diff --git a/dblayeroo.php b/dblayeroo.php
index 11fd341..5640a43 100644
--- a/dblayeroo.php
+++ b/dblayeroo.php
@@ -57,6 +57,19 @@ class dblayeroo
     */
   public function __construct ($dsn, $username=null, $password=null,
                                $driver_options=null)
+  {
+    $this->connect ($dsn, $username, $password, $driver_options);
+  }
+
+  /** Connection to the database engine
+    * See http://fr2.php.net/manual/en/pdo.construct.php for the $dsn format
+    * @param string $dsn PDO Data Source Name
+    * @param string|null $username Username to connect
+    * @param string|null $password Password to connect
+    * @param string|null $driver_options Driver options to the database
+    */
+  public function connect ($dsn, $username=null, $password=null,
+                               $driver_options=null)
   /* {{{ */
   {
     $driver = @explode (":", $dsn);
@@ -1306,7 +1319,7 @@ class dblayeroo
     $this->debugLog ("Entering setForeignObj (OBJECT)");
     if (! is_object ($object))
       $this->DBException ("Invalid setForeignObj parameter: not an object");
-    if (get_class ($object) !== __CLASS__)
+    if (! is_subclass_of ($object, __CLASS__))
       $this->DBException (
         "Invalid object provided to setForeignObj (not dblayeroo object)");
     if (! isset ($object->table))