The %updateOrder()% function contains examples of the custom class in action like: _db->setQuery( "UPDATE $this->_tbl" . "\nSET ordering='".$orders[$i]->ordering."' WHERE $k='".$orders[$i]->$k."'" ); $this->_db->query();]]> Apart from being rather hard to read, we can see that the %setQuery()% and %query()% methods are nothing more than painfully crafted reimplementations of %prepare()% and %execute()% methods that have existed in most standard database APIs for decades, and which has been introduced to PHP is a standard API as PHP Data Objects (PDO). Let's rewrite this using PDO: _db->prepare("UPDATE $this->_tbl SET ordering = ? WHERE $this->_tbl_key = ?"; $query->execute(array($orders[$i]->ordering, $orders[$i]->$k));]]> While defining a basic database access abstraction layer for your application seems like reinventing the wheel when things like PDO, MDB2, ADODB, and PEAR::DB already exist, none of these were real options when FRED was being developed. Still, a cautionary tale for you: make sure you abstract the right layer of your application.