//This is a constructor that will return a handle to deal with a connection to the database MySQL

public function __construct() {
         $this->dsn = "xxxxxxxx";
         $this->username = "xxxxxxx";
         $this->password = "xxxxx";
         $this->db = "xxxxx";

         try {
                  $this->conn = new PDO("mysql:host=$this->dsn; dbname=$this->db", $this->username, $this->password);
                  $this->conn->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);

         }// End of try
         catch(PDOException $e){
                  echo $e->getMessage();
                  $this->conn = null;
                  die();
           }
    }