PHP - XML - Validating XML

Use PHP's DOM extension to perform validation using the validate() method for a DTD:

1. <?php
2. // read XML data
3. $xml = new DOMDocument();
4. $xml->load("data-1.xml") or die("ERROR: Cannot create DOMDocument ↩
5. object");
7. // validate XML against DTD
8. // result: "Valid data"
9. echo $xml->validate() ? "Valid data" : "Invalid data";
10. ?>

Use PHP's DOM extension to perform validation using the schemaValidate() method for an XML Schema:

1. <?php
2. // read XML data
3. $xml = new DOMDocument();
4. $xml->load("data-2.xml") or die("ERROR: Cannot create DOMDocument ↩
5. object");
7. // validate XML against XML Schema
8. // result: "Valid data"
9. echo $xml->schemaValidate("data.xsd") ? "Valid data" : "Invalid data";
10. ?>

Comments

Data validation is an important part of parsing an XML document instance. As of this writing, SimpleXML merely ensures that XML documents are well-formed; it offers no way of testing them against DTDs or the new XML Schemas. Therefore, to test an XML document for validity, it is necessary to use PHP's DOM extension, which offers validate() and schemaValidate() methods for this purpose.

The validate() method automatically looks up the name of the DTD file in the XML document instance, while the schemaValidate() method requires you to specify the name and path to the schema file as an argument. Both methods return false if the document instance does not match the rules laid down in the DTD/Schema, and the validate() method also returns false if no DTD declaration exists within the document instance.