What are the PHP basics that are essential for manipulating MySQL data and generating XML output?

To manipulate MySQL data and generate XML output in PHP, you need to have a basic understanding of connecting to a MySQL database, executing queries, fetching results, and formatting data into XML. Here is a sample PHP code snippet that demonstrates connecting to a MySQL database, executing a query to fetch data, and generating XML output:

<?php
// Connect to MySQL database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "database";
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}

// Execute query to fetch data
$sql = "SELECT * FROM table";
$result = $conn->query($sql);

// Generate XML output
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement('<data/>');
while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
    $item = $xml->addChild('item');
    foreach($row as $key => $value) {
        $item->addChild($key, $value);
    }
}

// Output XML
header('Content-type: text/xml');
echo $xml->asXML();

// Close connection
$conn->close();
?>