JFactory/getDBO
From Joomla! Documentation
Returns a reference to the global database object, only creating it if it doesn't already exist. The object returned will be of type JDatabase.
Syntax
object JDatabase getDBO()
Example
In this example, the Joomla database prefix is retrieved.
$db =& JFactory::getDBO(); echo "Database prefix is : " . $db->getPrefix();
which should output something like this:
Database prefix is : jos_
