Is there a way I can check if there are any usable mysql connections?

I am having trouble with some classes I am writing on. I am creating a set of classes to show a special portion of our web site`s newsarticles. The problem occours when I use a search class that scans through the articles for a spesific word or phrase. The search class has a bundle of functions to search generete next/prev and format the results correctly. The search class is an extension of another class that handles the mysql connection. I suspect that the problem is that each time I search, the class reconnects and selects the db. When I try to search a couple of times.. I suddenly get problems on my main site, some of the news cannot be shown. For some time ago I had the same trouble when I used a presistant connection to MySQL. I thought I had solved this problem now, but I was proven wrong. Here is the sql logon function: function sql_logon($H, $U, $P) { // link to mYsql $this->linkid = mysql_connect($this->H, $this->U, $this->P) ; if (!$this->linkid) { $this->error = "Kunne ikke logge inn på databasen" ; $this->err_no = 1 ; return ; } // select database $result=mysql_select_db($this->sqldb,$this->linkid); if (!$result) // unable to select db { $this->err= mysql_error(); $this->err_no=5; return; } } // end sql_logon function. And in the search class I use: $this->sql_logon($H, $U, $P) ; Is there a way to "check" if there already is a connection to MySQL that can be used to perform the search?