dom xml and references

[sofa77]

hello everybody,

i'm not completely clear with that dom stuff and i think the following question could solve the problem. if i use some dom or xpath statement and get a nodeList or a Node, e.g. with

$actualNode = $dom->firstChild;

do i always get a reference to that element and - more important - is this always conected to that document? i guess yes, but for some reason, i need some help. in this case it would mean, that i can modify $actualNode *anywhere* and i would always modify the real document; right?! even if i would continue like that:

function test($node) // would i need a '&' here, to get this working as
// described? i guess not...
{
// modify node here
// no return
}

test($actualNode);
// saveXML back (with changes?)

what would be the difference to that one?

$actualNode = & $dom->firstChild;

thanks in advance,
andi

[kyberfabrikken]

since dom xml is a php4 extension, i presuppose that you are using php4 ?
php4 per default assigns by value, not by reference. while this is fine for scalar types, it certainly acts counter-intuitive in regards to objects.
as a general rule of thumb, you should allways assign by reference, when dealing with objects. eg :

function takeByRef(&$someObject) {
}
// and
$someObject =& new MyObject(); 

functions that retun objects, should also do so by reference, eg :

function & gimmeAnObject() {
    return new MyObject();
}
$someObject =& gimmeAnObject(); 

check the php manual for more explanation on references :
http://www.php.net/references

[rich_gib]

hm, what do you think for php5 then

[kyberfabrikken]

php5 defaults to assigns objects by reference. therefore you don't need any ampersands under php5.
the regular php forum would probably be more approrpiate for this kind of discussion.

[sofa77]

ok, thanks for your answer - i'm using php5.