[RESOLVED] DOMdocument - removing a node and its children

[noahssite]

Hello here is an outline of my XML file.

<userlist>
<user>
<name>Bob</name>
<time>11:04:23</time>
</user>
<user>
<name>John</name>
<time>11:02:03</time>
</user>
</userlist>

Here is the PHP file that adds to the XML file, if anyone needed to see it.

<?php
$dname = $_POST['dname'];
$ptime = $_POST['ptime'];
////////////////////////////////////
$doc = new DOMDocument();
$doc->load('userupdate.xml');

$user = $doc->createElement("user");
$doc->getElementsByTagName('userlist')->item(0)->appendChild($user);

$name = $doc->createElement("name");
$user->appendChild($name);

$time = $doc->createElement("time");
$user->appendChild($time);

$textName = $doc->createTextNode($dname);
$name->appendChild($textName);

$textTime = $doc->createTextNode($ptime);
$time->appendChild($textTime);

$doc->save("userupdate.xml");
?>

What I need to do is to loop through the XML file, using the DOMdocument, and remove all 'users' that have a time that is 2 seconds less than the current UTC time. Since each 'user' element has children they will have to be deleted too.

How do I do this?

[kows]

this seems to accomplish just that:

<xmp>
<?php
  date_default_timezone_set("America/Denver");

  $xml = new DOMDocument();
  $xml->load("domdocument.xml");

  $users = $xml->getElementsByTagName("user");
  
  $queue = array();
  
  //loop through each user
  foreach($users as $user){

    //get the time element for this user
    $time = $user->getElementsByTagName("time")->item(0)->nodeValue;
    
    //if the time is 2 seconds less than the current time, remove them
    if(strtotime($time) < time() - 2){
    
      //queue, because removing right away will cause problems with the loop!
      $queue[] = $user;
      
    }
    
  }
  
  //run through our queue of nodes to delete
  foreach($queue as $node){
    $xml->documentElement->removeChild($node);
  }
  
  echo $xml->saveXML();
?>
</xmp>

[noahssite]

Thanks, but I read somewhere that using removeChild on a node that has children can result in error unless you delete the children first. Have you heard this before? Can it be confirmed?

[penagate]

<?php
  date_default_timezone_set('UTC');

  $doc = new DOMDocument();
  $doc->load('test.xml');

  $xpath = new DOMXPath($doc);
  $xpath->registerNamespace("php", "http://php.net/xpath");
  $xpath->registerPHPFunctions();

  $searchTime = time() - 2;
  $users = $xpath->query('user[php:functionString("strtotime", time) = '.$searchTime.']');

  foreach ($users as $user)
    $user->parentNode->removeChild($user);
?>

I took your sentence "a time that is 2 seconds less than the current UTC time" literally. Obviously you can change this.

[penagate]

Damn, that's what I get for being distracted for half an hour.

[penagate]

Thanks, but I read somewhere that using removeChild on a node that has children can result in error unless you delete the children first. Have you heard this before? Can it be confirmed?

Not true.

[noahssite]

Thanks. I've never used DOMXPath before. I don't usually use XML, I just had to write a Flash Based Chat Room and chose to use XML instead of a database for flexibility in different environments.

EDIT: @penagate Thanks for clarifying.

[kows]

Damn, that's what I get for being distracted for half an hour.

I like yours better. I had never used DOMDocument and just thought it would be fun to mess around with it for a little ;)