Storing a reference to an object in another object

Hi All This is probably just a case of me being Mr Thicky, but maybe someone can point out the error mf my ways: I have two classes, call them admin and module. Admin stores login details as well as a pointer to the DB connection. Module will run various queries. To do that it needs access to the DB connection maintained by Admin. Because I don't want to have to keep on passing the reference to the admin instance, I thought I would store the reference to the admin instance within the module instance when the object is created: class Module { private $admin_instance; function __construct($admin_instance) { $this->admin_instance = $admin_instance; } public function checkConnection() { return $this->admin_instance->checkConnection() } } I am using PHP 5 so the reference should be passed and stored in the relevant object attribute, not so? Yet, if i call checkConnection it tells me that I am calling a method on a non-object.print_r() of the module instance makes things even more confusing: print_r returns: [admin_instance:private] => [class_name] => blah [admin_instance] => Admin Object which is followed by the various attributes of the admin object suggesting that the reference to the admin object is indeed within the module instance. I hope someone can help with this.. Oh, and before anybody asks I am still busy RTFM, STFW, STFA but with no joy so far. -- Rory McKinley Nebula Solutions +27 21 555 3227 - office +27 21 551 0676 - fax +27 82 857 2391 - mobile www.nebula.co.za ====================