Zend Gdata Calendar Namespace/Node Parsing - gd:when etc

PHP
1

Hello,

I’ve been able to incorporate a feed from my public calendar into my site using the normal PHP way of going about it: with getElementbyTagName for normal xml values and getAttributeNode for the namespaces.

However, I’m trying to use the Zend GData library to integrate with other parts of my site and I can’t seem to find any documentation on parsing the namespaces in values like gd:where(valuestring) or gd:when(starttime & endtime)

Other than just creating a new DOMDocument within the instance of getCalendarEventFeed … is there a more efficient way of doing this?

I’ve looked at getCalendarEventFeed but still don’t see any docs on the parsing of the namespaces. Also, if I’m just grabbing a feed of the last 5 entries, I SHOULD be able to iterate through them and pull out the values I need - including the namespaces, right?

2

Hey,

look at this PHP: SimpleXMLElement::registerXPathNamespace - Manual

3

Thanks. I’m partially surprised that this functionality isn’t already coded into the GData library. But I guess the library is mainly intended to help access private calendars with authentication requirements.

But seeing more than one namespace used in the google calendar xml feed - <gd:…>, <gcal:…> made me think there should be a way to access those namespaces within the class.

I guess you need to just open a DOM document once you’ve brought in the feed. And YES, using XPath to register the namespaces probably makes it easier to work with the calendar going forward.

4

There should be no need to dive into DOM-land to get at the calendar/event data. The framework is designed to do all of the heavy lifting for you, details like when and where are available as either properties (via magic __get()) or methods (getWhen(), getWhere()) on the event object (a Zend_Gdata_Calendar_EventEntry). Bear in mind that both of those are arrays, so you might want to either access the first item if you’re only after one when/where, or loop over them. Here’s quickie example:


$event_feed = $service->getCalendarEventFeed($query);
foreach ($event_feed as $event) {
    echo "Event: \
    {$event->title}\
";
    echo "Where: \
    {$event->where[0]}\
";
    echo "When: \
";
    foreach ($event->when as $when) {
        $format  = 'd/m/Y H:i';
        // $when->startTime is a string like "2011-05-10T20:00:00.000+01:00"
        $start   = date_create($when->startTime)->format($format);
        $end     = date_create($when->endTime)->format($format);
        echo "    $start until $end\
";
    }
    echo "Details: \
    {$event->content}\
\
";
}

Which outputs something like


Event: 
    Evening Fun
Where: 
    Peter's Yard
When: 
    10/05/2011 20:00 until 10/05/2011 21:00
    11/05/2011 20:00 until 11/05/2011 21:00
Details: 
    Have tea.
5

I hate the whole Zend Gdata library. I ended up writing my own parser for all data coming from Blogger API. Zend library is really really buggy and way overly complicated.
But I’m sure Zend is a great product, if you like it, don’t take it personally.

6

Thanks Salathe. That was really helpful. I was also looking for a way of grabbing gd:feedLink and/or gcal:uid - neither property was recognized.

But more importantly, when you mention the getWhen() and getWhere() methods … I ran a search for those methods in my GData directory and did not find anything. Mostly, what I’m looking for is some good documentation on the GData library, so I can answer more of these questions on my own … do you have any suggestions on where to look?

[QUOTE=Salathe;4874926]There should be no need to dive into DOM-land to get at the calendar/event data. The framework is designed to do all of the heavy lifting for you, details like when and where are available as either properties (via magic __get()) or methods (getWhen(), getWhere()) on the event object (a Zend_Gdata_Calendar_EventEntry). Bear in mind that both of those are arrays, so you might want to either access the first item if you’re only after one when/where, or loop over them. Here’s quickie example:

7

I’ve heard good and bad things about Zend myself. And it being “bloated” is one of the main criticisms. At the same time, it seem sto be in big demand - at least in my local job market.

Like I said, I’d already written the code I needed using the DOM but was looking for an “easier” way to do it with Zend