{php} tags and multidimensional arrays in smarty.

I have a situation where I need to display a variable number of shipping
address forms, depending on user input.  Since there is no built in for or
while loop, I used {php}tags to setup a loop through the address forms.

Everything is working great, except one part:
{select name=sstate test=$ship.$addrcnt.state}


This is a custom function I've made, to help put the text 'selected' in the
right spot on select/option fields.  Anyway, you can see what I'm trying to
do here, but it obviously doesn't work.  Any way I can make this work?
Below is the line in context:

<select name="ship[{$addrcnt}][state]"
class="listbox" >
<option value=""> Select State </option>
{select name=sstate test=$ship.$addrcnt.state}
{foreach from=$states item=state}
<option value="{$state->code}" {select name=sstate
value=$state->code}>{$state->state}</option>
{/foreach}
</select>

Thanks for any help.

-- Rob

Sorry... was having problems posting.  Not sure why it came across twice
though...

-- Rob