PHP SimpleXML - can't get a single node value, am I crazy?

Question

I simplified my php code to the minimum and still cannot get a simple xml node's value. I re-read the documentation to make sure I wasn't missing some tiny details and I just can't get it to work.

First I load this very basic XML

    $xmlStrShipping = simplexml_load_string('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
    <Shipping>
        <Orders>
            <Order>
                <number>Order number</number>
                <details></details>
            </Order>
        </Orders>
    </Shipping>');

Then I can't get the number and details nodes' value, I just keep getting a SimpleXMLElement Object :

var_dump($xmlStrShipping); // So far, so good
/* Returns:
SimpleXMLElement Object
(
[Orders] => SimpleXMLElement Object
    (
        [Order] => SimpleXMLElement Object
            (
                [number] => Order number
                [details] => SimpleXMLElement Object
                    (
                    )

            )

    )

)
*/

.

var_dump($xmlStrShipping->Orders[0]->Order->number); // Why is this happening?
/* Returns
SimpleXMLElement Object
(
    [0] => Order number
)
*/

.

var_dump($xmlStrShipping->Orders[0]->Order->number[0]); // What??
/* Returns
SimpleXMLElement Object
(
)
*/

Why can't I retrieve number ?
And why is details a SimpleXMLElement Object instead of an empty string?

Answer 1

SimpleXML turns everything into SimpleXMLElement objects. Just cast it to a string (or whatever):

(string) $xmlStrShipping->Orders[0]->Order->number;

or if you invoke it in a string context it will work as well because SimpleXMLElement has the magic __toString() method implemented:

echo $xmlStrShipping->Orders[0]->Order->number;