converting xml DOMDocument to string

Question

HI i am using ajax for a web site which displays courses available, i am having a problem where i am reading xml(which has courses details) getting node value(course name) comparing to my input(inout course name) if it is equal i am displaying the text(course description). now i am tracing it getting to correct course name(in xml file) but while comparing it to input course name its not at all comparing so.at one point i loaded the xml file and echo it:

$doc->load('data/ICT.xml');  echo"$doc"; 

It gives me an error

Catchable fatal error: Object of class DOMDocument could not be converted to string in /home/students/....../www/htdocs/client/unit_details.php on line 23

so what i understood from this is that xml dom object should be converted to string so that i can get required data and use it, is it true? if so can some one tell me how to do so please(like any functions etc) thanks in advance :-)

Answer 1

The DOMDocument object can't be used as a string.

Here is how you would display the DOMDocument object as an XML string:

echo $doc->saveXML(); 

Answer 2

DOMDocument has a method SaveHTML(), it's designed to do exactly what you need.

You may display whole document by:

$doc->saveHTML(); 

Or just certain node:

$doc->saveHTML( $bodyNode); 

DOMDocument also provides few options how to enhance how the XML is print, such as:

• preserveWhiteSpaces
• formatOutput
• encoding
• ...