Advice on database connection within PHP class -

i playing around oop programming, , have hit hurdle use advice with.

i have situation have nested classes. have "company" class, contains array called people. array contains many instances of "person" class.

the data both 'company' , 'person', stored within database, , relevant class retrieves information database , when needed.

my question quite this: "at point connect database?" i:- a) connect first in php page, pass connection instance of "company" use. b) put username, password etc directly in "company" class , connect there.

i have thought latter create multiple connections database - 1 each instance of "company" - answer "a". then, if pass class developer (this learning exercise, not plan do), have connect database himself, , not allow class him.

in either case, connection passed each instance of "person" class automatically, or have pass connection each time create new instance?

i have done research on this, , think answer "a" (connect database in php page, , pass connection each instance of company class), thought should double check before far.

thanks advice able offer.

i think you're on right track.

what you're describing known dependency injection , using idea.

when you're dealing more complex project, might idea abstract retrieval of data completely. create interface, i.e. "personfinder" or "companyfinder" deals lookup , retrieval of associated records. concrete implementations of interface might include database lookups, or csv file lookups, or sort of web-based service lookup. pass finder company or person objects when create them.

this way can change how find records without changing code deals them.