Constructor as a "Reset" Button

I'm having a BLAST writing this app as OOP as PHP allows. It's one
thing to discuss the dance, but it's a thing of beauty to see the
performance.

I'm noticing that the constructor is a "reset" switch - just like the
one on the front of my computer. Calling it seems to just dump all of
the old values, free up all of the old resources, and return the object
to a pristine state.

However, I'm a *little* concerned about just using the constructor
willy-nilly like that to reset the object because, several years back, I
had an issue with other programmers who said that my failure to do some
"DIE" commands would result in zombie processes.

The problems never seemed to manifest themselves, but it still caused
the principles to get all up in my grill about it.

Am I setting myself up for zombie processes or other resource-wasting if
I like have a db-connected class and then just BANG reset it with the
constructor. In this particular case, I'm not concerned if "good"
programmers do it this way, but rather - just that I'm not wasting any
resources.

This is the code I use to connect to the database (note the lack of use
of a DIE command):

class bvckvs_database {
//All properties are read-only.
var $Server;
var $DatabaseName;
var $Username;
var $Password;
var $TablePrefix;
var $RecordSQL; // String
var $RecordSet; // Array of Arrays
var $RecordCount; // Integer
var $ErrorMessage; // OK or message
var $oConn; // Database Connection Resource
function bvckvs_database(){
$this->Server=_BVCKVSDBSERVER;
$this->DatabaseName=_BVCKVSDBDATABASE;
$this->Username=_BVCKVSDBUSERNAME;
$this->Password=_BVCKVSDBPASSWORD;
$this->TablePrefix = _BVCKVSUNIQUEPREFIX;
$this->RecordCount = 0;
$this->RecordSet = array();
$this->RecordSQL = "";
$this->ErrorMessage = "OK";
$bVoid = $this->Connect();
}
function Connect(){
$bRetVal = true;
if (!$this->oConn = @mysql_connect($this->Server, $this->Username,
$this->Password)) {
$this->ErrorMessage="Failed to connect to database server.";
$bRetVal = false;
} else {
if (!mysql_selectdb($this->DatabaseName,$this->oConn)) {
$this->ErrorMessage="Failed to select database.";
$bRetVal = false;
} else {
$this->ErrorMessage="OK";
}
}
return $bRetVal;
}

On Jul 24, 5:03 pm, Sanders Kaufman <bu... RemoveThis @kaufman.net> wrote:
> Michael Fesser wrote:
> > .oO(Sanders Kaufman)
> >> That's ONE use for the constructor.
>
> > It's the only use. As it's name suggests - it's used to create an object
> > (and a destructor is called while cleaning up, respectively). In PHP the
> > constructor is more or less just for initialization, in other languages
> > it's also used to allocate memory for the new object.
>
> That was funny.
> It took just two sentences for you to contradict yourself.
>
> You're somewhat correct when you say that it's "more or less just for
> initialization". It is indeed useful for MORE than just initializing
> the object. In fact, it's also pretty good at re-initializing the object.
>

So are you suggesting that you call the constructor from elsewhere in
the class (or even explicitly from outside the class)? That's just
poor form. The constructor should be used for one thing only:
constructing a new instance of a class.

If you want to "reset" the object, then you separate that out into its
own method and call it from the constructor -- similar to what you've
done with the Connect() method.

I'm firmly with Micha on this one.