class PostgreSQLConnection(psycopg2.extensions.connection):
    """
    A custom `connection_factory` for :func:`psycopg2.connect`.

    This
    * puts the connection into unicode mode (for text)
    * modifies the :meth:`cursor` method of a :class:`psycopg2.connection`,
      facilitating easy acquiring of cursors made from
      :cls:`psycopg2.extras.RealDictCursor`.
    """

    # this may be omitted in py3k
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(PostgreSQLConnection, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        for type in (psycopg2.extensions.UNICODE,
                     psycopg2.extensions.UNICODEARRAY):
            psycopg2.extensions.register_type(type, self)

    def cursor(self, real_dict_cursor=False):
        """
        Get a new cursor.

        If real_dict_cursor is set, a RealDictCursor is returned
        """

        kwargs = {}
        if real_dict_cursor:
            kwargs["cursor_factory"] = psycopg2.extras.RealDictCursor
        return super(PostgreSQLConnection, self).cursor(**kwargs)