<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
<?php $num=rand(1,7); ?>
	var ds = new Spry.Data.XMLDataSet("data_in_XML.xml","record/thing[id='<? echo $num; ?>']");
</script>
.
.
.
<div spry:region="ds">
<p spry:repeat="ds"><strong>{ds::title}</strong></p>
<p spry:repeat="ds">{ds::desc}</p>
</div>

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
<?php $num=rand(1,7);?>
	var ds = new Spry.Data.XMLDataSet("data_in_XML.xml","record/thing[id='<? echo $num;?>']");
</script>
.
.
.
<div spry:region="ds">
<p spry:repeat="ds"><strong>{ds::title}</strong></p>
<p spry:repeat="ds">{ds::desc}</p>
</div>

what was taking an embarrassingly long time in Spry took 2 lines in PHP

Random XML Record in Spry using PHP

php

PHP