Edit XML file with PHP form

Question

I have an XML file that I want to be able to edit using a form.

student.xml

<students>
  <student>
    <name>Jane Doe</name>
    <email>email@email.com</email>
    <school>School Name</school>
    <coach>Coach Name</coach>
  </student>
</students>

Basically my form is set up like this:

<form method="post">
  <input name="name" id="name" type="text">
  <input name="school" id="school" type="text">
  <input name="coach" id="coach" type="text">
  <br>
  <input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit">
</form>

PHP code:

<?php
if(isset($_POST['submit'])) {
$data=simplexml_load_file('student.xml');

$data->student->name=$_POST['name'];
$data->student->school=$_POST['school'];
$data->student->coach=$_POST['coach'];

$handle=fopen("student.xml","wb");
fwrite($handle,$data->asXML());
fclose($handle);
}

$data=simplexml_load_file('student.xml');

?>

How can I use a form to edit multiple nodes in one form? Right now it changes all the nodes to the same as the first one.

Edit: Code is updated. It all seems to be working now. Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

The following worked for me.

Sidenotes: However, am unsure why you're using $data->student->coach=$_POST['coach']; instead of $data->item->coach=$_POST['coach'];

(Also consult footnotes) - Important.

<?php

if(isset($_POST['submit'])) {

 $data=simplexml_load_file('student.xml');

 $data->item->name=$_POST['name'];

 $data->item->school=$_POST['school'];

 $data->item->coach=$_POST['coach'];


$handle=fopen("student.xml","wb");
fwrite($handle,$data->asXML());
fclose($handle);
}

$data=simplexml_load_file('student.xml');
$welcome=$data->item->name;
$school=$data->item->school;
$coach=$data->item->coach;

?>

<?php

echo $welcome . " ";
echo $school . " ";
echo $coach . " ";

?>

<form method="post">

Coach name: <br>
<input type = "text" name = "coach"> Present value in file: <?php echo $coach; ?>
<br><br>

School name: <br>
<input type = "text" name = "school"> Present value in file: <?php echo $school; ?>
<br><br>
Name: 
<br>
    <textarea name = "name"><?php echo $welcome; ?></textarea>
    <br>
    <input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit">
</form>

Which produced (after editing it also using different values):

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<welcome>
    <item>
        <name>name 1</name>
    <school>St-Peter</school>
<coach>Robert</coach>
</item>
</welcome>

Editing using different values produced:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<welcome>
    <item>
        <name>name 2</name>
    <school>St-Andrews</school>
<coach>George</coach>
</item>
</welcome>

---

Footnotes:

In order for it to work properly is, that an existing file with the following structure must already exist.

<welcome>
    <item>
        <name>A name</name>
    <school>A school name</school>
<coach>A coach's name</coach>
</item>
</welcome>

Answer 2

I have noticed that you are using <form action= method="post"> . It must be changed to:

<form action="" method="post">

Also, if you want to link to a file, it must be like <form action="afile.html" method="post"> .