PHP genius required - can I connect to an XML socket server?

[Jiminez]

I have an XML server setup (currently written in java), so that I have XML socket communication between an online Flash game and our freshly written server. All working great...

However! I would like for my php scripts to poll this server somehow - connect to it as I would a mysql server say. The PHP scripts and server are on the same pc, but I have no idea how to connect to a custom made application running server side or even if its possible via php.

(I've browsed the php.net socket functions but am somewhat lost by some of the examples which tend to illustrate how to create a socket server itself in php - not how to connect with one from php)

Any tips or help that could point me in the right direction would be much appreciated indeed 🙂

Thanks in Advance,
Jiminez

[Jiminez]

I now have the feeling that this may be possible - I've seen examples of people using fsockopen() to connect to poll HTTP servers or POP3 accounts for information.

So my question now seems simpler - Can I connect to any server with fsockopen (Or is there anyway for my php script to talk directly with a process running on the same pc)?