xml - How to PHP DOMDocument creating attributes?

Question

I've been smacking my head against the wall for two days trying to figure out how to get PHP to encode the XML I want. I tried SimpleXML and found out there are serious limitations, so for now I am using DOMDocument to fulfill my needs. MY problem is quite basic, what is the proper syntax?

I am retrieving code from a database, then rendering it to xml. The XML structure has to be in the same exact format as the one I am going to post. The issue is when it comes to attributes. The output has three attributes that need to be repeated twelve times with different values. My problem is trying to figure out how to render the attributes, what code is necessary.

Here is the XML:

    <inits>
<version>18.05.04_EP1</version>
<source>Live</source>
<lowid>265067</lowid>
<highid>265068</highid>
<ql>300</ql>
<name>Ofab Shark Mk 1</name>
<inits slider="DEF&gt;===========][&lt;AGG" percent="100" init="430" />
<inits slider="DEF&gt;==========][=&lt;AGG" percent="90" init="530" />
<inits slider="DEF&gt;=========][==&lt;AGG" percent="81" init="630" />
<inits slider="DEF&gt;========][===&lt;AGG" percent="72" init="730" />
<inits slider="DEF&gt;=======][====&lt;AGG" percent="63" init="830" />
<inits slider="DEF&gt;======][=====&lt;AGG" percent="54" init="930" />
<inits slider="DEF&gt;=====][======&lt;AGG" percent="45" init="1030" />
<inits slider="DEF&gt;====][=======&lt;AGG" percent="36" init="1130" />
<inits slider="DEF&gt;===][========&lt;AGG" percent="27" init="1290" />
<inits slider="DEF&gt;==][=========&lt;AGG" percent="18" init="1590" />
<inits slider="DEF&gt;=][==========&lt;AGG" percent="9" init="1890" />
<inits slider="DEF&gt;][===========&lt;AGG" percent="0" init="2190" />

</inits>

Notice that Inits contains attributes, percent, and init. Which is going to display 12 times in this example, which is derived from data and php calculations. Here is the code that I am using so far. Note: I am skipping the data and calculation functions and filling in the data manually.

    $root = $doc->createElement('inits');
$root = $doc->appendChild($root);

$version = $doc->createElement('version');
$version = $root->appendChild($version);
$versiontext = $doc->createTextNode($patchNum);
$versiontext = $version->appendChild($versiontext);

$source = $doc->createElement('source');
$source = $root->appendChild($source);
$sourcetext = $doc->createTextNode('live');
$sourcetext = $source->appendChild($sourcetext);

$xlowid = $doc->createElement('lowid');
$xlowid = $root->appendChild($xlowid);
$xlowidtext = $doc->createTextNode($lowid);
$xlowidtext = $xlowid->appendChild($xlowidtext);

$xhighid = $doc->createElement('highid');
$xhighid = $root->appendChild($xhighid);
$xhighidtext = $doc->createTextNode($highid);
$xhighidtext = $xhighid->appendChild($xhighidtext);

$xql = $doc->createElement('ql');
$xql = $root->appendChild($xql);
$xqltext = $doc->createTextNode($ql);
$xqltext = $xql->appendChild($xqltext);

Where do I go from here to get the 3 attributes to work, exactly like the XML example above. Thank You.

Answer 1

To set an attribute, use $some_node->setAttribute("name","value"). Repeat as needed for all attributes.

Also, note that you can chain function calls:

$root = $doc->appendChild($doc->createElement('inits'));
$root->appendChild($doc->createElement('version',$patchNum));
$root->appendChild($doc->createElement('source',$sourcetext));
$root->appendChild($doc->createElement('lowid',$lowid));
$root->appendChild($doc->createElement('highid',$highid));
$root->appendChild($doc->createElement('ql',$ql));
for($i=11;$i>=0;$i--) {
    $node = $root->appendChild($doc->createElement('inits'));
    $node->setAttribute("slider","DEF>".str_repeat("=",$i)."][".str_repeat("=",11-$i)."<AGG");
    $node->setAttribute("percent",floor($i/11*100));
    $node->setAttribute("init",$i>3 ? 430+(11-$i)*100 : 1290+(3-$i)*300);
}