Can I use Simple HTML DOM with PHP 7.x or 8.x?

Simple HTML DOM is a PHP library that allows you to navigate and manipulate HTML documents in a simple and intuitive way. It's an older library that gained popularity due to its ease of use, particularly before PHP introduced its own DOM extension.

Simple HTML DOM has not been actively maintained, and its compatibility with newer versions of PHP, such as 7.x and 8.x, is not guaranteed. Many developers have encountered issues using Simple HTML DOM with PHP 7.x and 8.x, primarily due to the library's reliance on older PHP features and functions that have been deprecated or changed in recent versions.

If you attempt to use Simple HTML DOM with PHP 7.x or 8.x, you may run into errors like:

• Deprecated function: each()
• Issues with constructors (SimpleHtmlDom and SimpleHtmlDomNode classes)
• Warnings about indirect access to properties

These issues arise because of the changes in PHP's error handling and object model. For example, the each() function is deprecated as of PHP 7.2, and in PHP 7.0, the way constructors are defined was changed.

If you need to parse and manipulate HTML with PHP 7.x or 8.x, you have a few options:

1. Fix the Simple HTML DOM library: You can fork the library and make changes to the code to fix compatibility issues. This might involve replacing deprecated functions and updating class constructors.

2. Use PHP's built-in DOMDocument: PHP has a built-in class DOMDocument for handling HTML and XML documents. It is well-maintained and compatible with PHP 7.x and 8.x.

Here's a simple example of how you can use DOMDocument to load HTML and get elements by tag name:

<?php
$dom = new DOMDocument();
libxml_use_internal_errors(true); // Disable warnings due to malformed HTML
$dom->loadHTML(file_get_contents('http://example.com'));

$paragraphs = $dom->getElementsByTagName('p');

foreach ($paragraphs as $paragraph) {
    echo $paragraph->nodeValue . PHP_EOL;
}
?>

1. Use modern PHP libraries: Consider using more modern and well-maintained libraries such as Symfony DOMCrawler or DiDOM, which are compatible with newer PHP versions.

For instance, here's a basic example using Symfony's DomCrawler component:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Symfony\Component\DomCrawler\Crawler;

$html = file_get_contents('http://example.com');
$crawler = new Crawler($html);

$crawler->filter('p')->each(function (Crawler $node, $i) {
    echo $node->text()."\n";
});
?>

Before using any third-party library with newer PHP versions, it's always a good idea to check the library's documentation or repository for updates on compatibility and maintenance. If the library is not compatible with PHP 7.x or 8.x, seeking an alternative is the best course of action to ensure the longevity and stability of your codebase.