Simple Xml object array display by section

Question

I really hope someone can help me here, I'm stuck since the last few days on this issue. I have the following array of xml objects:

Array
(
[0] => Car Object
    (
        [type:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => SUVS
            )

        [name:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => Generic Car 1
            )

        [origin:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => USA
            )

        [description:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => Random
            )

        [price:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => 22 000
            )

    )

[1] => Car Object
    (
        [type:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => SUVS
            )

        [name:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => Generic Car 2
            )

        [origin:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => USA
            )

        [description:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => Random
            )

        [price:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => 28 000
            )

    )

[2] => Car Object
    (
        [type:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => SUVS
            )

        [name:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => Generic Car 3
            )

        [origin:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => USA
            )

        [description:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => Random
            )

        [price:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => 29 000
            )

    )

[3] => Car Object
    (
        [type:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => Pickup
            )

        [name:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => Generic Truck 1
            )

        [origin:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => USA
            )

        [description:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => Random
            )

        [price:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => 31 000
            )

    )

    [4] => Car Object
    (
        [type:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => Pickup
            )

        [name:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => Generic Truck 2
            )

        [origin:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => USA
            )

        [description:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => Random
            )

        [price:Car:private] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [0] => 39 000
            )

    )

I had an xml file with some values that I read with simple xml and then I created car objects with my Car class. Im trying to figure this out for a few days now, How can I display the data from the this array with the title only appearing once like a section. See example below.

SUVS

Generic Car 1 USA Random 22 000

Generic Car 2 USA Random 28 000

Generic Car 3 USA Random 29 000

Pickup

Generic Truck 1 USA Random 31 000

Generic Truck 2 USA Random 39 000

Answer 1

It seems your sections are based on the content of the type value from your XML.

I have 2 ideas to solve this.

First idea: If you have a foreach loop to create your sections, you can take a look at the type before you print the car's name:

//example code

echo '<strong>SUVS</strong>';
foreach($cars as $car){
    if($car->getType() == 'SUVS'){
        //create your output for a Car object
    }
}

echo '<strong>Pickups</strong>';
foreach($cars as $car){
    if($car->getType() == 'Pickup'){
        //create your output for a Car object
    }
}

Second idea: Modify your reading routine.

Currently, you're creating one array with Car objects. While a Car object is created the car type should be already known. So, you could add Car objects from different type to different arrays.

Here some example code: Instead of creating an array like this

$array[] = new Car()

you could create something like this

$car = new Car();
$type = $car->getType(); // returns 'Pickup' or 'SUVS'
//perhaps it is necessary to convert SimpleXMLElement objects to a string:
// $string = (string)$simplexmlelement;
$array[$type][] = $car;

Then you could make a foreach loop to create both lists:

foreach($cars as $type => $carArray){
    echo '<strong>'.$type.'</strong>';
    foreach($carArray as $car){
        //create your output for a Car object
    }
}

or on each list separately:

echo '<strong>Pickups</strong>';
foreach($cars['Pickup'] as $car){
    //create your output for a Car object
}

//Some other code

echo '<strong>SUVS</strong>';
foreach($cars['SUVS'] as $car){
    //create your output for a Car object
}.

The code snippets are only examples to illustrate the ideas.