wpdb needs a close function

[fabifott]

For a complete abstraction of the database access, the wpdb class needs a close() function.
A sample situation is a file-serving script, that runs for a long time reading a big file and pumping the bytes to the browser. Here a database connection is an unneeded resource and should be closed as soon as the IO pump starts.

[fabifott]

Would you accept a pull request?

Or at least make wpdb::$dbh somehow accessible. Its not good practice to hide the DB layer completly in an non-complete abstraction.

[pento]

In 36433:

WPDB: Add a close() method to wpdb, for when the connection needs to be manually closed.

In the event that it was closed prematurely, wpdb::query() will re-open the connection automatically.

Fixes #34903.

[markoheijnen]

Cleanup unit test logic for this method

[markoheijnen]

Hey @pento, I assume the logic inside the unit tests can now also be deleted?

[pento]

In 36478:

Tests: Use the new wpdb::close() method for closing the DB connection.

Props markoheijnen.

Fixes #34903.

[DrewAPicture]

In 36493:

Docs: Add an @access tag and fix a typo in the DocBlock for wpdb::close().

See #34903. See #32246.

[DrewAPicture]

In 36840:

Docs: Remove an errant period following the @access tag in the DocBlock for wpdb::close(), mistakenly introduced in [36493].

Props markoheijnen.
See #34903. See #35986.

[spacedmonkey]

What does close method mean if you are using a db dropin like hyperdb? The hyperdb drop in is massively out of date now, many of the features in core not reflected. Changed like this need to be communicated db drop-in creators.