How do I append data to XML file with PHP

[Hags007]

I have a XML file I am working with. This file has been created by hand and I now need to develop a PHP script that will create it in the same format.

Here is what I have thus far:

$query = "select * from " . $table_name . " ORDER BY stateID ASC";
$result = mysql_query($query, $connection) or die("Could not complete database query");
$num = mysql_num_rows($result);
 
if ($num != 0) {
 
 $file= fopen("data/frlpsData.xml", "w");
 
 $_xml ="<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" ?>\r\n";
 
 $_xml .="<statutes>\r\n";
 $_xml .="<states>\r\n";
 
 while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
 
    $_xml .="\t<state id=\"". $row["stateID"] . "\" name=\"". $row["stateName"] . "\">\r\n";
 
 if ($row["id"]) {
 
    $_xml .="\t\t<counties>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t<county name=\"". $row["countyName"] . "\">\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t<documents>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t<document name=\"". $row["docName"] . "\">\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t<types>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<type id=\"". $row["entityType"] . "\" name=\"". $row["entityName"] . "\">\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line>" . $row["line1"] . "</line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line>" . $row["line2"] . "</line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line>" . $row["line3"] . "</line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line>" . $row["line4"] . "</line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line>" . $row["line5"] . "</line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line>" . $row["line6"] . "</line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line>" . $row["line7"] . "</line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line>" . $row["line8"] . "</line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t</type>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t</types>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t</document>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t</documents>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t</county>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t</counties>\r\n";
 
  } else {
 
    $_xml .="\t\t<counties>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t<county name=\"". $row["countyName"] . "\">\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t<documents>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t<document name=\"". $row["docName"] . "\">\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t<types>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<type id=\"". $row["entityType"] . "\" name=\"". $row["entityName"] . "\">\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line>No Data For This State. Please Update.</line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<line></line>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t\t</type>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t\t</types>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t\t</document>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t\t</documents>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t\t</county>\r\n";
    $_xml .="\t\t</counties>\r\n";
 
 }
    $_xml .="\t</state>\r\n"; 
 }
 $_xml .="</states>\r\n";
 $_xml .="</statutes>";
 
 fwrite($file, $_xml);
 
 fclose($file);
 
 echo "XML has been written.  <a href=\"data/frlpsData.xml\">View the XML.</a>";
 
 } else {
 
 echo "No Records found";
 
 } ?>
 

Now, my problem is this. I need to create the XML file with the following format:

<states>
        <state id="AL" name="Alabama">
 
                <county name="Default" fipsID="9999">
                    <documents>
                        <document name="Summons and Complaint">
                            <types>
                                <type id="biz" name="Business">
                                    <line>ANY AUTHORIZED AGENT OVER THE AGE OF 18</line>
                                    <line></line>
                                    <line>DESCRIPTION: Sex____ Race_____ Age_____ Height_____ Weight_____ Hair_____ Glasses Y/N</line>                                                            
                                </type>
                                <type id="ind" name="Individual">
                                    <line>PERSONAL-INDIVIDUAL SERVICE</line>
                                    <line></line>
                                    <line>SUBSTITUTE SERVICE -  ANY PERSON OVER THE AGE OF 18 WHO RESIDES AT DEFENDANT'S PLACE OF ABODE.</line>
                                    <line></line>
                                    <line>DESCRIPTION: Sex____ Race_____ Age_____ Height_____ Weight_____ Hair_____ Glasses Y/N</line>                                
                                </type>
                            </types>
                        </document>
                        <document name="Subpeona">
                            <types>
                                <type id="biz" name="Business">
                                    <line>ANY AUTHORIZED AGENT OVER THE AGE OF 18</line>
                                    <line></line>
                                    <line>DESCRIPTION: Sex____ Race_____ Age_____ Height_____ Weight_____ Hair_____ Glasses Y/N</line>
                                    <line>    </line>                                
 
                                </type>
                                <type id="ind" name="Individual">
                                    <line>MUST MAKE 3 ATTEMPTS ON 3 SEPERATE DAYS BEFORE SUBSERVING</line>
                                    <line></line>
                                    <line>ANY PERSON OVER THE AGE OF 18 WHO RESIDES AT SERVEES ABODE</line>
                                    <line></line>
                                    <line>DESCRIPTION: Sex____ Race_____ Age_____ Height_____ Weight_____ Hair_____ Glasses Y/N    </line>                                
                                </type>
                            </types>
                        </document>
                        <document name="Subpoena Duces Tecum">
                            <types>
                                <type id="biz" name="Business">
                                    <line>ANY AUTHORIZED AGENT OVER THE AGE OF 18</line>
                                    <line></line>
                                    <line>DESCRIPTION: Sex____ Race_____ Age_____ Height_____ Weight_____ Hair_____ Glasses Y/N    </line>
                                    <line>    </line>                                
 
                                </type>
                                <type id="ind" name="Individual">
                                    <line>MUST MAKE 3 ATTEMPTS ON 3 SEPERATE DAYS BEFORE SUBSERVING</line>
                                    <line></line>
                                    <line>ANY PERSON OVER THE AGE OF 18 WHO RESIDES AT SERVEES ABODE</line>
                                    <line></line>
                                    <line>DESCRIPTION: Sex____ Race_____ Age_____ Height_____ Weight_____ Hair_____ Glasses Y/N    </line>                                
                                </type>
                            </types>
                        </document>
                    </documents>
                </county>        
        </state>
          </states>
 

This is a truncated example, of course, leaving out the data for the other states in the country for this example.

What my PHP code does is creates a XML file from a MySQL table, but instead of appending the <document/> data to the various states/county, it creates a separate record for each document for each state. I need to condense the data so that all the documents are listed under the appropriate state for the appropriate county. I have been racking my brain trying to figure this out and I have come to the conclusion that I have just enough knowledge of PHP/MySQL/XML to make me dangerous.

What I am after is an example, some direction, or perhaps a tutorial that will show me how this is done and hopefully I can figure it out from there. All of the examples I have been able to find show how to append a new record to the file but I haven't been able to find one that shows how to append a child of a record while iterating through the results of the query.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.