Question

I am made a class that is called SQL_Connection. The purpose of this class is to return a reference ($con) to the calling variable. Example: $conRef = new SQL_Connection(); Where $conRef would now be a reference of $con and not an instance of SQL_Connection(), if this is possible of course.

The construct function at the end does return $con;, I presume this may be the issue :/

Thanks.

Answer 1

Using new implies that you know the exact type of the object you want to construct. The pattern you want to use is a factory method, not a constructor. For example:

class SQL_Connection
{
    public static function create()
    {
        $con = new Other_SQL_Connection();
        return $con;
    }
}

Then invoke SQL_Connection::create() elsewhere to obtain the object reference.