML documents from one format to another using PHP and the XML Transformer. It introduces the XML Transformer, a PEAR package that allows PHP programmers to describe XML transformations using PHP instead of XSLT. It provides examples of using the XML Transformer, including writing custom namespace handlers to transform specific XML elements. The document also covers debugging, error handling, and efficiently deploying XML Transformer applications.

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119 views21 pages

XML Transformations With PHP: Sebastian Bergmann

This document discusses transforming XML documents from one format to another using PHP and the XML Transformer. It introduces the XML Transformer, a PEAR package that allows PHP programmers to describe XML transformations using PHP instead of XSLT. It provides examples of using the XML Transformer, including writing custom namespace handlers to transform specific XML elements. The document also covers debugging, error handling, and efficiently deploying XML Transformer applications.

Uploaded by

pakzozo
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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XML Transformations with PHP

Sebastian Bergmann
<http://www.sebastian-bergmann.de/>

International PHP Conference 2003 – Spring Edition


Amsterdam, May, 9th 2003
Please bear with me ...
● Maybe I should begin this presentation with:
„My written English is better than my spoken
English.“.
● This is the second time (the first time was
only some hours ago) I give a presentation in
English. Please bear with me ;-)
● Feel free to ask questions at any time!
Why transform XML?
● Transforming XML documents from one
format to another becomes more and more
important.
● In a Content Management System (CMS)
setting custom additions to XHTML like
<navigation/> allow designers to work with
tools they are familar with: tags.
● Such a tag would trigger a functionality
implemented by a programmer; the designer
does not need to know how the tag produces
its output.
Why not use XSLT?
● XSLT is a domain specific language for
transforming XML documents into other XML
documents.
● XSLT transforms XML trees like awk
transforms document lines. Both languages
have a strict condition-action syntax.
● XSLT programs are written in XML syntax.
This makes for a very verbose syntax.
Why not use XSLT?
Why not use XSLT?
● XSLT is a Functional Programming language.
● This would not present a problem if you were
able to leverage the potential of functional
programming.
● But XSLT only ''provides'' the programmer
with the drawbacks of functional
programming – like using recursion to
express loops – while omitting its benefits.
For instance the use of functions as data
types is not possible in XSLT.
Solving problems with the XML Transformer

● The XML Transformer provides an elegant


solution to ''bring PHP objects to the web''.
● It allows the PHP programmer to describe the
transformations from one XML format to
another using his favourite programming
language: PHP.
Installing the XML Transformer
● The XML Transformer is a PEAR (PHP
Extension and Application Repository)
package.
● It is hosted at http://pear.php.net/ and can
easily be installed using the PEAR Installer.
A First Example
Using the Output Buffer Driver
Bundled Namespace Handlers: Anchor
Bundled Namespace Handlers: Image
Bundled Namespace Handlers: PHP
Writing Namespace Handlers
● Inherit a class from the
XML_Transformer_Namespace class.
● For each element that is to be transformed
write a start_ELEMENT($attributes) and a
end_ELEMENT($cdata) method.
● The XML Transformer will call these methods
for the opening and closing tags of the
ELEMENT.
XML_Transformer_Util::attributesToString()
XML_Transformer_Util::qualifiedElement()
Debugging the XML Transformer
● The XML Transformer provides a Debugging
Mode.
● When enabled, for each event a debug
message is sent to either the screen or to a
logfile.
XML Transformer Error Handling
● The XML Transformer tries to provide useful
error messages.
● An error occurs, for instance, when a
transformation methods returns a string that
is not well-formed XML.
Deploying XML Transformer Efficiently

● Leveraging Apache's .htaccess and PHP's


auto_prepend_file mechanisms we will now
discuss an efficient deployment strategy for
XML Transformer driven applications.
Deploying XML Transformer Efficiently

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