public function connect()
{
// Try and connect to the database
if (!isset(self::$connection)) {
self::$connection = new mysqli(self::$host, self::$username, self::$password, self::$database);
self::$connection->set_charset('utf8');
}
// If connection was not successful, handle the error
if (self::$connection === false) {
// Handle error - notify administrator, log to a file, show an error screen, etc.
echo 'Cannot connect to database.';
return false;
}
return self::$connection;
}
