What are the best practices for structuring PHP classes to handle database connections in an object-oriented manner?

When structuring PHP classes to handle database connections in an object-oriented manner, it is best practice to create a separate class specifically for managing the database connection. This class should handle establishing the connection, executing queries, and closing the connection. By encapsulating the database connection logic in a separate class, it promotes code reusability, maintainability, and separation of concerns. 

<?php

class Database {
    private $host = 'localhost';
    private $username = 'root';
    private $password = '';
    private $dbname = 'my_database';
    private $conn;

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

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

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

// Example of how to use the Database class
$db = new Database();
$result = $db->query("SELECT * FROM users");
while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
    echo "Name: " . $row['name'] . "<br>";
}
$db->close();

?>

Keywords

PHP classes database connections object-oriented structuring

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