PHP class: SimpleXML

<?php
/**
 * @author Christopher Hill
 * @copyright (c) Christopher Hill
 * @package chrisjhill
 * @version 0.2
 */
class myXmlParser
{
   /**
    * The URL to the XML source
    * @access private
    * @var string
    */
   private $_url;
 
   /**
    * Whether or not to add this value
    * @access private
    * @var boolean
    */
   private $_ignore = false;
 
   /**
    * The attributes to allow to be added
    * @access private
    * @var array
    */
   private $_want = array();
 
   /**
    * The XML Parser class
    * @access private
    * @var object
    */
   private $_xml_parser;
 
   /**
    * The result set of the parsing
    * @access private
    * @var array
    */
   private $_return = array();
 
   /**
    * The class constructor
    * @access public
    */
   public function __construct($url) {
      $this->_url = $url;
      $this->_xml_parser = xml_parser_create();
      xml_set_element_handler($this->_xml_parser,
         array($this, 'startTag'),
         array($this, 'endTag'));
      xml_set_character_data_handler($this->_xml_parser,
         array($this, 'contents'));
   }
 
   /**
    * Set a wanted attribute
    * @access public
    * @param mixed $want
    */ 
   public function setWant($want) {
      if (is_array($want)) {
         foreach ($want as $value) {
            $this->_want[] = $value;
         }
      }
      else {
         $this->_want[] = $want;
      }
      return $this;
   }
 
   /**
    * Set the ignore
    * @access private
    * @param boolean $ignore
    */
   private function setIgnore($ignore) {
      $this->_ignore = (bool)$ignore;
      return $this;
   }
 
   /**
    * Returns the ignore variable
    * @access private
    * @return boolean
    */
   private function getIgnore() {
      return $this->_ignore;
   }
 
   /**
    * Return the want array
    * @access private
    * @return array
    */
   private function getWant() {
      return (array)$this->_want;
   }
 
   /**
    * Parses the XML input
    * @access public
    */
   public function parse() {
      $fp = fopen($this->_url, "r"); 
      $data = fread($fp, 80000);
 
      if(!(xml_parse($this->_xml_parser, $data, feof($fp)))){ 
          die("Error on line " . xml_get_current_line_number($this->_xml_parser)); 
      }
   }
 
   /**
    * Set whether to output this attribute
    * @access private
    * @param object $parser
    * @param string $data
    */
   private function startTag($parser, $data){ 
      $this->_ignore = in_array(strtolower($data), $this->getWant())
          ? true
          : false;
   } 
 
   /**
    * This function does nothing, but is needed to stop parse errors
    * @access private
    * @param object $parser
    * @param string $data
    */
   private function endTag($parser, $data){ 
      // Do nothing
   }
 
   /**
    * Echo out the contents of the atttribute
    * @access private
    * @param object $parser
    * @param string $data
    */
   private function contents($parser, $data){ 
      $data = trim($data);
      if ($this->_ignore && !empty($data)) {
         if (count($this->_return[(count($this->_return) - 1)]) == count($this->_want)) {
            $this->_return[count($this->_return)][] = $data;
         }
         else {
            $this->_return[(count($this->_return) == 0 ? 0 : count($this->_return) - 1)][] = $data;
         }
      }
   }
 
   /**
    * Return the output array
    * @access public
    * @return array
    */
   public function getReturnArray() {
      return $this->_return;
   }
}

<?php
$myXmlParser = new myXmlParser('http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/chrisjhill.xml');
$myXmlParser->setWant(array('text', 'created_at'))->parse();
echo '<code>';
   print_r($myXmlParser->getReturnArray());
echo '</code>';

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => Tue Mar 25 16:24:41 +0000 2008
            [1] => Just got back from a challenging run, don't feel too tired though...
        )
 
    [1] => Array
        (
            [0] => Mon Feb 25 18:14:21 +0000 2008
            [1] => I'm fixing my XML parser class. It's better than I remember, I might consider posting it on my blog!
        )
 
    [2] => Array
        (
            [0] => Sat Jan 19 21:44:14 +0000 2008
            [1] => I cannot believe it. My se7ev DVD has had its end corrupted. 1 hour 40 of my life wasted...
        )
 
)