tags that get decoded
$oldChars = array('<p>', '</p>');

// since I use CDATA and 
 tags always together - I create an array
// of what I want to replace the decoded 
 tags with.
$newChars = array('', '
]]>');

// use the PHP string replace function to replace every decoded opening
// 
 tag with a CDATA tag followed by a 
 tag, and also repeat this
// with the closing 
, replacing it with an encoded 
 tag followed
// by a closing CDATA tag.
$xmlcdRep = str_replace($oldChars, $newChars, $HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA);

// use html entity encode to fix the remaining decoded html tags
$xmlString = html_entity_decode($xmlcdRep);


// hopefully by here - the decoded tags will be properly reformatted and
// the xml can saved back to the server correctly
// the only thing i don't know how to do is to preserve the visual
// spacing structure so if you open the xml in dreamweaver or text
// editor, it still retains it's original well laid out form.
if(!fwrite($file, $xmlString)){
print "Error writing to XML-file";
}else{
print "XML File Saved";
}
fclose($file);
?>