PHP / Mysql design: scope question

[shutat]

I'm not sure if this is the right place, but I have a question relating to the scope of mysql. 

 

I haven't been coding very long in php, but in my intro C classes, I was often told to keep variable scope as narrow as possible.  When I started with mysql, I created small function such as the one below.  Where ever I had the need to query, I'd rely on a function - establish a connection, query a result, and then close from within that function.  However, is this is right approach?   

 

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

function foo () {

   sql connect
   sql query
   sql close

   return results
}

 

[Liquid Fire]

for database queries this is not the right method becuase you will have a lot of overhead if you make a new connect for each query.  The best way is to create or use an existing database abstraction layer(there a quite a few out there) and make it a singleton so you can do:

 

<?php
$database = database:get_instance();
$data = $database->get_all($query);
?>

 

and that way each script only has 1 connection.

[shutat]

Thank you for the reply; I appreciate it a lot.