How can PHP developers ensure efficient and elegant manipulation of database structures when using classes?

PHP developers can ensure efficient and elegant manipulation of database structures when using classes by creating a separate class for database operations such as connecting to the database, executing queries, and handling results. This helps in keeping the database-related code organized and reusable. Additionally, using object-oriented programming principles like encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism can make the code more maintainable and scalable.

<?php
class Database {
    private $connection;

    public function __construct($host, $username, $password, $database) {
        $this->connection = new mysqli($host, $username, $password, $database);
        if ($this->connection->connect_error) {
            die("Connection failed: " . $this->connection->connect_error);
        }
    }

    public function query($sql) {
        return $this->connection->query($sql);
    }

    public function fetchArray($result) {
        return $result->fetch_assoc();
    }

    public function close() {
        $this->connection->close();
    }
}

// Example usage
$db = new Database('localhost', 'username', 'password', 'database');
$result = $db->query('SELECT * FROM table');
while ($row = $db->fetchArray($result)) {
    // Process each row
}
$db->close();
?>