References for error handling methods

Hello. I am a web applications programmer at a university and I think DB part of pear is great. We may be moving to other SQLs in the future and pear will more than likely make that transition much smoother...very cool. Anyways... I currently use error handling in a similar manner as pear, at least the function callback aspect of it. However, when I use methods of a class as the error callback, it is useful for me to pass them by reference because I have three different error modes for handling an error based on the app's production environment. When a method is performed on a referneced object, the current properties of the class(i.e. the error mode) are used rather than the defaults. The problem that I am encountering is that I cannot have my callback in pear be a referenced object and hence the default value is used as the error mode rather than a user defined value. consider the following: <?php class Test { var $mode = "DEFAULT"; function SetMode() { $this->mode = "CHANGED"; } function ErrorCallback() { echo $this->mode . "<br>"; } } $test = new Test(); $test->SetMode(); $options = array( $test, "ErrorCallback" ); $pear_db->setErrorHandling( PEAR_ERROR_CALLBACK, $options ); ?> On error, the test class error function would return "DEFAULT" and not "CHANGED". In essence, another instance of the test object is being used for callback --not the one given to setErrorHandling. IMHO, that is greatly confusing and not practical. I have considered modifying PEAR.php, but messing with the $options array in setErrorHandling() seems like it would be a sticky endeavor. Did I make sense? and if so do you agree/disagree? Thank you for your time Matthew J. Gray University of Wisconsin River Falls Information Technology Services matthew.j.gray@uwrf.edu