function retrieveConnection($file) {
// takes a filename where heroku connection parameters are stored and returns a connection object

	$handle = fopen($file, "r") or die("Unable to open file!\r\n");
	$c_string = fread($handle, filesize($file));

// the connection string from heroku is formatted as follows
// username is between the first // and the first :
// password is after the first : and before the first @
// server is after the first @ and before the second :
// port is after the second : and before the last /
// database name is after the last /

	$p1 = strpos($c_string, "//");
	$p2 = strpos($c_string, ":", $p1);
	$p3 = strpos($c_string, "@", $p2);
	$p4 = strpos($c_string, ":", $p3);
	$p5 = strpos($c_string, "/", $p4);

	print "Connection string: \r\n" . $c_string . "\r\n";

	$username = substr($c_string, $p1 + 2, ($p2-$p1) - 2);
	$password = substr($c_string, $p2 + 1, ($p3-$p2) - 1);
	$server = substr($c_string, $p3 + 1, ($p4 - $p3) - 1);
	$port = substr($c_string, $p4 + 1, ($p5 - $p4) - 1);
	$database = substr($c_string, $p5 + 1);

	print "username: " . $username . "\r\n";
	print "password: " . $password . "\r\n";
	print "server: " . $server . "\r\n";
	print "port: " . $port . "\r\n";
	print "database: " . $database . "\r\n";

}