/**
  * instantiates a xnau_FormElement object
  * 
  *
  * @param array $parameters carries the parameters to build a form element
  *                    type         string sets the type of element to print
  *                    value        string the current value of the element
  *                    name         string the name attribute of the element
  *                    options      mixed  an optional array of values for checkboxes, selects, etc. Can also
  *                                        be serialized array. A special element in this array has the key 
  *                                        "null_select" which if bool false prevents the selected null case of 
  *                                        dropdown elements from being added. If it has another value, the null 
  *                                        case (which has a blank label) will hold this value and be selected 
  *                                        if no value property is provided to the instance
  *                    attributes   array  an optional array of name=>value set of HTML attributes to include
  *                                        (can include a class attribute)
  *                    class        string a class name for the element; more than one class name must be
  *                                        space-separated string
  *                    indent       int    starting indent value
  *                    size         int    the size of the field
  *                    container_id string CSS id for the element containter (if any)
  *
  * @return NULL
  */
 public function __construct($parameters)
 {
     $this->prefix = Participants_Db::$prefix;
     parent::__construct($parameters);
 }