constructors in derived classes

I have another question about OO in PHP -- The manual (http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.oop.constructor.php) does an excellent job of explaining how constructors in extended classes work when there are constructors in base classes. I understand that no problem. But at the bottom of the page is a cautionary note: <cautionary_note> Neither PHP 3 nor PHP 4 call constructors of the base class automatically from a constructor of a derived class. It is your responsibility to propagate the call to constructors upstream where appropriate. </cautionary_note> This is where I am uncertain -- how do I call an upstream constructor from an instance of an extended class, where I have a constructor in the extended class? IOW: <?php class ClassA { function ClassA($var) { print "ClassA object instantiated, argument is $var"; } } class ClassB { function ClassB($var) { print "ClassB object instantiated, argument is $var"; } } $instance = new ClassB(frank); // this should print "ClassB object instantiated, argument is frank" My question is, how do I call the constructor of ClassA? To see the following results: // "ClassB object instantiated, argument is frank" // "ClassA object instantiated, argument is bob" Erik ---- Erik Price Web Developer Temp Media Lab, H.H. Brown pricee@hhbrown.com