PHP - DOM class and encoding issues

I'm having a hard time with the PHP DOM class.

I am creating a sitemap script and I need the output of $ doc-> saveXML () to be like

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<root>
    <url>
        <loc>http://www.somesite.com/servi&#xE7;os/redesign</loc>
    </url>
</root>

      

        
        
        
      

    

or

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<root>
    <url>
        <loc>http://www.somesite.com/servi&#231;os/redesign</loc>
    </url>
</root>

      

        
        
        
      

    

but i get:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<root>
    <url>
        <loc>http://www.somesite.com/servi&amp;#xE7;os/redesign</loc>
    </url>
</root>

      

        
        
        
      

    

This is the closet I could get using the replace named to numbered entities function.

I was also able to reproduce

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<root>
    <url>
        <loc>http://www.somesite.com/servi&amp;#xE7;os/redesign</loc>
    </url>
</root>

      

        
        
        
      

    

But without the specified encoding.

Best solution (as it seems to me the code should be written):

<?php
$myArray = array();
// do some stuff to populate the with URL strings

$doc = new DOMDocument('1.0', 'UTF-8');

// here we modify some property. Maybe is the answer I am looking for...

$urlset = doc->createElement("urlset");
$urlset = $doc->appendChild($urlset);

foreach($myArray as $address) {
    $url = $doc->createElement("url");
    $url = $urlset->appendChild($url);

    $loc = $doc->createElement("loc");
    $loc = $url->appendChild($loc);

    $valueContent = $doc->createTextNode($value);
    $valueContent = $loc->appendChild($address);
}

echo $doc->saveXML();
?>

      

        
        
        
      

    

Notes:

• The server response header contains charset as UTF-8;
• PHP script is saved in UTF-8;
• Reading URLs are UTF-8 strings;
• The above script contains the encoding declaration in the DOMDocument constructor and does not use any conversion functions like htmlentities, urlencode, utf8_encode ...

I tried changing the DOMDocument properties of DOMDocument :: $ resolveExternals and DOMDocument :: $ substituteEntities. Neither combination worked.

And yes, I know I can do the whole process without specifying the character set in the DOMDocument constructor, the content of the dump string in a variable, and do very simple string replacement using string replacement functions. It works. But I would like to know where I am slipping, how it can be done using native API and settings, or even if it is possible.

Thanks in advance.