function selectdb($zf_database) {
    @mysql_select_db($zf_database, $this->link);
  }

function selectdb($zf_database) {
    @mysql_select_db($zf_database, $this->link);
    @mysql_query("SET NAMES utf8");
  }

  function connect($zf_host, $zf_user, $zf_password, $zf_database, $zf_pconnect = 'false', $zp_real = false) {
//@TODO error class required to virtualise & centralise all error reporting/logging/debugging
    $this->database = $zf_database;
    if (!function_exists('mysql_connect'))  die ('Call to undefined function: mysql_connect().
      Please install the MySQL Connector for PHP');
    if ($zf_pconnect != 'false') {
      $this->link = @mysql_connect($zf_host, $zf_user, $zf_password, true);
    } else {
    // pconnect disabled ... leaving it as "connect" here instead of "pconnect"
      $this->link = @mysql_connect($zf_host, $zf_user, $zf_password, true);
    }
    if ($this->link) {
      if (@mysql_select_db($zf_database, $this->link)) {
       @mysql_query("SET NAMES utf8");
        $this->db_connected = true;
        return true;
      } else {
        $this->set_error(mysql_errno(),mysql_error(), $zp_real);
        return false;
      }
    } else {
      $this->set_error(mysql_errno(),mysql_error(), $zp_real);
      return false;
    }
  }