function openObject()
    {
        $this->nStack++;
        $this->stack[$this->nStack] = array( 'c' => $this->currentContents,
                                             'p' => $this->currentPage );
        // add a new object of the content type, to hold the data flow
        $this->numObj++;
        $this->o_contents( $this->numObj, 'new' );
        $this->currentContents = $this->numObj;
        $this->looseObjects[$this->numObj] = 1;

        return $this->numObj;
    }