Creating XML file from HTML form - php

Question

Ok so I got it working, now the only problem is when a new submission is added it overwrites the previous entry. I need it to add the newest submission to the XML file and not over ride it and store it for X amount of time.
Here is the working php script that creates the xml file and takes the data from the HTML form and puts it in the XML file.
<?php
if (isset($_POST['lsr-submit']))
{
header('Location: http://www.mesquiteweather.net/wxmesqLSR.php');
}
$str = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><entrys></entrys>';
$xml = simplexml_load_string($str);
$fname = $_POST['firstname'];
$lname = $_POST['lastname'];
$location = $_POST['location'];
$report = $_POST['report'];
$description = $_POST['desc'];
$fname = htmlentities($fname, ENT_COMPAT, 'UTF-8', false);
$lname = htmlentities($lname, ENT_COMPAT, 'UTF-8', false);
$location = htmlentities($location, ENT_COMPAT, 'UTF-8', false);
$report = htmlentities($report, ENT_COMPAT, 'UTF-8', false);
$description = htmlentities($description, ENT_COMPAT, 'UTF-8', false);
$xml->reports = "";
$xml->reports->addChild('fname', $fname);
$xml->reports->addChild('lname', $lname);
$xml->reports->addChild('location', $location);
$xml->reports->addChild('report', $report);
$xml->reports->addChild('description', $description);
$doc = new DOMDocument('1.0');
$doc->formatOutput = true;
$doc->preserveWhiteSpace = true;
$doc->loadXML($xml->asXML(), LIBXML_NOBLANKS);
$doc->save('test2.xml');
?>
Here is the xml file it creates.
XML FILE
Here is the form to submit to the XML file. Submit a test submission and it takes you to the page to display but you'll notice it will overwrite the last one instead of adding to the XML file.
HTML FORM

Answer 1

This is what I came up with and works well, and tested.
NOTE: However if the file (file.xml) does not exist, it will throw off an error, so if you figure out a way to automatically delete the old file(s) via CRON or any other method (you mentioned: "...and store it for X amount of time."), you'll have to come up with a way to make a pre-built structured file with at least one set of entries inside it.
E.g.:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<entries>
<reports>
<timestamp>May 31, 2013, 11:56 am</timestamp>
<fname>Fred</fname>
<lname>Fletcher</lname>
<location>Canada</location>
<report>Wind Damage</report>
<description>Winds were gusting mighty hard today!</description>
</reports>
</entries>
This is relatively easy to do, I've done it before with an if file exists....
Here is my working code:
<?php
// Script by Fred Fletcher, Canada.
$fname = $_POST['firstname'];
$lname = $_POST['lastname'];
$location = $_POST['location'];
$report = $_POST['report'];
$description = $_POST['desc'];
$xml = new DOMDocument('1.0', 'utf-8');
$xml->formatOutput = true;
$xml->preserveWhiteSpace = false;
$xml->load('file.xml');
$element = $xml->getElementsByTagName('reports')->item(0);
$timestamp = $element->getElementsByTagName('timestamp')->item(0);
$fname = $element->getElementsByTagName('fname')->item(0);
$lname = $element->getElementsByTagName('lname')->item(0);
$location = $element->getElementsByTagName('location')->item(0);
$report = $element->getElementsByTagName('report')->item(0);
$description = $element->getElementsByTagName('description')->item(0);
$newItem = $xml->createElement('reports');
$newItem->appendChild($xml->createElement('timestamp', date("F j, Y, g:i a",time())));;
$newItem->appendChild($xml->createElement('fname', $_POST['firstname']));
$newItem->appendChild($xml->createElement('lname', $_POST['lastname']));
$newItem->appendChild($xml->createElement('location', $_POST['location']));
$newItem->appendChild($xml->createElement('report', $_POST['report']));
$newItem->appendChild($xml->createElement('description', $_POST['desc']));
$xml->getElementsByTagName('entries')->item(0)->appendChild($newItem);
$xml->save('file.xml');
echo "Data has been written.";
?>
A "plug" as a comment in the script would be nice, "Script by Fred Fletcher, Canada." (wink)
Let me know how this works out for you.

Answer 2

I am not sure I got your question, but if you need to create a file that is unique for each submission then you cannot simply use echo, you must actually create a file.
Also if after submitting you redirect to another PHP file, how can you handle the data to write into the variables?
Example for creating a file:
<?php // testfile.php
$fh = fopen("testfile.xml", 'w') or die("Failed to create file");
$text = <<<_END
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
_END;
fwrite($fh, $text) or die("Could not write to file");
fclose($fh);
?>