PHP: SimpleXML writing issue

Question

I am using SimpleXML to write to my XML file on my Apache Server. Here is my PHP code:

<?php
  $xmlFile = 'http://localhost/database.xml';
  //$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($xmlFile, NULL, TRUE);
  $xml = simplexml_load_file($xmlFile);
  $xml->addChild("User", "TestUser2");
  file_put_contents($xmlFile, $xml->asXML());
?>

My XML file code:

<Usernames>
  <User>TestUser1</User>
</Usernames>

The problem I am having is that SimpleXML WILL NOT write to my XML file. I have tried many different methods ($xml->asXML($xmlFile), DOMDocument ... ->save) and none of them are working. I changed the permissions on my file and STILL I cannot write to it:

I have spent hours today trying to get this to work with no success. If anyone has any type of solution it would be great to hear.

Answer 1

When you write the contents to the file, you should pass a system filepath as the first variable, your $xmlFile variable is a URL. Change this to the local file name and it should save.

Based on your comments, the following should work

<?php
  $xmlFile = 'http://localhost/database.xml';
  $xml = simplexml_load_file($xmlFile);
  $xml->addChild("User", "TestUser2");
  file_put_contents('/Applications/MAMP/htdocs/DataBase/database.xml', $xml->asXML());

But, I would double check the $xmlFile URL - from what you have said, your local URL could be http://localhost/DataBase/database.xml - you should check that you can open your XML file in Safari using the $xmlFile URL.