xpath soap namespace grabbing items - soap

Question

I am feeling like i am doing something really not correct.
When doing a soap they return me with an xml which may or may not contain an error.
I would like to check if the error exists if not read the values.
somehow, I can't grab it directly :(
Below is a sample return of something with results and one which gives an error (name not found)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soapEnvelope xmlns:soap="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:wsa="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2004/08/addressing" xmlns:wsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd" xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd">
<envHeader xmlns:env="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope">
<wsaAction>http://www.rechtspraak.nl/namespaces/ccr01/searchPersonResponse</wsaAction>
<wsaMessageID>urn:uuid:b75d2932-5687-4871-9d07-3b74b084978a</wsaMessageID>
<wsaRelatesTo>urn:uuid:9112d870-248d-4d07-acd0-d88e4a48d547</wsaRelatesTo>
<wsaTo>http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2004/08/addressing/role/anonymous</wsaTo>
<wsseSecurity>
<wsuTimestamp wsu:Id="Timestamp-061df7b5-32a2-4021-852d-2df98953e076">
<wsuCreated>2011-05-27T12:11:45Z</wsuCreated>
<wsuExpires>2011-05-27T12:16:45Z</wsuExpires>
</wsuTimestamp>
</envHeader>
<soapBody>
<searchPersonResponse xmlns="http://www.rechtspraak.nl/namespaces/ccr01">
<searchPersonResult>
<CCR_WS xmlns="http://www.rechtspraak.nl/namespaces/ccr">
<curandus>
<ccn>1</ccn>
<cur_voornamen>Jan</cur_voornamen>
<cur_voorvoegsels>van</cur_voorvoegsels>
<cur_achternaam>Beek</cur_achternaam>
<geboorte_datum>1980-01-02</geboorte_datum>
<geboorte_plaats>Werkendam</geboorte_plaats>
</curandus>
</CCR_WS>
</searchPersonResult>
</searchPersonResponse>
</soapBody>
</soapEnvelope>
and the one without results
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soapEnvelope xmlns:soap="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:wsa="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2004/08/addressing" xmlns:wsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd" xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd">
<envHeader xmlns:env="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope">
<wsaAction>http://www.rechtspraak.nl/namespaces/ccr01/searchPersonResponse</wsaAction>
<wsaMessageID>urn:uuid:b75d2932-5687-4871-9d07-3b74b084978a</wsaMessageID>
<wsaRelatesTo>urn:uuid:9112d870-248d-4d07-acd0-d88e4a48d547</wsaRelatesTo>
<wsaTo>http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2004/08/addressing/role/anonymous</wsaTo>
<wsseSecurity>
<wsuTimestamp wsu:Id="Timestamp-061df7b5-32a2-4021-852d-2df98953e076">
<wsuCreated>2011-05-27T12:11:45Z</wsuCreated>
<wsuExpires>2011-05-27T12:16:45Z</wsuExpires>
</wsuTimestamp>
</envHeader>
<soapBody>
<searchPersonResponse xmlns="http://www.rechtspraak.nl/namespaces/ccr01">
<searchPersonResult>
<CCR_WS xmlns="http://www.rechtspraak.nl/namespaces/ccr">
<exceptie errorcode="1">No Results found.</exceptie>
</CCR_WS>
</searchPersonResult>
</searchPersonResponse>
</soapBody>
</soapEnvelope>
Here is my code to select the namespace, then check
$results = simplexml_load_string($response);
$results->registerXPathNamespace('ccr','http://www.rechtspraak.nl/namespaces/ccr');
$lijst = $results->xpath('//ccr:CCR_WS');
$errorcode = $lijst[0]->exceptie->attributes()->errorcode;
$error = $lijst[0]->exceptie;
if (isset($errorcode) AND $errorcode != "") {
// do things with the error code
} else {
$lijst = $results->xpath('//ccr01:searchPersonResult');
$cur = $lijst[0]->CCR_WS->curandus;
echo $cur->ccn."<BR>";
echo $cur->cur_voornamen."<BR>";
echo $cur->cur_voorvoegsels."<BR>";
echo $cur->cur_achternaam."<BR>";
echo $cur->geboorte_datum."<BR>";
echo $cur->geboorte_plaats."<BR>";
}
surely there is a better way of grabbing
$lijst[0]->exceptie->attributes()->errorcode
for example...

Answer 1

...Don't know if this is a "better way" to everyone, but here is a direct XPath expression to select the errorcode. You can make it shorter and less efficient by dropping steps and using // (in the beginning or in the middle). Attributes are selected with # (or with attribute:: axis if you prefer the longer syntax). If attribute (or the exceptie element) doesn't exist, nothing is returned.
/*/*/ccr01:searchPersonResponse/ccr01:searchPersonResult/ccr:CCR_WS/ccr:exceptie/#errorcode
Remember to register all the namespace prefixes that yo use in your XPath expression.