PHP SimpleXmlElement values into an array

I have an XML string I was trying to parse for some values. The following XML was stored in a variable$xml

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  <ns0:Item xmlns:ns0="http://www.example.com/schemas/Subscribers/Customer_Item.xsd">
    <ns0:Style>C3399</ns0:Style>
    <ns0:Description>Lion's Paw Shell Pendant</ns0:Description>
    <ns0:Status>Active</ns0:Status>
    <ns0:Quantity_Available>1</ns0:Quantity_Available>
    <ns0:Wholesale_Price>20.59</ns0:Wholesale_Price>
  </ns0:Item>

I used this to get to the values into an array.

<php>
  $xmlObj = new SimpleXMLElement($xml);
  $item = $xmlObj->children('ns0', TRUE);
  $data = array();

  $data['Style']      = $item->Style;
  $data['Status']     = $item->Status;
  $data['Qty_Avail']  = $item->Quantity_Available;
  $data['Price']      = $item->Wholesale_Price;
</php>

But when I did aprint_r(data);, I would get this junk.

<php>
  Array
  (
      [Style] => SimpleXMLElement Object
          (
              [0] => C3399
          )

      [Status] => SimpleXMLElement Object
          (
              [0] => Active
          )

      [Qty_Avail] => SimpleXMLElement Object
          (
              [0] => 1
          )

      [Price] => SimpleXMLElement Object
          (
              [0] => 20.59
          )

  )
</php>

But for testing if I just did aprint $item->Styleit would print just the value C3399

Then I ran across this little advice “You should cast elements to a float (or even string) if you plan on using them…” That made all the difference. So now my code has the (string) casting.

<php>
  $xmlObj = new SimpleXMLElement($xml);
  $item = $xmlObj->children('ns0', TRUE);  
  $data = array();

  $data['Style']      = (string)$item->Style;
  $data['Status']     = (string)$item->Status;
  $data['Qty_Avail']  = (string)$item->Quantity_Available;
  $data['Price']      = (string)$item->Wholesale_Price;  
</php>

Now I get a nice array, like I was expecting.

<php>
  Array
  (
      [Style] => C3399
      [Status] => Active
      [Qty_Avail] => 1
      [Price] => 20.59
  )
</php>

Resources: http://www.php.net/manual/en/class.simplexmlelement.php